The sins of generations.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Aneke
Colors: Wendy Broome
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Raven’s father, Trigon, reveals that Raven’s parent’s past and her upbringing are not quite the “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale that her grandfather told her.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While knowing there is more Bombshells material in our futures, the knowledge that this particular series is set to end in a couple of issues leaves me feeling surprisingly sad as it’s been consistently fun for pretty much all one hundred issues when all is said and done. This issue keeps up with that feeling as Marguerite Bennett serves to talk about the present reality of the world through the past while nudging characters forward as well. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s getting to do that with Aneke on the art duties as her work is just delightful in this book, particularly with it so focused on Raven. The expressiveness of the characters is a big selling point for me as well as just the way the whole era with the style continues to look. Combine that with Broome’s spot on coloring once again that has given this series a really great consistent look and it’s all good stuff here.
This installment is a bit frenetic at points as a lot of things are trying to get wrapped up here while putting characters into place for the final arc of the book. The big focus is on Trigon and Raven as he has revealed his past in hopes of getting some sort of understanding if not reprieve from her fury here. And there is some legitimacy to what he’s like and what he’s gone through, no matter how much Raven may judge him, but she’s also spot on with the assertion that he simply abdicated his responsibility for his actions after Azaria was gone. Rather than stepping up and doing what was right rather than falling in with who he did, he in the end really bears the responsibility. Raven’s talk about generations and how they see each other as time goes on plays into the world that exists today easily enough, but I feel like there just wasn’t enough understanding from Raven’s part, partially because we didn’t really get to see what it was that defined Trigon beforehand that made him like he was prior to Azaria.
This all naturally turns toward Faora as we see Supergirl and the others battling with all that comes from that. It’s a fairly good fight for what we do see as there are tense moments and some danger for our heroes, albeit briefly, but it’s Raven’s return to the fight with Trigon that really pushes it all forward. While they reach their understanding for the moment, the catalyst hits that pushes Raven toward darkness just as she fights to do what’s right. It’s something where her emotions are just pushed beyond the limits, sort of like what happened to Trigon, and now she’s faced with the inability for the moment to control herself. Playing this all just after she went on about doing what was right and then trying to not disappoint her own “parents” in the form of Zee and Constantine, well, some cycles are definitely hard to break.
In Summary:
Bombshells continues to be a delight, though this arc has grown so big that I can’t see how it can end well enough in just three more chapters that will satisfy. Part of my wariness at this point is the uncertainty of other dangling storylines with other characters and wanting to do more of this period and all the connections that have been built, so that’s seeping into the background of my feeling on this book. Bennett keeps things going well here overall as I like the pieces between Raven and Trigon and then her realizations when it comes to her adoptive of sorts parents. The larger battle is pushed to the side for the moment – and there are a lot of forces at play all around this particular event – but it all remains very humanized, both thanks to script and artwork. I’ve extolled on Aneke’s artwork so many times over the course of this run that there’s little new to truly say, but damn if she doesn’t just delight in giving us a really expressive Raven and some wonderful layouts to keep it all flowing beautifully.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 26th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
