Wrapping up for things to start getting real.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Maria Laura Sanapo, Marc Deering
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
What They Say:
On an Allied base at sea, Amanda Waller and Barda Free gather the Bombshells-Wonder Woman, Aquawoman, Supergirl and Stargirl, and their latest additions. Amanda warns them that the coming war is one of magic and steel, and that the Bombshells must rise and risk everything they know and love to fight this cruelty of the world.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The second set of nine chapters comes to a close here and that ends the still strangely named Combat art. While there was fighting to be had the title for the arc just felt off considering it’s been more an ordering of the forces, bringing in new characters, and setting the stage more for what’s to come. That said, this end chapter is one that works very well for what it wants to do by putting a lot of players on the stage and making it clear where the lines are currently drawn. All while recognizing that the lines change regularly in any war. The appeal of the series continues to be widespread with what it does and this installment adds to that roster of reasons why it’s appealing as we get Maria Laura Sanapo stepping in for the artwork with Marc Deering inking it.
In a way, this is a difficult chapter to kind of review because there isn’t a lot that happens per se. It’s broken into multiple sections that focuses on some, but not all, of the cast that’s out there these days, showing where they are and what they’re up to. The biggest phase initially is that of Stargirl and Supergirl as they’ve connected with Mera, who continues to be utterly adorable. It’s here that we see how they’ll factor into the larger war while still retaining their Soviet-ness, which in turn provides the right nod for how they alter their costumes so that it has the Bombshell colors but still feels like it blends them between the two worlds. We also get a little time with Barda here, which is great and leaves me wanting a hell of a lot more of her, but also some wonderful fun with Waller as she gives Mera the once-over. It’s a solid bit of closure to the Soviet adventure for the moment and allows these two to move on to bigger things while tied to what Waller is doing with the Bombshells.
The rest of the issue essentially goes for the two pages worth of material as it bounces across the cast to show what they’re up to. The weakest for me is Harley and Ivy as they’re just doing more Christmas chaos across the landscape, though Kate’s story isn’t all that strong here either as she’s getting drawn further into Nazi complications in Berlin. I did like what we got out of Diana and Steve though as their sides are traded from how they first met and that has its own specialness about it. The big win for me is the extended other bookend story with Zatanna and Constantine. With the two of them lounging in the stage we get to learn more from Constantine about how dark things are coming from the world they dabble in and that he’s convinced the cabaret is like a ground zero for it. But it’s the nature of their dialogue, the back and forth combined with her lounging on the stage, that’s what really sells their relationship. And it does it while he’s a chain-smoking bunny. I have never loved Constantine more.
In Summary:
As a stage setting chapter and a bit of closure for the arc at hand, Bombshells does what it needs to do in the story department, smartly choosing which characters to expend focus on and which to just touch upon and have a little fun with. What helps to elevate it is Sanapo’s artwork. I’ve enjoyed the little I’ve seen of her work before but she fits in perfectly here and has me hopeful that she’s going to be a regular in the roster of artists for the series. Particularly since she has the harder job here of handling the cast as a whole and all their respective locations. It also doesn’t hurt that she has Kelly Fitzpatrck doing the coloring here as she’s definitely set the tone for the look of the series. The book captures all of them extremely well and made me fall in love with the Bombshells all over again. Great stuff in general, fantastic artwork and a real sense of style and cool.
Please Note: The credits for this installment (in-book and digitally) incorrectly list Wendy Broome as the colorist. It’s actually Kelly Fitzpatrick and we’ve updated our review to reflect this.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 20th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
