Wonder Woman #54

I continue to feel confused over the canon used here.

SPOILERS AHEAD


Artemis mentions Faruka 2 being in charge when that didn't seem to be the case in RHATO. In fact the Amazons looked to the Shim'Tar for leadership. First with Akila then with Artemis before she told them they needed to make their own choices. Yet Artemis makes it sound like things were always under this woman's control. Faruka was a character Peréz created that was one of the nastiest Amazons ever written in DC. She was the chief assistant to the high priestess that had the ambition to take over the empty spot of their newly departed queen.

There's been some discussion on how the Bana-Mighdall Amazons tend to have the unfortunate habit of being written as evil when the group is mostly depicted as woman of color and when their written in a more sympathetic light their shown as mostly lighter skinned warriors. Although the first Faruka was lighter skinned while the second is darker. The idea of the first having a child is disturbing enough but why not just have the original show up? I'm not sure how or if this is supposed to work in any timeline.

How connected Bana-Mighdall is to the outside world keeps changing but the introduction to them under Peréz never really made sense either. They were expert weapon makers with limited contact from the outside world that only seemed to do so for business or taking male sex slaves. The latter part has been ignored after it was introduced but the B.M. Amazons were cut off from the world in RHATO although we didn't know what the extent of it was. In this Diana marvels at how the market place has changed which Artemis brags is because they interact with the outside world and scavenge what they need.

Maat, while fitting for Wonder Woman lore, is the second goddess mentioned in recent B.M. history but again it's been extremely unclear what the standing they have with the gods. It has been ever since they were created. Strangely this also marks the second time someone connected to the Qurac/B.M was brought back to life as Akila was in RHATO. (Not counting old canon.) Despite mentioning Akila attacking in RHATO no mention is made of the refugees the Amazons took in from Qurac. The queen chooses to listen to a man who Diana doesn't trust to begin a war with the people of Qurac.

So the Queen is suggesting with her "why not fight for us for once" spiel that the woman that devoted most of her life to being a champion for her people (until Akila was chosen) and literally just came to their aid in RHATO never fought for them? That's such B.S., Artemis should have stood up for herself not been so easily to manipulate. In RHATO she's noted that she's only learning to be herself for the first time in her life instead of trying to be who she thought her people needed her to be. This is not only a gross misunderstanding of her character development it's not something she would do anywhere else except maybe in the out of character portrayal of Amazons Attack. But at least in AA she knew Hippolyta was wrong even if she did nothing about it.

Artemis is written as such a gullible idiot in this that it's embarrassing as is the way the B.M. Amazons are written when Diana confronts them. Diana herself seems too arrogant for my liking. I didn't like this issue and see Artemis is once again reduced to make Diana look even better.




Say what?: Phthia is from old canon, she was basically the adopted daughter of Antiope that wanted revenge after Antiope was murdered. She took over command of the B.M. Amazons. Her name is evoked a lot by her people.

Someone calls Alalanta aunt so that means their related to Diana? Unlike sister I've never seen aunt having any other meaning that blood relative in Amazon culture.

"...wield the glory you left us in search of."  The first time Artemis left it was because she didn't know her place in the world after Akila became the Shim'Tar. The second time was after she had to kill Akila and only discovered the Bow was out in the world later. The third time was after killing Akila again, being worthy of the Bow and joining her team. Artemis never left to search for glory.

Is Lady Artemis an official title now? Previously only Bizarro called her that. Why does she have that title? Because she's sort of the Shim'Tar or because she's royalty? Those are the only reasons I can see them calling her that.

Again there's a claim that the B.M. were exiled when it never happened in the original canon or in RHATO. But at least Diana sets the record straight this time but revealing that it didn't happen that way but I'm not sure how long the queen was around to twist history. Again it depends on their life span.



Questions Raised?: Do the B.M. Amazons age or not? The art seems to imply they do but the Amazons recognize Atalanta despite her being gone so long.


How does the queen know about Artemis being a mercenary? So far all we know is that she worked for Luthor and despite Jack Ryder being a reporter it doesn't look like he was able to make his knowledge public.