Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Sandy Jarrell
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
There is a way to defeat Black Adam, but is it worth the price Batwoman and the Question must pay?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The War Bonds arc of the series comes to a close with this issue and while some of it felt a bit more drawn out than it needed to be it largely worked well. Marguerite Bennett definitely has a way with the words, as they say, and there’s a lot of emotion packed into this installment where little happens in the big picture or action sense of it all. But it’s one that Sandy Jarrell is ideal for as an artist as he brings all of those words and feelings out with great layouts and how the characters interact with each other, particularly when little or nothing is said verbally. That gives it all a good bit more impact and helps to bring to a close several things.
The opening segment of the book is the most interesting as we get a kind of redemption of sorts for Black Adam, at least in the personal sense. His realization of just how much wrong he’s done since the death of Isis all those centuries ago has made an impact on him with the words she said before returning to the pit that it’s like night and day for him. The realization that he didn’t live up to her ideals carries a lot of meaning and the way he essentially lets everything go, including his presence in this life, is touching even if it doesn’t remove all the evil that he brought forth with the hate, pain, and conflict. His attempt at a new life with her in another land has some really good emotion to it and I can see people being frustrated with such a positive end for him considering what he did over his life. That anger won’t achieve anything though and his departing this form for a rebirth is intriguing.
The bulk of the issue, however, deals with the fallout for Renee and Kate with the loss of Jason again. There are some good movements with this as we get Renee forgiving Cheetah over her part in it from what she saw recently, but noting that Kate may never come around. The idea of Cheetah and Talia seeking more Lazarus Pits to destroy them is an intriguing book that needs to be made. But most of what we get here is the slow dissolution of what Kate and Renee have had recently as they’re preparing for their separate paths and making it clear, in their own way, that they cannot have what they had before and that it’s time to move on. The acknowledgment that they are tied together forever in a way that they can’t know again is a familiar piece and one that works well, but hopefully gives Kate the push to remember that Maggie may not be the same but her own kind of incredible love.
In Summary:
Bombshells: United had a lengthy arc for this storyline and it largely worked well even if it felt like it went on a bit too much. The closing chapter on it serves as a solid epilogue for events and brings things to where they need to be for pretty much all of the characters to move on and become something more than they were at the start. They’re all changed and it’s all for the better. The Black Adam material can make one feel a little iffy but sadly there are many that are never brought to justice that need to be and find a peaceful way out of life. But overall there’s a whole lot to like here and it works well to deliver a good ending cap to the arc.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 2nd, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
