A traveling winter circus under attack from Nazi occultists? I love this book.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Laura Braga
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Raven run into an even stranger circus than usual in the middle of a Russian forest where they meet dancing bears, werewolves, and…Captain Cold!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get further into some of the events going on with the Russian front of the story, Marguerite Bennett is digging into some new things to help expand the overall picture, which is something that I love with this series as it reinvents or looks alternatively at things. There’s some real fun to be had here with this version of Trigon, especially when trying to reconcile with past versions that I know. What makes this installment a special treat for me is that we get Laura Braga back on the art duties and that always works extra well when it comes to a Raven chapter. I just adore the way she captures the physicality of the character, especially with Nanjan’s color work, but particularly her expressions and wide-eyed moments.
With the trio crash landing as we saw in the last issue, there’s some weirdness and fun to it, especially as there’s a bit of a singsong element to it at the start. But what else would you expect from Harley, who’s punning away and so close to executing some excellent dad jokes. Bringing Raven into this pair is certainly interesting as you can almost see the other two being parental toward her in a way but without the heightened sense of protectiveness. Raven, for her part, is explaining well to them bits of her past so they’re on board with why she’s seeking out her father and there’s a smoothness and ease to the way this group works. It’s light but with the right kind of richness just under the surface to give it some real engagement and exploration.
Of course, their actual exploration of the forest area takes them to the aforementioned circus which introduces a new piece of the puzzle for this war. Filled with lots of action, it seems that the Reich has gone through the countries that it has conquered and is now drawing upon the occult and its forces through various creatures to create an army to mobilize. They’re acquiring more in this area and that’s just a whole mess in general. But it also explains why Trigon might be a part of things and makes for a pretty tense reunion when they do reconnect, since he’s somewhat controlled and lashing out. It’s still hard to wrap my head around this incarnation of Trigon, especially after coming off of the Injustice version from a couple of years ago, but the whole father/daughter dynamic has been a staple for ages that I’m curious to see what Bennett does with it.
In Summary:
With a fun tease stinger at the end that brings a few other characters into the mix, and into Russia, Bombshells is building a lot with this that I’m curious to see how it all comes together. There are a lot of little bits in this installment that work nicely, especially the nods given to Fawkes by Raven, but it’s a kind of overstuffed piece that throws a lot at us quickly without feeling like we have enough grounding in a story sense to really connect with it. Braga delivers some great monster moments and runs with some wonderful character pieces, particularly with Raven, and I’m already looking forwad to more material from her here and elsewhere.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 27th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
