STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: COMICS “Ame-Comi Girls #1”
Picture the DC Universe, but all the heroes are the females. And not just as derivatives of the main hero (Batman -> Batgirl; Superman -> Supergirl), they are the originals. That is Ame-Comi Girls.
Let’s start it off with the first, most famous female DC superhero: Wonder Woman.
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, penciled by Amanda Conner & Tony Akins, and inked by Conner & Walden Wong, Ame-Comi Girls #1 is centered on Wonder Woman. After her home island of Themyscira is invaded by another country, Queen Hippolyta realizes that the world of man has not changed, so the Amazons have to make contact with them in order for some kind of change to happen. Her solution: sending her daughter Diana to become the ambassador of them.
At this point, Diana is very immature, having a “fight first, ask questions later” type of mentality. She believes her status as a princess excludes her of any kind of responsibility. Handling things diplomatically is not her tactic.
When speaking at the United Nations, it is attacked by one of her iconic villains, Cheetah. Diana successfully subdues her, unbeknownst to everyone, she’s not working alone.
Issue #1, and just each issue of Volume 1 in general, is introducing heroes and their life, and what they are about before they finally meet up to face off a threat. Is it underwhelming? Sure, but you can’t have a proper, epic story without buildup. Still, I can understand if that is a negative; there are stories where their first issue is a self-contained story.
Something to note: there is a bit of a male mentality going on with some of the heroes’ outfits.
I’m a huge fan of Power Girl, which is how I discovered Ame-Comi Girls. It also really helped that some of the artwork on various issue looked very anime, especially Power Girl’s introduction issue.
Ame-Comi Girls is a great alternate DC universe story focusing on the female heroes and villains. It balances an epic sci-fi and fantasy world with the comedic and dramatic tone and characters that I love from Gray and Palmiotti.
Fight some Minotaur, and check it out.
