It’s all in the phrasing.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Sandy Jarrell
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Batwoman returns to Berlin to aid Catwoman. There, Batwoman is unexpectedly reunited with her ex-lover, Renee Montoya, and we get a glimpse of their romantic and complicated past.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
DC Comics Bombshells brings the Ghost Stories arc to a close with this installment going by the opening page and it’s a solid issue that brings back Sandy Jarrell for the artwork. As I’ve talked about over the run, Marguerite Bennett knows exactly how to spread the stories going on and blend them together right, giving the cast their chance to shine separately. The rotating list of artists are some of the best suited for this series and Sandy Jarrell is no exception. Part of the appeal for me is in the layouts and some of the trick used to busy up pages while adding to the overall tone of it, which with this one means a lot of Spanish style tiling done across different parts of the page to great effect. It’s something that just adds to the overall atmosphere.
This installment gives us some wonderful time with Selina at the start as we see how she’s manipulated things with the group of Nazi’s she was entertaining in order to use them for the larger fight in her own way. While she’s not big on the action herself, she’s able to take down a host of influential and moneyed people in order to get information out of them – eventually and elsewhere. That doesn’t sit well with some of the others since it means a form of torture more likely than not, but it’s fun watching the way Selina’s cat-like side comes out in how she responds, moves, and acts in general amid all of this when it comes to the others that show up as part of the resistance. Having Renee Montoya show up first for some banter and then Kate definitely has Selina enjoying playing in a way to toy with them.
The bulk of the installment is a fun flashback to 1935 in Spain when Kate and Renee were an item, enjoying the heyday of the period and all that it involved there. It has the right kind of whimsical aspect about it, the young love, as well as the freedom and possibility of it all. That it shifts to the war footing is no surprise when the fascists began bombing Madrid and the way they had that kind of idealized wartime relationship amid it all. That it created some problems and barriers along the way is no surprise either because it was serious but only so far, and that makes for some really fun material in the present day for them as they have to work together now underground to break out the Jews that are being detained in Berlin. This is certainly one of the more unusual groups that Bennett has put together, complete with a Harley at the end, that I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
In Summary:
Bombshells spends some great time in flashback mode here that really delivers some good expansion for Kate and firming up the kind of relationship that she had with Renee. Sandy Jarrell’s style of artwork is certainly different from the others that work on this series, being more angular than curved, but it’s one that works just as well. I loved the big splash page with the whole Romeo & Juliet feeling about it and just the way that Kate and Renee move and look at each other during the flashback. Selina’s time at the start of the book is just as wonderful with how she’s represented and there’s a lot to like in seeing the small but important expansion of the characters backgrounds here.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 27th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
