Comic Book / Amazons Attack! (2007)

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Amazons Attack! is a 2007 DC Comics miniseries, written by Will Pfeiffer with art by Pete Woods. The plot involves the return of Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, from the dead. Under the advice of Circe, a frequent enemy of the Amazons in the past, she leads the Amazons in an attack on Washington, D.C. aimed at rescuing her daughter from American captivity.

Of course, all is not exactly what it seems, and among other things, Wonder Woman's captivity had been engineered by Circe herself. The plot involves a number of subplots, including the Justice League's attempts to fight back, the internment of women suspected of Amazon sympathies by the U.S. government, and an ill-fated mission by Supergirl and Wonder Girl to speak to the President of the United States. Events from Amazons Attack also affected a number of other books, including the weekly Countdown to Final Crisis series, Supergirl (2005), and Catwoman (2002).

Ultimately, the war ends and the true players behind the conflict are revealed, but only after considerable death and destruction.

For a miniseries expected to be a major "event" comic, sales of Amazons Attack were disappointing at best, and the critical/fan reception even worse. While most fans agree that Pete Woods contributed gorgeous art to the project, it's difficult to find positive comments about any other aspects of the project. Despite this, DC was willing to give it a second shot after 16 years, in their Dawn of DC line.

Amazons Attack! (2007) provides examples of:

• Advertised Extra: Wonder Woman is featured in the promotional artwork as well as the covers and the trade collection is even listed as a Wonder Woman book. She appeared in about 20 pages of it at most.
• Armor Is Useless: On both sides. Plate armor is just as useless against assault rifles as reality would dictate, but American tanks and planes are also quite vulnerable to magical but primitive-looking Amazon weaponry.
• Ax-Crazy: Hippolyta wants the death of all men in the United States for apparently kidnapping her daughter, and nothing can apparently make her relent... and no one can tell she's clearly been brainwashed or is being mind controlled.
• Bee-Bee Gun: One of the weapons of the Amazons, as stated in the page quote above.
• Big Bad: Hippolyta's invasion was all Circe's fault; Circe was out for revenge against Athena, who was really Granny Goodness in disguise holding Athena and the other Greek Gods, minus Hercules, hostage, so Granny Goodness is the real big bad.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant grubs are among the monsters the Amazons summon to aid them as they tear apart the United States, though they're mainly used to keep the Justice League occupied.
• Canon Discontinuity: After the conclusion of this event, the cast in general has seemingly adopted a Let Us Never Speak of This Again approach towards this event, suggesting that it's fallen into this trope.
• Death of a Child: In fact, it's what kicks off the plot as two Amazons brutally kill an innocent father and his young son just because they are male.
• Deus Exit Machina:
  • Donna Troy tries to avert conflict by vowing to bring Diana back to Hippolyta, so naturally she and every member of the Teen Titans except for out of the loop Cassie Sandsmark need to be taken out of the story immediately
  • Invoked by the Amazon invaders, who summon monsters to occupy the Justice League. It doesn't completely work, mostly because the Justice Society and Outsiders intervene to lighten the load.
• Does Not Like Men: The entire Amazon race as portrayed here.
• Dragon with an Agenda: The brainwashed Hippolyta wants total surrender from the US. Karna wasn't the complete annihilation of everyone living in the US.
• Faux Action Girl: Wonder Woman is barely a participant in her own miniseries. She never wins a fight (at one point being airlifted away by Superman from a fight she's winning), and never thinks to use her lasso on Hippolyta, despite it having once convinced Ares his plan wouldn't work (not even getting into how it can undo brainwashing, which Hippolyta is clearly under the effects of).
• From Bad to Worse: Happens several times over the course of the conflict, starting with Hippolyta changing her demand from "release Wonder Woman" to "unconditional surrender"
• Hijacked by Ganon: A brainwashed Queen Hippolyta has led the Amazons of Themyscira to wage war on the United States! BUT WAIT! It turns out that Queen Hippolyta's attack was actually all a Secret Test of Character by the goddess Athena! BUT WAIT! It turns out it was all a convoluted plot masterminded by Granny Goodness of the New Gods while disguised as Athena and keeping the other Greek gods imprisoned!
• Human Shield: Karna isolates Grace Choi away from the Outsiders for the purpose of using Choi as a hostage for leverage, and even uses Choi as a shield against Superman!
• Just Following Orders: Apparently, this is the excuse that let the vast majority of the Amazons waltz away from the conflict with nothing more than amnesia. The excuse rings a lot hollow when Amazons are depicted on several occasions going out of their way to commit war crimes against innocent civilians.
• Karma Houdini: The Amazon soldiers go out of their way to carry out genocide with fervor and eagerness that would put the Schutzstaffel to shame...and as punishment, they, save for Wonder Woman who tried to stop them, have their memories erased, and are implanted in normal lives across the world. And even this is later reversed, making Granny Goodness the only character who seemed to think that an entire nation leaping at the chance to enact mass murder merited some sort of punishment. Retconned in Secret Six with a prison labor camp full of Amazon war criminals ... and yet , the story tries to make it seem that the treatment of Amazon prisoners is somehow WRONG!!!? Humanity gets off even easier outside the "The Reason You Suck" Speech given to them, with no further punishment beyond the US being in ruins; even the Superheroes aren't given many repercussions outside of the sweeping ones for their actions.
• Keystone Army: Discussed: Wonder Woman, Philippus and Artemis all come to the conclusion that killing Hippolyta is the only way to end the war. Supergirl and Cassie Sandsmark disagree, and Diana does end up stopping Hippolyta non lethally.
• Living Lie Detector: Superman can tell when someone is lying thanks to his Super-Senses, allowing him to discover that Karna is planning to betray half of the invading Amazons, and kill everyone in the country, including Grace Choi, who Karna claims to be trying to recruit. Superman can't tell that "Athena" is really Granny Goodness, however.
• The Man Behind the Man: Granny Goodness, who was behind Athena, who was behind Circe, who was behind the madness of Hippolyta.
• Medieval Stasis: The Amazons have lost their advanced technology, again, thanks to a cataclysm prior to the event, so when Green Arrow tells Batman about a failed attempt to nuke a nuclear plant, Batman determines a third faction has entered the war...though the Amazons do start employing advanced technology in the later stages of the conflictIt turns out Karna, of the Bana-Mighdall, has been stockpiling for the purpose of taking revenge on the Themyscira tribe, but war with the US caused her to put that off in favor of destroying as much of the nation as possible.
• Monumental Damage: Few Washington landmarks emerge unscathed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Supergirl and Wonder Girl try to end the war by forcing a meeting between the President and Queen Hippolyta, but Kara and Cassie just make things worse
• Only a Flesh Wound: Grace Choi gets stabbed in the kidney, but insists it isn't a vital organ. Diana commands her to see a medic
• Pinned to the Ground: When Wonder Woman confronts Circe over her manipulations, she knocks her down and pins her to the floor with her foot as she starts questioning her.
• Plot Hole: Loads of them, "why doesn't Wonder Woman just use her friggin' lasso on Hippolyta?" merely being the most obvious.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Given by Athena to all parties at the conclusion. And she turns out to be Granny Goodness in disguise. Granny Goodness in turn gets one from Hera, but all she can do is talk since Granny has Hera and the rest of the Olympus Twelve in bondage
• Rock Beats Laser: The Amazons' horses fly faster than jets, and their bows beat guns and tanks.
• Secret Test of Character: Athena (by which we mean Granny Goodness) tries to pass the whole story off as one of these in the last issue. According to her, everyone failed.
• Series Continuity Error: In issue #3, Hippolyta demands for unconditional surrender within one day. In #4, the broadcast of the demands is for one week.
• Standard Female Grab Area: At one point, Superman takes Wonder Woman (against her will) away from a confrontation with her mother simply by grabbing her by the arms and flying away with her, without Diana even attempting to break free even though his hold on her is incredibly loose. She even says that she could tear herself free but doesn't for whatever reason.
• Straw Feminist: Just about every Amazon is reduced to this, being man-hating warriors. This character ultimately becomes inconsistent because at one point, the Amazons found a female pilot on the ground, and one of them kills her without a second thought. Nor do the other Amazons bat an eye about it. Later, it is shown that a group of Amazons tried to kill Lucy Lane.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Wonder Woman makes Hippolyta stand down with a heat felt speech in issue #6. It doesn't work on Circe, however.
• Wham Line: One of the more bizarre attempts in the history of American comics and most likely the worst in the entire history of DC Comics!
  Athena: Hmm, perhaps you're right. Perhaps Justice isn't the proper word. But you must admit... GOODNESS has certainly triumphed!
• Witch Hunt: The President invokes the McCarran Act, which allows the seizure and arrest of anyone suspected of disloyalty during times of crisis. The first apprehended and detained without trial are residents of the Athenian Women's Shelter in Washington DC, because it's one of the few buildings the invading Amazons left alone, everyone in there had been helped by Wonder Woman, and they're openly counting on her to end the war.