Another one slowly drawn to the Great War..
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Marguerite Sauvage
What They Say:
Pilot Steve Trevor goes head-to-head with Axis aircraft over unchartered waters. There, he encounters a race of super-powered women who are out to protect their island home from all intruders.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a strong opening installment behind it, the second issue of Bombshells has a lot to live up to. With it working through the idea of bringing together this group in order to push back against what is World War II, there’s a lot of familiar ideas at play here and bringing in the main cast piece by piece from their respective areas. While some are formed from new cloth entirely, such as Batwoman the first time around, this one is far more familiar as we get Wonder Woman in a mostly traditional origin story of sorts. What helps to elevate is the overall smoothness of its presentation as well as the beautiful artwork, making it one of those sort of retellings that you can very much enjoy.
As the fight goes on between the two sides in the war, it naturally spreads to almost all corners of the world in some form. What we get here is an aerial battle that involves pilot Steve Trevor as he’s chasing down a group of Germans with his squadron. It’s straightforward enough as the weather gets worse and the dangers are high, but there’s also the sudden discovery of an island below them where they can take shelter after everything is settled. Unfortunately, as the sides fight, it stirs the ire of the Amazons living below on Paradise Island, beyond frustrated with the way their fight causes all sorts of fallout on their island and the sea around them. Both sides are “in the right” in a sense here as they deal with each other, but it turns into that expected clash where the Amazons take down everyone.
What we do get from this that helps to nudge the overall storyline forward is that out of all the planes that crashed and pilots that ejected, only Steve Trevor survived. Watching as the Amazons search out the bodies along their beach certainly works well visually and emotionally and having him being the only one that can be saved certainly sets the tone. There’s a good mix of how the Amazons deal with him, and Diana in particular as he saw her flying about before and attacking the squadrons. Both sides have some understandable views of things, but his talking about the vilest of dictatorships out there, a true evil force in the world, is enough to get her to pay attention. Of course, having her talk about whether to use him to send a message or to pay a blood price shows a bit of what makes these women who they are, but we know where it’s all going to go.
In Summary:
As much as I love Wonder Woman, it was going to be hard to top the first installment. The Batwoman issue was dialogue heavy, reworked several characters into the time period and provided for some utterly delightful visuals full of details. Here, things are a bit more streamlined because Diana’s origin into this particular world doesn’t need much in the way of changing. It’s adjusted a bit for modern storytelling in some mild ways, but it’s mostly a facelift in terms of the story itself, one that works well enough. What makes it more engaging is Sauvage’s artwork, giving it a fluidity that brings it to life in the action sequences and some really great character designs when we deal with the Amazon’s on the beach that makes them each feel fully realized and ready to tell their own stories. It’s a solid entry, but I suspect it’s going to be the weaker of the origins simply because so little needs to be made unique or new.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 1st, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
