A new war of the worlds!
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Siya Oum
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
An invasion from beyond the stars comes crashing down upon a world at war as our final arc begins!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bombshells: United moves into its final arc with this installment as it gets ready to wrap up in a few issues. Marguerite Bennett has been working this series well since the overall property got underway in 2014 and it’s hard to believe that it’s still going, but harder still to believe that it’s ending. With this issue, we get Siya Oum returning on the art duties and she’s got just an absolutely gorgeous piece here, particularly with the way J. Nanjan gets to play with the colors in so many panels – particularly that final page that’s just drop dead gorgeous and should be a print somewhere. I’ve liked Oum’s work before but this issue feels like she’s moved to something different for it as it has a more painted design in a way, working single large panels for a lot of it.
Knowing that this is working the final arc, Bennett crafts the first few pages as a news radio program that explores some of what’s come before in the project, highlighting what the Bombshells and the world has faced with this crazy war that’s unfolded. With it now 1945, it’s moving to a new phase as creatures from the stars in the spaceship Apokolips have arrived to cause trouble.This gives us an all-star range of characters coming down, from branic to a version of Grodd as well as Thanagarians and more to try and wrestle control of the world. The first half moves well throughout this and has its amusing moments, such as Zod stymieing the Reich and having the news broadcast say, “So much for your “Master Race,” Jerry!” that just strikes you in the right way. With so many groups spread around the world it’s welcome to touch base with them all and for Oum to give them such gorgeous pages that feel like they could be old time movie posters almost.
There are two key areas that are explored beyond that which sets up the real meat of the final arc. The first is the reveal of the Queen Above The White, which strangely enough turns out to be Lena Luthor who was part of an attempt to get into space years ago with Lex that went awry. While she got warped out to somewhere and has now come home for revenge, it drove Lex to going against all those from the stars and factors in some solid motivation with it through this. The other piece is that the Joker’s Daughter is contracting with her own master and is looking to get into the action after her two prior weapons that were given to her failed. The latest one summoned is natural a kind of god of crazy and chaos with the Joker, which is just absolutely surreal in its initial presentation and makes me wish that Bennett had a lot more room to work with to spread so much of this out as there’s a lot to enjoy here.
In Summary:
While Bombshells: United as a whole hasn’t been as strong as the previous series there’s been a whole lot to like. This issue pushes us toward the finale with a “let’s suddenly go big” and tying it to 1945 to bring closure to the war with the alien invasion side hitting – but with a distinctly human twist. Bennett hits things well with a brief recap before showing us where everyone is and establishing the big bads for it in a great way. But it’s Siya Oum who really delivers here with some stunning pages throughout that reminded me heavily of Alex Ross in many ways and wanting to see a lot more of her work even though she tends to be involved in projects I don’t normally read. Lots to like here in the final mad dash.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 6th, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
