Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Marcel DiChiara
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
A shadow has infiltrated the camp where they’ve settled the displaced. Has Wonder Woman just put everyone in more peril than they were before?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Hitting the halfway mark in this current arc, Bombshells: United shifts gears a bit as we get Marcel DiChiara taking on the art duties. I’ve struggled with the storytelling in the first three issues and what surprised me the most here is that DiChiara, whose work I’m seeing for the first time here, helped to give it a kind of clarity that I think was lacking. Which is unfortunate because by and large I really like Marguerite Sauvage’s artwork and style. It also helps that Bennett’s story is a bit more focused this time around, though I’m still not connecting much with the new characters as things just feel a bit undefined.
The themes here are a bit simple but also muted because they’re spread across a couple of different areas. A lot of what’s the real focus is the distrust and a sense of not wanting to be in the same situation as before. The camp that they’ve put together is a rough place no matter what but when you have Diana trying to seal it up to protect them from Clayface, there’s pushback because it reminds them of the camps that they’re trying to avoid being in. The difference, of course, is that Clayface is trying to eliminate them in the here and now, or bring them back. Mostly that’s kind of hazy and you could read it in the same way as how the general population feels about these people but it needs to be a bit firmer than that in how the story is unfolding.
The big problem that comes into play that’s on the personal side is that once everyone is inside we get the realization that the five or six main characters we’re dealing with were all separated on the outside for a little bit at one time or another. And any of them could be Clayface, which sows plenty of quick distrust. The use of Diana’s lasso definitely helps but that even puts Diana in a weird place because she’s still dealing with her own identity issues and is hard pressed at first to really assert her true self in front of others, but also within herself. It’s not drawn out but on top of everything else there’s just a kind of muddied approach to getting to the more serious piece, which is the arrival of Clayface once again to cause trouble. It’s nicely done even if obvious and it has me hoping for a good and varied fight in the next issue.
In Summary:
Bombshells: United feels like it’s a bit tighter and more cohesive here, not quite as ethereal as it’s felt over the first three issues. This issue works the distrust side of things while also setting up for a fight in the next installment that ought to be fun. This installment also introduced me to Marcel DiChiara’s artwork and it’s a good fit here. I’m not terribly keen on their take on the Bombshell version of Wonder Woman as she looks a little bit like an action figure in some scenes because of the angle, but by and large there’s a lot to like here as they work the flow of this format well and the layouts make for a smooth read. The rest of the character designs worked well for me and it has me looking forward to what else may be coming.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 15th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99