The compassion of a warrior.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Laura Braga
Colors: J. Nanjan
What They Say:
A young German soldier undergoes a monstrous transformation, and Wonder Woman finds herself battling an army of the undead.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
DC Comics Bombshells series took a really enjoyable detour overall back to Gotham with the three-part series that just finished up and that means it’s now time to get back to the front. There are a lot of different areas of the war being explored through the expansive cast and the way it can shift from area to area with each new issue is both its strength and weakness. With this installment, we get Bennett working with Laura Braga again to wonderful results as we return to Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor as they deal with events going on in Greece. And once again, Bennett is able to tap into the past and bring something fun to life.
As is fairly common in the series, we get two subplots at play that come together for dangerous results. The interesting side is with the Nazi’s as we see some of what’s going on with their part of the war. With this particularly worn down group, there’s one conscript that’s just in shellshock and is struggling, thinking of just his mother and talking about how he did all of this to show her he’s a man. Unfortunately, he’s far gone but not far enough, causing one of the more faithful and fervent types break his neck. What this does is to unleash more of the tenebrae in the area, the perfect soldier as this one calls himself as he gets back up and moving again, and there’s some really haunting imagery of these zombie-like Nazi’s moving across the landscape. The deal that has been made may work for the higher command, but the rank and file are most definitely feeling the squeeze.
Elsewhere in Greece, we get to reconnect with Diana and Steve. This shows us the shellshock nature from a different angle as Steve is breaking down and Diana instead soothes him with word and song. What I liked about this sequence beyond that is that she fills him on what she’s been doing while away after the battles since she doesn’t return with the troops. Discovering her compassion towards villagers killed and burying them so they don’t go to the beyond alone is very appropriate for her and works as a kind of reassurance for him that he’s aligned with the right kind of person. The two bond together well here, though it’s all just prologue to the arrival of Baroness Paula Von Gunther, who reveals herself in this incarnation to be the commander of the first tenebrae battalion. Considering she was the first recurring villain for Wonder Woman back in 1944 in the comics, I’m loving her appearance here and what she can potentially bring to the table.
In Summary:
DC Comics Bombshells finally gets out of Gotham and back to the frontlines and it works out very well. While we’re just getting this part of the story underway, we’ve had the origins of the tenebrae previously and are now seeing their scale and impact that will come. There’s some great Steve and Diana time this time around as well that shows exactly what kind of person she is and how she approaches the various aspects involved in a war. Bringing the two storylines together is going to up the ante and provide for a lot more that the Bombshells are going to have to deal with. There’s a lot of room to grow here and while I keep feeling like this series could be rushing through things I’m excited to see what’s next. Bennett definitely captures these characters well, particularly Diana, and I absolutely loved seeing Braga back on the artwork as her Diana interpretation is everything that I want out of the Bombshells era version of her.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 18th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
