The scale of the threat takes on a new level.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Mirka Andolfo
Colors: Wendy Broome
What They Say:
Edel Nacht’s Titan threatens to destroy all of London. With one Bombshell down, will another one be forced to sacrifice her own life?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we hit the penultimate chapter of this arc, the book provides for some good frights along the way. The worst fright for me was reading the bit at the end where it said, “Next: The Shocking Conclusion!” All I could think of was, did I miss that the series is ending? Thankfully, it’s really just the conclusion of this six part arc before it moves into a new three part side story arc. The fear that I felt over losing this series definitely hit me hard though because it’s done some fantastic stuff and has me wanting an array of spin-offs from it. So seeing that line reinforced for me just how well I’ve connected with this book and how much I look forward to it each week. And this issue is no exception in how much fun it is!
With this focusing on the fight against Edel Nacht in massive Titan mode, the book does a lot of stuff here to reinforce what this is all about while keeping to the action. The Titan is certainly impressive in scale and makes for a solid opponent for the Bombshells since they’ve mostly focused on smaller forces. The only big thing they had to deal with was Nereus and that came at the sacrifice of Mera’s powers. The Titan works the usual villain expositional elements here in order to reveal what it’s all about and what it does in that the goal is to bring freedom through unity mired in darkness and stillness. It’s something that is intriguing with how it’s presented by bringing people’s souls into itself and giving them nothing to worry about ever again. At the same time, it turns those bodies into husks that draw more into its web. It’s not the greatest villain ever or anything, but Bennett provides solid enough motivations and otherworldliness that’s compelling enough to be sure for a group like this and a time like this.
While we have the darkness we also have the light in our Bombshells. Not all of them get material here, though most get a line or a nod that helps to keep the flow going. The push against the Titan is well played as Andolfo lays it all out well, giving the scenes impact and scale as the women go up against this massive character amid the city. I like the way it unfolds with some quips along the way that fall to the side as they realize how dangerous the Titan is and how casual attacks can cause more problems. But when things shift to what must be done to stop it, the weight of the words and actions that have to be taken really hits in a big way. Andolfo hits up most of the cast here and giving them a chance to be somber or outright sad definitely works really well, especially as it all focuses in on one character, giving her a powerful and heartbreaking final page.
In Summary:
DC Comics Bombshells has a really good penultimate chapter to this storyline that brings much of what’s happened to a naturally pivotal point. The back and forth of battle has unfolded well, the team has come together and faced losses already and are now realizing they have to go a step further in order to defeat the Titan. Bennett continues to find the right balance between darkness and playfulness here and Andolof has turned these scripts into beautiful pages where I find myself wishing a great deal of them were available in print form or that we could get an unlettered version as well just to soak up all the details. Great stuff that’s serving up one of the best arcs of the book yet.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 18th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
