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A review by fairywine
DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted by Marguerite Bennett
5.0
I couldn’t tell you the last time I picked up a DC comic if my life depended on it. If you let me stretch the definition of that to include Vertigo then the last time I bought a trade of The Sandman technically counts, but even that would have been several years ago.
When Bombshells showed up in the GoodReads rec bar, it got my attention in a way I honestly never expected from a comic. I’m a huge fan of Gil Elvgren’s in particular and pin up art in general, especially WWII era art. And that gorgeous cover with Wonder Woman grabbed the hell out of me on aesthetics alone. So I figured, why not give it a shot?
And let me tell you, my friends-I am so glad I did. From start to finish, Bombshells was page after page of awesome lady radness. I basically read this grinning from ear to ear, and finished it wanting more.
Definitely the thing I loved most about Bombshells was how it was first and foremost about the ladies. Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Stargirl, Mera, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Batwoman, Amanda Waller, and the other awesome women of DC practically burst of the pages with personality, energy, and a metric ton of badassery. Actually, I was seriously surprised that the only major male player to show up at all is John Constantine of all people (and I’m always glad to see him so I was cool with it).
The epic WWII setting is amazing as well. The fact this is the DC-verse’s Second World War, integrating magic and superheroics into the most intense war in human history added a huge adrenalin kick to the proceedings. And they really go for it in how the presence of metahumans would utterly transform the nature of warfare even in an era nowhere near as high tech as our own.
On a related note, there’s a very multinational focus in Bombshells. Picking it up I was a little afraid it was going to be a lot of that old classic trope of ‘America Saves the Day’, ignoring the rest of the Allies.
Fortunately, this didn’t end up being the case. Wonder Woman and Mera fall in with the US, but Supergirl and Stargirl were raised in Soviet Russia and only flee the USSR after political persecution by a general with ambitions to use their powers to his own ends. Even after that they are both still proud Russians and wish to defend the motherland. Poison Ivy operates out of France, Catwoman is an Italian countess, and the list goes on. There’s even an appearance by Huntress as a member of an anti-Hitler underground group, so we also dodge the ‘all Germans were fervent Nazis’ cliché.
Speaking as someone who is herself bisexual, it was really great to see some LGBTQA+ representation in Bombshells. Batwoman is of course a lesbian in a happy if occassionally rocky relationship with her girlfriend, and Harley and Ivy....kind of speak for themselves. I would have loved more, but I'm happy there was at least something there.
As I mentioned earlier, the sheer prettiness of the cover was what motivated me to give Bombshells a try. And man is it ever matched by (most) of the art inside. Especially Marguerite Sauvage’s art, which is so gorgeous-soft, flowing, luminous lines that perfectly evoke the pin-up art style-I would seriously find a way to give Bombshells a six-star rating because it would have earned it.
Speaking of Ms. Sauvage, a billion points to Bombshells for being a largely women driven title. Marguerite Bennett does all the writing, Maguerite Sauvage a good portion of the art, and even the non-Sauvage art portions are done mostly by women. The fight for representation in the comics industry is far from over, and it is so, so important to support work and stories that are by women and for women. Considering how much awesomeness we’ve gotten out of runs that women have taken over, everyone wins.
As for weak points, well…there was one major one for me. A lot of the art is great, and again Marguerite Sauvage’s pages are ‘frame up on the wall’ worthy in particular. But there are chunks of Bombshells where the art quality definitely takes a dip. I don’t mind differing styles in the slightest, but it’s all got to be up the same tier. That was…not the case here. Choppy, with dull colors and jagged lines, it didn't match the rest of the comic at all. Frankly, it was ugly. It really threw me out of the story, wanting the gorgeous art back that had lured me in to begin with.
That art thing was kind of a big drawback for me, and I seesawed on what exactly to rate Bombshells. But I thought about how it ultimately made me feel: energized, happy, and wanting more. And when you feel like that after finishing a product…sometimes you have to go with your gut. Five stars, and I’m eagerly awaiting volume two in September.
When Bombshells showed up in the GoodReads rec bar, it got my attention in a way I honestly never expected from a comic. I’m a huge fan of Gil Elvgren’s in particular and pin up art in general, especially WWII era art. And that gorgeous cover with Wonder Woman grabbed the hell out of me on aesthetics alone. So I figured, why not give it a shot?
And let me tell you, my friends-I am so glad I did. From start to finish, Bombshells was page after page of awesome lady radness. I basically read this grinning from ear to ear, and finished it wanting more.
Definitely the thing I loved most about Bombshells was how it was first and foremost about the ladies. Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Stargirl, Mera, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Batwoman, Amanda Waller, and the other awesome women of DC practically burst of the pages with personality, energy, and a metric ton of badassery. Actually, I was seriously surprised that the only major male player to show up at all is John Constantine of all people (and I’m always glad to see him so I was cool with it).
The epic WWII setting is amazing as well. The fact this is the DC-verse’s Second World War, integrating magic and superheroics into the most intense war in human history added a huge adrenalin kick to the proceedings. And they really go for it in how the presence of metahumans would utterly transform the nature of warfare even in an era nowhere near as high tech as our own.
On a related note, there’s a very multinational focus in Bombshells. Picking it up I was a little afraid it was going to be a lot of that old classic trope of ‘America Saves the Day’, ignoring the rest of the Allies.
Fortunately, this didn’t end up being the case. Wonder Woman and Mera fall in with the US, but Supergirl and Stargirl were raised in Soviet Russia and only flee the USSR after political persecution by a general with ambitions to use their powers to his own ends. Even after that they are both still proud Russians and wish to defend the motherland. Poison Ivy operates out of France, Catwoman is an Italian countess, and the list goes on. There’s even an appearance by Huntress as a member of an anti-Hitler underground group, so we also dodge the ‘all Germans were fervent Nazis’ cliché.
Speaking as someone who is herself bisexual, it was really great to see some LGBTQA+ representation in Bombshells. Batwoman is of course a lesbian in a happy if occassionally rocky relationship with her girlfriend, and Harley and Ivy....kind of speak for themselves. I would have loved more, but I'm happy there was at least something there.
As I mentioned earlier, the sheer prettiness of the cover was what motivated me to give Bombshells a try. And man is it ever matched by (most) of the art inside. Especially Marguerite Sauvage’s art, which is so gorgeous-soft, flowing, luminous lines that perfectly evoke the pin-up art style-I would seriously find a way to give Bombshells a six-star rating because it would have earned it.
Speaking of Ms. Sauvage, a billion points to Bombshells for being a largely women driven title. Marguerite Bennett does all the writing, Maguerite Sauvage a good portion of the art, and even the non-Sauvage art portions are done mostly by women. The fight for representation in the comics industry is far from over, and it is so, so important to support work and stories that are by women and for women. Considering how much awesomeness we’ve gotten out of runs that women have taken over, everyone wins.
As for weak points, well…there was one major one for me. A lot of the art is great, and again Marguerite Sauvage’s pages are ‘frame up on the wall’ worthy in particular. But there are chunks of Bombshells where the art quality definitely takes a dip. I don’t mind differing styles in the slightest, but it’s all got to be up the same tier. That was…not the case here. Choppy, with dull colors and jagged lines, it didn't match the rest of the comic at all. Frankly, it was ugly. It really threw me out of the story, wanting the gorgeous art back that had lured me in to begin with.
That art thing was kind of a big drawback for me, and I seesawed on what exactly to rate Bombshells. But I thought about how it ultimately made me feel: energized, happy, and wanting more. And when you feel like that after finishing a product…sometimes you have to go with your gut. Five stars, and I’m eagerly awaiting volume two in September.