The end is here. Everything that The Trial of the Amazons has been building towards comes to a head as the Amazon Tribes unite against the great evil behind Doom’s Doorway. With the threat already hitting Themyscira are things too late for the Amazons? And even if they aren’t will the status quo for the Wonder Woman franchise forever be changed because of what happens here? Let’s find out with the finale of this Wonder Woman event in Trial Of The Amazons #2.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writers: Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Vita Ayala, Stephanie Williams, and Joelle Jones
Artists: Elena Casagrande, Laura Braga, Skylar Patridge, Adriana Melo, and Joelle Jones
Colorists: Ramulo Fajardo Jr. and Jordie Bellaire
SYNOPSIS
Wonder Woman, Nubia, Donna Troy, Yara Flor, and Philippus lead the Amazons to fight Chaos. Chaos uses its powers to turn some Amazons against each other while taunting Wonder Woman about her mother’s death.
As the fighting goes on Nubia and Cassandra Sandsmark are led by Magala to the armory known as The War Chest Of Nike that includes things like Asteria’s gold wing armor. As they look through the armory Cassie finds Artemis. Before they can talk Chaos attacks the armory. Nubia has everyone armor up to rejoin the fight.
On the battlefield Nubia is able to help Faruka and the Amazons turn things around.
As the battle goes on Artemis notices Atalanta and Antiope at Doom’s Doorway gathering Chaos’ forces. While the others try to stop them from sacrificing themselves Atalanta and Antiope willingly take on Lord of Bedlam’s blessing to take Chaos with them through Doom’s Doorway.
Later as the clean up begins Wonder Woman takes Yara Flor to somewhere deep below the armory where various tiaras and crowns are housed. Wonder Woman compliments Yara for sharing her inner fire to convince the Amazons to break from tradition. Wonder Woman goes on to hold a ceremony where she presents Yara her own unique gold tiara and declares her the new Wonder Girl.
As Yara stands she mentions that she isn’t much of a Girl as she is in her twenties already. Wonder Woman and Yara joke back and forth about long lives and this being Diana trying to pull her best Batman for her own Robin.
Later, Artemis is seen somewhere alone with her hands mysteriously glowing purple.
Elsewhere, Altuum is shown coming across some of Chaos’ leftover power.
At the Hall of Celebration the Themysciran, Bana-Mighdall, and Esquecida Amazon Tribes gather. Nubia speaks on the tragedy they all went through along with the great hope she has they all have the strength and spirit to rebuild what was lost together as Amazons. Faruka speaks next on how all Amazon Tribes can live for each other.
Faruka then gives Nubia the Crown of Atalanta and says it is something Nubia has earned. While raising Nubia’s arm into the air Faruka leads all the Amazons in chanting “LONG LIVE QUEEN NUBIA!” End of issue.
REVIEW
The best stories make the reader or viewer feel like they were on a journey with the characters. That is where Trial of the Amazons #2 fails as a finale for Wonder Woman’s latest big event. The sense of journey is missing as a lot of plot elements are simply dropped or left in the “To Be Continued” spot that leaves it feeling like the ending was completely rushed.
The reality we are left with Trial of the Amazons #2 is the fact that Hippolyta’s murder, the Trial of the three Amazon Tribes Champions, and Altuum manipulation aren’t a big factor. They are all just set dressing for what equates to the Smoke Monster from Lost in the form of Chaos. The entire threat turning out to be this shadowy Chaos whose greatest act is to taunt Wonder Woman about her mother’s death is extremely disappointing. Even the monsters that Chaos unleashes on Themyscira are generic monsters that just seem to be there to give the Amazons something to punch.
It is very disappointing because even when the Amazons were being turned against each other there is no sense that things are dire. Our lead characters weren’t ever put in a spot to make tough decisions. Instead Nubia was able to simply use a special spear to get the infected Amazons to turn back to normal. If there was actual build to this Chaos threat maybe Nubia pulling out this special weapon would’ve been a meaningful moment. Instead that along with The War Chest Of Nike just feels like a last minute development because the creative team remembered they needed to arm the Amazons to stand a chance.
The only thing that works in this entire battle with Chaos is the sacrifice that Atalanta and Antiope. It is big character moments that is made by the reactions that Wonder Woman, Faruka, and others have. You feel how big of a sacrifice Atalanta and Antiope are making by choosing to become Doom’s Doorway’s guardians from the other side. It is just to bad, that like so much about Trial of the Amazons, that Atalanta and Antiope weren’t a bigger focus in this story until now. If Atalanta and Antiope were given more development time this could’ve reached the level of iconic Wonder Woman franchise moment.
From there the rest of Trial of the Amazons #2 is a mixed bag. The standout by far from the second half of this issue was Diana holding the Wonder Girl ceremony for Yara Flor. The writing staff do a good job making this a big moment while mixing in Yara’s sense of comedy by calling out the fact Diana is making her an official Wonder Girl even though he is in her twenties. It was a good tone setter for what Diana and Yara’s relationship is compared to Donna and Cassie. This quick back and forth with the mention of Batman and Robin does make this dynamic between Diana and Yara be reminiscent of how Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson interact even now as both are adults. It definitely has me interested in Yara being part of the cast for current Wonder Woman series.
Nubia’s crowing was something that was completely predictable. While the Trial of the Amazons tried to make it a big deal that there was a competition between Nubia and Faruka for the Queen of the Amazons title it was never a competition. It was obvious from the beginning this was an artificially created conflict that would end with Nubia being crowed Queen of the Amazons.
That said I do appreciate that the writing staff gave Nubia a strong speech to showcase why she is the one to take on being Queen of the Amazons after Hippolyta. You do feel she is the right person to lead the Amazons to whatever comes next as all three tribes are now united. Faruka’s acceptance of this was a nice touch to end Trial of the Amazons #2 on a positive note.
When it comes to the artwork of Trial of the Amazons #2 if you take the individual portions Elena Casagrande, Laura Braga, Skylar Patridge, Adriana Melo, and Joelle Jones all worked on their respective art looks good. Its when you take all the art together that they just don’t mesh well together. Casagrande and Jones artwork is the closest to being similar enough to flow well but they don’t have their art featured back-to-back. Instead we get a clashing style of art that really impacts the overall flow of the story. Its too bad because each of these artists are talented enough to draw the entire issue alone and it would look great.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Trial of the Amazons #2 was ended the latest Wonder Woman event in disappointment. Just about every plotline in Trial of the Amazons rushed at the end so the payoff just doesn’t end up working out as intended. The Trial the story is named after being dropped almost completely is an example of how big of a missed opportunity this entire event was. Its such a shame because Trial of the Amazons had a good start but just never found its footing in the second half of the story.
Story Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10