The world needs a chain smoking Hareblazer!
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Aneke
Colors: Wendy Broome
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Zatanna and Constantine have finally flown their way into Leningrad—only to find it’s under attack by Nazi-controlled magical mythical creatures! It’s a magic vs. magic fight with the return of…Bunny Constantine!, Supergirl and Powergirl join Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy’s circus. Raven and Lois Lane realize they have more in common than their age. This moment is very much the calm before the storm as the Nazis enlist mythical creatures into their command.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Winter is Coming arc draws to a close here before the series takes a dip back to some Suicide Squad material the next time around and what we get is certainly fun. It’s not a lot in the way of closure but more of a tease of what’s to come, which Marguerite Bennett does all too well. That’s made even more fun this time around with Aneke on the art with Wendy Broome doing some fantastic color work as they get to dabble with some new additions to the Bombshells universe. The fun of this series is in the characters we know to be sure but also seeing the twists in the adaptations that are to come with how they blend into it.
This installment does give us a little more time in Leningrad proper where we see Hugo Strange still panicking over everything that has gone down, and rightly so considering what he’s lost for the powers that be. That we do get introduced to this higher power at the end is done with all the right kinds of smoke and mirrors you’d expect, but delivering us Faora as a big bad, one that presumably has a bit more up the chain as well? Consider us tantalized. I’ve long been out of the Superman mythology within the mainline universe so I’m curious to see what they do here, especially as my only real connection to the character at this point is the recent Man of Steel live-action movie interpretation of her, something that Aneke looks to be working off of to some degree.
The bulk of the book, however, focuses on Zatanna and Constantine’s arrival outside of Leningrad where they see Killer Frost orchestrating the army there in the siege. With Frost’s past related to Raven in the forefront of Zee’s mind, she basically gets pretty intense in wanting to take her down and that makes for some great pages with how Aneke lays them out and her design on Zee. Broome’s color work is even more impressive here as it just brings her to life wonderfully in my view. The fight is solid and has its minor twists and turns, but it’s the arrival of Abigel Kholland as a mitigating force to try and provide some help that delights me. While we’re (seemingly) not getting a female Swamp Thing here, Abigel is definitely a favorite of mine from the old days and I love how Aneke is giving her a really quirky kind of look that still manages to fit into the time period well. I’m definitely excited to see what comes of this, especially on top of the recent Strongman Superman addition.
In Summary:
At this point, it’s pretty obvious that DC Comics Bombshells series delights me on a regular basis. It provides for plenty of drama and some good silliness along the way as it tells this particular kind of tale of the war. It runs the gamut of stories and characters in such a wonderfully skillful blended way that when viewed as a whole there’s very little that frustrates me outside of the Zembesi arc. This arc has put some new things into play, continually expanding and build on what’s come before, and Aneke gets to bring some great creativity and design work in general with the new additions. There’s a whole lot to like here and the next round has me even more excited with a new Suicide Squad tale to dig into. Very fun stuff that should be on every fan’s list, especially since it’s selfcontained and you can just enjoy it without worrying about crossovers or other events.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 7th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
