Amazons Attack #4

We'll finally getting to the section that is not only nonsensical (one of them anyway) but is cringe worthy. Something I've been wanting to talk about for awhile.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Remember when Hippolyta gave the U.S. a day to surrender? Well in this issue they state she gave everyone a week to decide. The continuity inside the main section of this event isn't even consistent. Diana is already in the middle of a confrontation with her mother asking her if she's willing to kill her to win. Superman flies in to take Diana away like a moron saying there's more important things to do. I'm sure every reviewer has commented on the incredible level of stupidity of that statement and action.

Because stopping Hippolyta would end the war. Or at the very least make it easier to win. More on that bit very soon.

Superman could have assisted Diana instead he comes across like he thinks Diana is wasting time. Not only is this the dumbest thing he could do it's extremely condescending. It goes along with the sexist vibe throughout this series. The women are shown as insane (Hippolyta/Circe/Most Amazons), stupid beyond belief (Cassie/Kara), shoved out of the way for the men to take charge (Diana/Dinah/nearly every women in this) or wall paper that doesn't actually do anything (Phillipus/Artemis.)

The Wonder/Super dummies are still outside Air force one. Kara realizes that no one can hear Cassie since their outside the plane. A jet pilot claims the one in blue is too close but they have a shot at the one in red. Blue is naturally Kara and Red is Cassie. But guess what? Cassie is the one drawn literally right above A-F-1 while Kara is further back. The jet fired on the girl closest to the plane and somehow didn't take A-F-1 down.

Cassie crashes into the plane while Kara holds it up. She says they want the President to talk to Poly to end the war. While she claims they don't want to hurt anyone she threatens Kara not keeping them safe if they don't do what she wants. (Very heroic Cassie.) Why not just bring the plane if their going to force him to agree anyway? I think the mini is trying to make the president look heroic when he just had innocent women rounded up out of fear last issue.

As I said in the past the tech Green Arrow previously brought in is a plot I've been waiting to talk about. Diana was taken away from fighting her mother because of this, something even Batman seems to think is more important. Diana naturally points out that she just had the chance to end the war.

"By having your throat slashed? Interesting tactic."

Again with the condescending "I know better than you" attitude. These are her people, whether or not their in their right mind she knows them better than anyone else. Her mother is technically in charge, at least as far as the heroes know since Circe seems to be out of the picture. But guess what Batman? Even if Diana was only moments away from dying it all could have ended if Superman actually helped Diana instead of hindering her.

Batman claims the plan wouldn't have worked because their are other players at work that were behind the advance tech and the Amazons never left Washington DC. Diana concludes it has to be the Bana, as in the Bana-Mighdall Amazons. She claims there was a group of Bana that refused to join them like the others did, which we've never heard about until now. The Bana were tech savvy because they developed weapons to survive in the modern world which they sold to the highest bidders. It was part of their "evil Amazons" label which DC flip flops with from time to time.

Artemis is part of the Bana of course and she was also one of the ones that would call Hippolyta and her people out when they were treated badly. Her co-leadership with Philipus after Hippolyta stepped down helped ease tensions between the tribes. The sect of Bana that never joined really makes no sense as Diana claims they never got over the exile. What exile? The ancestors of the Bana chose to leave after they believed they went forsaken by their gods. Why does their need to be a sect of Bana that is separate from the main group? None of the Amazons outside Diana are acting in character. The Bana are experts in tech so why not just say they separated to do the fear tactic stuff while Poly led her people in DC instead of creating new ones?

Is it because they want to shift blame onto other Amazons? Kind of hard since this series began with a father and son brutally killed for no real reason. This becomes even more uncomfortable since the art depicts women of color for this sect. Unfortunately it seems that in the stories where the Bana-Mighdall are written as evil terrorists they (mostly) have darker skin. The nicer versions tend to focus on light skinned characters like Artemis. The latter isn't always the case though as there have been runs where it's balanced better.

Batman decides to go save Gotham from an attack which doesn't sit well with Diana. Once more she points out that he prevented her from ending the war (for information that could wait) then decides to ditch the fight to go home when he can send others. Batman responds by pushing her hand off and saying someone (Catwoman) can infiltrate the group. (A plot from another series that probably won't factor into this much yet it gets panel time.) So last issue they decided Nemesis would die because no one could be spared but Batman has to make a request in person. Even though Oracle could literally send the message.

The laziness of the writing continues as he informs us of events outside the mini including an apparently alive Nemesis saying a nuclear missile is headed straight for Themyscira. I love how even Batman admits he's not sure how that can be possible. He ordrers them to prevent that and (I assume) to save Nemesis. Basically Diana is right and Batman deflects her points by giving them assignments as he leaves.

Since it's been a short time since we've seen how dumb the Amazons are in this and need to be reminded their the villains air force one is taken down despite Kara and Cassie bringing it to them. They realize too late that they were idiots which even has the president calling Cassie one.

Despite Amazons being such badasses Grace Choi takes 24 out by herself. The never before seen leader of the sect of Bana named Karna reveals herself to her claiming to hate Amazons. She makes Grace an offer to join them.

Knowing that it's their fault air force one crashed Cassie and Kara aren't able to do much until Superman arrives. Again the pattern of the man being in charge is enforced. He gives an inspirtng speech that Diana or even Cassie should being giving to the Amazons. While their distracted the army kills the Amazons making for another pointless scene.

Poly switches back and forth between realizing she screwed up based on "signs." I want to scream every time I see Artemis refer to Poly as her queen. Artemis doesn't act like her subject ! She's not one. Shock of shocks Circe isn't dead.

With only two issues left can the series get worse?