The truth about heroes.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Siya Oum
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Clayface is on the loose! Now Wonder Woman must protect Cassie Sandsmark, Donna Troy, and their friends and family from a villain who hide amongst them.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bombshells: United has been doing some interesting things but it hasn’t quite clicked for me yet, though this issue circles back to things that the property, in general, has worked. Marguerite Bennett has not been shy, and rightfully so, from using the bully pulpit of these characters to make clear who they are and what they believe in, things that have been established for decades but seemingly lost on some. This issue has her paired up with Siya Oum and I hope to see more of Oum’s work in the future on the book as I love the way they captured the characters and made for some great Clayface moments, a character that can be difficult to work with for a lot of artists.
A decent chunk of the early part of this book focuses on Diana and the others trying to escape Clayface as he sprawls over the camp and does his best to bury them. It’s a rough sequence with the things he spouts at them and the verbal takedown he believes he’s inflicting upon Diana but it plays well to the way the camp is built and how it slows him down. With the group splitting up to try and make him choose with Diana taking point on it to draw him in,it’s classic but works right as she’s the one that really has to try and reach through to him. Though there’s always that element of superheroes saving the day by a fistfight or other weapons at their disposal, the real truth is that it’s always been what they’ve stood for and their words that truly win the day in the long run.
And that’s where the book gets a bit heavy handed and meta but in a way that i really can’t mind. Comics fandom has been embroiled in a host of crap for several years in a more public way where a lot of fans haven’t learned the lessons of what these heroes stand for. Clayface makes it clear that he learned the wrong things about the tales of Wonder Woman, believing her strength was in her sword when she confirms that it was truly in her shield as she defends all, even her opponents, because it’s what’s right. The two have what you could call a heart to heart but Clayface makes it clear he’s resolute in his belief that her defense of these “scum” that he wants to bring to the internment camps don’t warrant her kind of protections, showing just how much he’s missing the point of it all.\
In Summary:
It’s easy to view Bennett as essentially speaking to the audience and at one point in time I would have rolled my eyes because I believed that the majority of readers understood this. And to some extent I do believe that the majority do. But the vocal minority doesn’t get it and we need these instances of putting it out there plain and clear, especially with characters like Diana who are making it clear that she does not represent the things they do and that they haven’t understood her, and many others, for quite some time. Bennett does a solid job with the scripting and dialogue here while Oum delivers big on some great visuals as the two face off against each other up close and personal. These are all things that I learned decades ago and adhere to so it’s a familiar thing being played out but it’s welcome to see it as clear and verbose as it is.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 22nd, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
