A win, of sorts.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Sandy Jarrell
Colors: Jeremy Lawson
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
The identity of the Reaper is revealed as the Batgirls must face their most awful challenge yet and rally the villains of Gotham to save the city!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Batgirls arc comes to a close, at least for now, but it certainly seeds a lot of other things that will play to the larger storylines in the background at the moment. The Batgirls material has always been mixed for me and this installment really isn’t all that different since the girls themselves are minor players and I still have a hard time finding them to be really well defined as they’re only given these short arcs – and there are so many of the girls. Add in that I don’t know most of them from the mainline universe and it just doesn’t click as well. But there’s a lot of appeal and with Sandy Jarrell stepping in for the art again, we get a book that has some great looks from decades gone by combined with the simplicity of costume and facial expression that simply pops off the page beautifully.
With the girls trying to stop the Reaper from killing Hugo Strange as they want him and the others brought to justice for what they’ve done, this installment revolves around the Reaper revealing their true identity. Andrea Gruenwald relates her story quickly and easily enough with how Strange wanted what her father was working on as a scientist and then how things went south, giving her a chance to escape to America and into Gotham to take over her father’s life since he died. Her intent on taking down those that worked for Strange, like Penguin and Frost, makes sense as it gives her a path toward her main goal while feeling like she’s accomplishing things. But unlike the Batgirls, she wants these opponents dead and buried like her father is. There’s an anger that the girls try to reach through as they remind her that they’ll bring these people to justice, but the Reaper isn’t looking for justice.
A lot of this chapter is the back and forth between sides as each makes their case while working with their basic weapons. That the Reaper escapes is no surprise, though it’s interesting that Lois catches flight with her in order to protect Killer Frost while also searching for the larger story. The Reaper simply didn’t do much for me but it tied together a few things. In particular, we get the nod that Strange is intent on stopping Amanda Waller as he views her as the real threat to the world and he intends to take her out. That will bring these characters into the larger Bombshells storyline at some point and I like the connection. My favorite part in this installment is watching Harvey’s journey as he becomes Two-Face here, of sorts, but doesn’t seem to be going through the psychological trauma of it all because of the support system he has with the girls in his life. Whether that lasts is a different thing, but it’s a twist that for the moment is very welcome.
In Summary:
The Bombshells series finishes off a short side story arc that has some connections setup and it works well, though it’s still not something that lights my interest in a big way. Bennett does some good stuff with the sprawling cast but it really does just feel like too many characters combined with too many villains. Sandy Jarrell has been doing some great stuff in recent installments involving the Berlin arc and his artwork is solid here, but there aren’t enough opportunities for some really great layouts and designs to make it stand out in a big way. The next installment is giving us a side story that’s also a flashback so it can introduce some new characters at the 1936 Olympics, so I’m definitely excited to see how that goes.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 19th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
