Nubia & The Amazons #4 Review - The Most Uneven Series of 2022
Writer: Stephanie Williams & Vita Ayala | Artist: Alitha Martinez & Darryl Banks Publisher: DC Comics
I reviewed Nubia & The Amazon #3 awhile back and gave it a scathing assessment. Issue #4 does read better this time around. The story may land a satisfying conclusion depending on the direction the creative team goes in the final two issues. On the positive side of this comic, Nubia has a few solid action sequences. This change allows Alitha Martinez and Darryl Banks to flex and show that they can do more than draw bland characters spewing even blander dialogue. There are also some meaningful insights revealed about the characters of Nubia, Andromeda, and Medusa.
On the positive side of this comic, Nubia has a few solid action sequences. This change allows Alitha Martinez and Darryl Banks to flex and show that they can do more than draw bland characters spewing even blander dialogue. There are also some meaningful insights revealed about the characters of Nubia, Andromeda and Medusa.
The comic flashes back to Nubia’s time in 70’s Chicago. It was during this period she developed a romance with a schoolteacher, Ms. Knight. I may have missed it but considering these characters become lovers It is odd that Knights first name is never mentioned.
Nubia saves Knight and her students from a random monster which sets off their awkward romance. This section of the comic also comes off as weird. The dialogue is rough. Knight seems overly smitten with Nubia from their first interaction. It gets even stranger when Nubia follow’s Knight home and prevents an attempted rape. The scene gives us a lesson on toxic masculinity while downplaying that Nubia is a creepy stalker.
Back in present Themyscira, the Amazon’s spend the issue trying to save Andromeda from being possessed by Medusa. The weakness of these scenes is that aside from a couple Amazon’s everyone is still eating Nubia’s ass.
Clearly Nubia has abandoned her post as guardian of Doom’s Doorway at several points in the past. You would think this would be a bigger issue for the Amazon’s, but it is glossed over like every other clever idea in this series.
The story is clumsily coming together. I think the biggest problem with Nubia & The Amazons so far is the weak editing and pacing the series for a collected edition. This is a very simple story bloated by very pretentious dialogue.
The story is clumsily coming together. I think the biggest problem with Nubia & The Amazons so far is the weak editing and pacing the series for a collected edition. This is a remarkably simple story bloated by very pretentious dialogue. We see these elements in every series that tries to combine superheroes with Game of Thrones, political intrigue (X-Men - Krakoa, Black Panther - Wakanda). The high concept format does not work for superheroes. I hope this trend ends soon because it zaps the excitement from short-form 22-page storytelling.
In Short: Nubia & The Amazon’s #4 gets out of its own way and puts more focus on the elements and downplays those that do not. The series is still a mess, but I have seen worse.