18 Years Ago, DC Followed Up the Best Event Comic of the ‘00s With This Absolute Stinker

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In the 2000s, DC Comics was thriving. After successfully navigating the 1990s, they revitalized classic teams like the Justice League and Justice Society, launching the careers of heroes like Wally West, Kyle Rayner, Dick Grayson, and Tim Drake. They also found fresh takes on iconic characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, and introduced a new generation of teen heroes. From 2000 to 2005, DC was producing fantastic comics, all building towards the epic Infinite Crisis, a sequel to the legendary Crisis on Infinite Earths, which unfolded from 2005 to 2006.

Infinite Crisis was a major comic book event that DC spent years building up. The story aimed to reintroduce older elements from DC’s history and pave the way for the 52 series, which ultimately brought back the DC Multiverse. While DC was trying to generate excitement, 2007 saw a significant miscalculation. Instead of following up the success of Infinite Crisis with another large-scale event, they released Amazons Attack!, a critically panned story by Will Pfeiffer and Pete Wood, widely considered one of the worst events in DC Comics history – a major error for the company.

Amazon Attacks! Was Surprisingly Bad In a Way It Shouldn’t Have Been

What’s frustrating about the Amazon Attacks! storyline is that it had a lot of potential. The recent Wonder Woman reboot set up an interesting conflict: Wonder Woman was imprisoned by the US government despite objections from her Amazon sisters, who were already dealing with a threat from Granny Goodness. This could have led to a compelling war between the Amazons and the United States, with the superhero community being the only force capable of preventing a national conflict. It really was a strong premise. The groundwork for this story was even partially laid in the Countdown to Final Crisis series, and it could have seamlessly led into Grant Morrison’s larger Final Crisis event.

The series had trouble finding its footing from the start. While Pfeiffer and Wood tried their best, the more grounded tone of events in stories like Infinite Crisis and 52 clashed with the lighter, more outlandish ideas presented in Amazon Attacks! A particular moment—Batman famously exclaiming “Bees. My God.” when learning the Amazons used bees as weapons—has become synonymous with the series and completely undermined its seriousness. Some fans speculate this was a parody of the recent Wicker Man remake, which also featured bee-related humor, but the damage was already done. The story simply couldn’t be taken seriously after that.

The comic book miniseries Amazon Attacks! followed the popularity of a new Wonder Woman storyline, which DC Comics had heavily promoted with well-known creators like Allan Heinberg (co-creator of Young Avengers), Terry and Rachel Dodson, and novelist Jodi Picoult. However, Amazon Attacks! didn’t receive the same level of attention or effort. The writers, Pfeiffer and Woods, weren’t as established as the creators working on Wonder Woman, and their names alone weren’t enough to draw readers to the series. Furthermore, the story didn’t align well with the overall direction of the DC Multiverse at that time.

Around 2007, DC Comics started revisiting classic ideas reminiscent of the early days of superheroes. They were putting a renewed focus on teams like the Justice League and Justice Society, and bringing back elements from Superman’s history before the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, including the Legion of Superheroes and his original backstory. Batman’s stories were being redefined by Grant Morrison, solidifying a consistent history for the character. Wonder Woman was also being reimagined, with the return of her Diana Prince identity and a push towards new storylines. However, the Amazons Attack! storyline felt out of step with this revitalized DC Universe and failed to generate excitement among readers—in fact, the more people heard about it, the less interested they became.

DC Completely Bungled Amazons Attack!

The comic book event Infinite Crisis was a major moment for DC Comics, and it successfully led into another popular series, 52. At the time, DC had a very enthusiastic fanbase, enjoying titles like Superman, Action Comics, Batman, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Secret Six, and many others, all of which delivered what readers wanted from the DC Universe. However, the publisher needed to maintain that level of success, and Amazons Attack! unfortunately didn’t meet expectations.

The publisher made a clear misstep with this event. They chose creators who were decent, but not top-tier, and their unusual storytelling decisions quickly turned readers away. Compounding the issue, Wonder Woman wasn’t reaching its full potential – a lack of readership meant fans weren’t invested in the event’s story. This combination of errors resulted in one of the most unsuccessful events in DC’s history.

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2025-12-23 03:43