Nubia: Queen of the Amazons

by Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, David W. Mack (Cover Art)

Nubia might be queen, but not all Amazons call Themyscira home, which prompts the new monarch to leave Themyscira for the first time in decades to serve her people. Now, as she embarks on her tour through Man's World to show off the newly established sisterhood, she will be met with joy, distrust, and danger. As she travels to the homes of both the Bana- Mighdall and Esquecida tribes, something lurks in the shadows following her every move. A villain from Nubia's mysterious past has been waiting for the day the queen would join the outside world again, and they're ready to make her wish she'd never left paradise!

Collects tales from Nubia & the Amazons #1; Coronation Special #1; and Queen of the Amazons #1-4!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Wonder Woman, LGBT, Fantasy, Young Adult

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2022

Reviews

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story picks up after Trial of the Amazons. So, if you haven’t read that (and I hadn’t) you’ll be quite confused through parts of this.

The story follows Nubia as the 3 groups of Amazons come together to help each other. As she is working with them, she starts to have flashbacks to her previous time in man’s land. This eventually leads to a painful reunion.

The art changes quite a few times but so much of it, especially the covers, was absolutely gorgeous! My favorite parts of these stories are women helping women and the diversity in this book was wonderful to see! I’m sad this was so short because I think expanding it would’ve really helped. I would’ve liked seeing more of Nubia’s past, but still enjoyed this.

I’m glad we saw more of Io and Bia, as well.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gonna hold off on a review. I want to run something by my girlfriend and will include her opinion on here as well. Otherwise, I'll just post my review. She probably won't even give one page a chance xD

Psych! After reading a much superior Nubia book (by one of the same writers too) the flaws in this one stick out much more substantially. How can you call her Queen of the Amazons if you showcase her everywhere BUT there?

One must take into account the fact that these are collected stories and not one linear plot. More like Nubia featured here, there and there. Still hard to get any idea of Nubia's character and her significance rather than just titles.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate it being pointed out that Diana is barely accepted by humans, so for Nubia to be going out into the world poses even more of a risk, willing as she is to open Themyscira to others.

[Ekene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need more stories- and show adaption- of this character, PRONTO

[rohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love beautiful buff lesbians and gorgeous gorgeous art

[Ada]

Solid exposition for a historically underserved character. This run feels like what Ta-Nehisi Coates' was for Black Panther - the chance to reimagine and relocate a textually significant character in history. The art style changes a lot between issues, which might put off some readers, but I found that a interesting. It's always cool to see more innovative or different art styles in comics, particularly ones that focus on women characters. The outfit designs in particular are so distinctive, and I enjoyed looking at the little details. Also cool to see Wonder Girl in this. I wonder how their relationship will parallel Diana's with the other Wonder Girls, but it seems like these two are much more direct and confrontational, while avoiding the way that stereotype is used to dismiss women of color's concerns. We see them reacting to real injustices and violence, and feeling beleaguered when the powers that be are stacked against them - but we also see them forming connections with others who care, and who can help what they recognize as kindred goals. It was a solid storyline, and I'm so excited to see how the creative team takes on the concept of "divine right" and the canonical capriciousness of the deities in question - anyone with even a passing awareness of ancient Greek mythology knows that those deities were hardly bastions of discernment and bountiful benevolence.

I've been re-reading Audre Lorde recently, and the way Nubia handles power is reminiscent of Lorde's prescription for such. It's a lovely story about balancing combative inclinations and a warrior's training with diplomacy and prioritizing the people who need not just a figurehead, but a leader. There is a lot of discussion about what it means to wield power given by others, and it really hits that sweet spot I enjoy where it gets the point across while still giving the characters space to make human mistakes. Williams and Ayala deal with this balance in a way I've seen few Wonder Woman comics do. I'm excited to see what directions this character's story goes in!

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is a perfectly decent story, it seems to require more familiarity with Nubia's backstory than I possess. For instance, the primary flashback scenes don't disrupt the main plot, and provide relevant detail, but I was unclear as to what they were supposed to represent. They're allegedly set on Madagascar, but not anything resembling our Earth's Madagascar, which I assume is intentional, but I was left unclear as to why. And that's just one element.

Set against this confusion on my part, the artwork is gorgeous, employing different artists and styles for different points in the (often non-linear) story, yet always high-quality. The Coronation section, near the beginning, is particularly good in this regard, and conveys a broader setting from multiple different perspectives. And the core story, with an old enemy out for power and revenge is, if not remarkably original, well-written with some decent dialogue.

But I'm perhaps not the intended audience here, not having read most of what preceded it, and coming in too late. I didn't get much of a feel for Nubia here - Yara Flor was better portrayed and fleshed out in her debut story, even if that also seemed to start in media res. Yes, she's kind of a female Black Panther, which has its appeal, but beyond that, it's hard to see what makes her distinctive and she looks likely to be a supporting character from here on in... being a reigning monarch is, perhaps, a bit limiting for a hero.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
This story takes place after "Trial of the Amazons". Nubia is crowned as Queen of all Amazons (all three known tribes) and a large portion of this book deals with her coronation and the aftermath therein, visiting countries and becoming friendly with the Justice League. She begins having visions of a past life as a chosen follower of Sekhmet, and of a woman she once loved. It was a little confusing for me going back and forth between timelines, but it boils down to the defeat of this woman and an awakening of some gods and goddesses who have decided to remind the world who's really in charge. (apparently continued in the pages of Wonder Woman)
Overall, I think Nubia will be a great Amazonian Queen, but will fade away from her own books. Looking forward to seeing the Gods back in action in the pages of Wonder Woman.
Recommend, but with slight reservation. At least be familiar with the stories beforehand.

[LaydeeOnyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

The visuals are absolutely STUNNING🤩🤎. Like I literally flipped through every page while reading and kept gasping at the art. The storyline was not bad either although, it looks like I had to read something else beforehand to better understand what was happening. It took a bit of adjusting for me to keep up with the different timelines but once I got the flow of the story, I was able to follow along. I’ve never been great at reading comic books because it literally goes against how i was taught to read 😭 but I’m hoping to
improve on that as I get back into my comic book era. Overall, I love what this comic represents and I happily enjoyed the ride. I’ll be reading this again and read what came before it and what comes after it. Looks like I have a new cosplay aspiration in the gorgeous Queen Nubia!😍

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

DC has their own Black Panther?

Others have said it, I'm just chiming in. With the ascension to godhood by Hippolyta, Themyscira needed a new queen. Nubia now stands as the new leader of the Amazons and....goes on a 'world tour' of sorts?

We get a little bit of flashback to her previous life (out of context and no detail given). DC is trying reallllllly hard to make the Amazons serious players in the DCU. Consider this a work in progress.
-------
Bonus: This is all, basically, a set up for future issues of 'Wonder Woman'. Smart play.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t read Trial of the Amazons so starting this left me a little confused (but I think I picked up on the gist of what happened.) The art was really great in this - the story not so much. It felt very disjointed and jumped around a lot. Maybe if I had read the Trials it would have made more sense? One review I read said it had a lot going on, yet at the same time not much happened. I feel like that is a pretty accurate description.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an enjoyable enough read, but definitely a bit confusing with the multiple flashbacks. I assumed this was a standalone graphic novel, but the story came after events I had not read about so that was also confusing. It was fun learning more about the Amazons and their different tribes, though.

[Elysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nubia is a great character. This story is the first I remember reading about her, and I plan to look for more. I like that all the Amazons from different cultures are coming together here. The plot is interesting with good twists. Now I'm off to find the Wonder Woman books in which this story continues.

[Kyle Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this right after “Trial of the Amazons,” and I prefer it over that crossover. I believe this volume benefits from the consistent storytelling from Williams. It also builds on the characterization of key players from the prior story. Finally, I really enjoyed the flashback scenes to Nubia’s youth in Madagascar. Fun story.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard about this from reading Newitz's Stories Are Weapons and wanted to check it out. Like with any comic series, if you haven't been following you'll be utterly lost. Still, I think this was pretty good, if choppy and confusing. That's always my biggest complaint about comics: hard, nonsensical segues because publishers are more concerned with cost and page count than good narrative flow.

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a fantastic job of having Nubia face well written challenges that really serve as a showcase of how much opportunity her character can provide for stories in the future! There is a lot of wonderful highlighting of Wonder Woman and Yara Flor in here too!

[McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice art, lovable characters. Only thing missing would be a small blurb in the begining to give a little "previously on" and explain what happened right before this. It felt like they kept referring back to things and a simple paragraph summary could've cleared that right up.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Nubia as a character, and just as she starts to develop her own storyline and threats, it looks like she's getting relegated to backup character in the main Wonder Woman book.

[Johnicka Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything

I was so excited to read this and it did not disappoint. I was initially scared to read comics this way, but it wasn’t bad at all.

[readingsprints_and_chaisips · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pictures in this book are incredible and breathtaking. I didn’t read comics as a kid but has i had this one i would’ve been sold! Nubia is drawn so beautifully.

[Starrunner · Rating 3 out of 5]

well the art is very beautiful but the story is really whatever

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely art, still like these characters, but really dull plot, made more frustrating by the fact that the "villain" was poorly written. Their motive just made no sense to me.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nubia strikes out into Man's World on a diplomatic mission, only to find a face from her past looking to take her down before she can effect any real change.

Nubia's latest solo series feels both crowded and empty at the same time. There are a lot of things going on, from flashbacks to her previous lives to appearances by Justice League characters, but it all rings kind of hollow. Despite the hardships she's facing, Nubia never really feels in real danger, and I'm not sure why. It all wraps up fairly neatly, but it doesn't feel like anyone's really gone through anything, even though four issues have passed. It's a whole lot of...nothing.

There's also stories collected here from the Coronation Special and the previous Nubia & The Amazons series, presumably back-ups that weren't collected with those issues in Nubia & The Amazons or Tales Of The Amazons, mostly to pad for space since four issues isn't really enough to make a whole hardcover out of.

Nubia's next outing lacks substance, which is a shame since she'd been doing really well lately for stories. It's the same writers and same artists as before, but it definitely feels like a step down compared to the last story. Hopefully if and when Nubia takes the spotlight again, she has a more engaging story waiting for her.

[Miracle Luckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking Ending