A new adventure begins!
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Rachel Stott
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Back on the now-risen Atlantis, Raven has a premonition that prompts Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Zatanna and Constantine to follow her to Russia to help the starving civilians there.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With this mini-arc serving to get some new stories underway from different vantage points that will connect in Russia, the latest chapter has Marguerite Bennett working with artist Rachel Stott. Stott has gotten plenty of raves from us for her work on Doctor Who and she fits in wonderfully with the Bombshells style here. Combined with Nanjan’s color work that simply brings so much pop to it, Stott’s character designs have all the right curves and height to them and some wonderful expressiveness that makes them feel even more human and engaging. Suffice to say, with some solid layout work here, I’m already looking forward to the next time Stott ends up on this book.
After the overall recap time we had last time around, which was done to song, Bombshells is a bit more focused this time on two things that intersect at the end. The primary is seeing how Raven is coping with everything in Atlantis where it’s been a few months of healing and a need driven by her dreams to get to Russia as she’s having recurring nightmares of what seems to be her father chasing and killing people. Zatanna and Constantine, a most wonderful couple to see in this incarnation, are being somewhat parental and protective of her but also are just being wary of her powers that are off the charts. The emotional aspect of it works well as it plays out since they’re trying to do the right thing and Raven is, for all intents and purposes, a teenager struggling with a lot of things. Seeing how she orchestrates her flight from there isn’t a surprise but it is nicely done, even if should get figured out quickly.
The lighter side of the book involves Harley and Ivy as they’re getting ready to leave Atlantis now that they’re fully rested – and have likely fooled around in every place possible in Atlantis. Knowing the problems in Russia and how starved people are, Ivy’s seeing it as a chance to do a lot of good by easing the famine there with her abilities and Harley’s obviously along for the ride. The dynamic between the two and Mera is just a delight as they’re all so friendly, silly, and comfortable around each other that it’s enjoyable just to soak all of that up. This subplot works as a device to help get Raven out, unbeknownst to the others, but the wrap-up of their Atlantis adventure and pushing them forward with a doing good angle is definitely welcome after all that’s happened.
In Summary:
While Bombshells doesn’t have any major plot points here it’s doing the heavy lifting work of getting the next arc underway. Pushing the characters forward and into new adventures is always a bit awkward in some ways but with a worldwide war setting to play with there’s a lot more options for doing all of this. Getting Raven into the field on her own will lead to some problems to be sure and putting he with Ivy and Harley is definitely going to be fun since they’ll make her a member of their gang, though you can see Ivy being really motherly with her. This issue has a very fun and upbeat feeling overall and a lot of that comes from the artwork by Stott as she delivers easily and regularly with the facial expressions to make you just feel giddy being around these characters. I can’t wait to see more.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 6th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
