The Wonder Woman event, “Trial of the Amazons,” continues with a new mini-series starring Yara Flor. The previous two issues set the stage for what the Trial of the Amazons will be about along with establishing a greater mystery around who killed Hippolyta in the first chapter of the event. With that as a backdrop to the Trial to crown the new Amazon Champion emotions are running high as Diana Prince, Donna Troy, Yara Flor, and Philippus have been announced as the competitors for the contest. Let’s see how things turn out next with Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl #1.
Creative Team
Writer & Artist: Joelle Jones
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Synopsis
Hours before Hippolyta’s death, as Yara Flor and the Esquecida Amazons arrive on Themyscira Yara reminisces about what happened in the aftermath of the Battle On Mount Olympus she and the Esquecida’s were involved with.
During this time Yara goes with Potira into the forests of Brazil to enter the hidden home of the Esquecida known as Akahim. There Yara would learn all about the history and culture of the Esquecida Amazons along with participating in training and hunts. Eventually the Esquecida’s Queen Gaboymila learns about the Trial to crown the next Amazon Champion who will be charged with guarding Doom’s Doorway being held on Themyscira. Queen Gaboymila, since she cannot attend due to an illness, assigns Potira to be the Esquecida’s representative and tells her to take Yara and other Amazons along with her to Themyscira.
On the night of Hippolyta’s funeral Cassandra Sandsmark spends time thinking of all the possible people who could’ve been responsible for Hippolyta’s death. Towards the end of the night Cassandra asks Artemis if she was the one who poisoned Hippolyta. Artemis says that she will let Cassandra off with this disrespect once because they are friends but to not ask her that again or die at her hands.
Flashing back to hours before Hippolyta’s death, Yara enjoys spending time with all the Amazons on Themyscira, including a talk with Hippolyta during the banquet of all the Amazon Tribes. During this talk Hippolyta reveals she knew Yara’s mother, Aella, before she left Amazon and talks about how fierce and passionate of a person Aella was. Yara is touched to hear such words about her mother.
Days later, after spending countless hours investigating Hippolyta’s death Cassandra decides to retrace her steps from that night. Doing this Cassandra realizes who the prime suspect is.
At Doom’s Doorway a creature escapes and kills Rhea and Yarima.
Elsewhere Diana Prince, Donna Troy, Yara Flor, and Philippus have all changed into their Amazon Champion armor and get set to begin the Trial. End of issue.
Review
The plot progression for the overall Trial of the Amazons crossover event is very minimal in this issue. Instead, Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl #1 focuses on establishing who Yara Flor and Esquecida are so the reader understands where this Amazon Tribe is coming from in this story. That is great for readers who did not read Joelle Jones’ previous Wonder Girl series but for those that did this issue will definitely come across as mostly a recap issue.
I definitely fall under the camp of feeling how heavy of a recap of the Wonder Girl #1 through Wonder Girl #7 this issue was. That is not a completely bad thing as I did appreciate seeing what the aftermath of Battle On Mount Olympus. This was the proper follow-up to get over why Yara Flor appeared to be fully integrated with the Esquecida Amazons when they showed up together in Trial of the Amazons #1. Joelle Jones artwork for all these flashback sequences really elevated how the history and culture of the Esquecida was portrayed. Just about every splash page and double page spread was something that could easily go on a poster.
But while seeing more of the Esquecida history and culture looked great it did not escape how much of Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl #1 felt like a recap. Which is what I feared with how Trial of the Amazons was split up to be told in three different series rather than in a standalone mini-series. Because this is Yara Flor’s mini-series, like with Wonder Woman #785 did with Diana, this comic book feel into the trappings of doing everything possible to put over Yara’s part in the story. In the process there are a lot of scenes that are reframed to give us Yara’s perspective on what we already saw happen in Trial of the Amazons.
It would’ve been one thing if getting Yara’s perspective on all the events that have taken place in Trial of the Amazons pushed the story forward. Both the Nubia and Wonder Woman chapters showed how that could be done as even in focus on their leads they were able to push the story forward. Unfortunately in making the entire story told in this issue told in one giant flashback it made it feel like we were standing still with the greater Trial of the Amazons story. Which lead to the feeling we were stuck in one giant loop.
The only progression we actually get with Trial of the Amazons is Cassandra Sandsmark investigation into Hippolyta’s death. Cassandra’s investigation is where you really felt along for the ride of how things were going with this event. Jones does a good job making all of Cassandra’s internal monologue push her part in Trial of the Amazons forward to show that she is taking every possibility into account. That includes how she approached Artemis about Hippolyta’s death worked well into the friendship they both developed during Jones previous Wonder Girl series.
Final Thoughts
Due to the flashback nature of Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl #1 there was very little plot progression for this event. More than anything this comic book was a showcase of Joelle Jones and Jordie Bellaire’s phenomenal artwork. Trial of the Amazons: Wonder Girl #1 was filled stunning artwork that fans will love. Hopefully now that all of the set up is out of the way for all the major players involved the remaining chapters of Trial of the Amazons will have a stronger balance of character and plot progression.
Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10