by Marguerite Bennett & Marguerite Sauvage
also featuring art by: Laura Braga, Stephen Mooney, Ted Naifeh, Garry Brown, Bilquis Evely, Mirka Andolfo, Ming Doyle, Sandy Jerrell, ML Sanapo, Marc Deering; colors by Wendy Broome, Doug Garbark, Kelly Fitzpatrick, letters by Wes Abbott
collects Bombshells #1-6
I was intrigued by this “what if” series, featuring the women of DC in an alternate 40’s reality, especially when I learned that Zatanna was established as Jewish and Romani.
The opening issues with Kate and Maggie are really great, especially as a queer couple in the 40’s. Marguerite Sauvage’s art is spectacular, and there are some lovely connections like women playing baseball.
But the story quickly expands from there, and we’re introduced to a large number of reimagined characters very quickly – basically every major woman character from DC, and it eventually starts to feel overwhelmed and fractured. This includes a tired and rehashed Wonder Woman origin, that could have used the same injection of creativity as the other women. I would have felt more grounded in the story had we stayed with Kate and largely met the other women as they intersected with her story, with maybe one or two side plots.
This is reflected in the artistic team which changes within almost every issue (after Sauvage’s first two), and no one can match Sauvage; if the entire book was drawn by her, it would have been a home run. Some of the art was quite bad, and it was disappointing to see some of the same male gaze T&A poses especially with Harley, guess we can’t have a woman book that isn’t still dominated by the male gaze. Maybe we’ll finally get there in 130+ years when we finally reach gender parity.
I’m also not a fan of the “Joker’s daughter,” and even though it’s interesting they are establishing Zatanna as Jewish, and Kate has an awesome Jewish moment…nothing for Harley? She’s Jewish and Catholic yet relegated to singing Christmas carols.
Finally, the “What If” nature of the book becomes a strange idyllic 1940’s that chooses to face and ignore the World War II era. For example, Maggie and Kate have a romantic evening without fear, and Amanda Waller is in a position of authority with diverse heroes including Hoshi – yet the actual Holocaust, racial and LGBTQ inequities, the internment of Japanese Americans, the darkness of this period is largely avoided. This is only exacerbated by the fact that while everyone loves punching Nazis, the actual Big Bad is an otherworldly creature. This is clearly meant only for entertainment purposes, which, while not a bad thing….also ignores the very political, WWII-foundations the comic book industry rests on.
Reading Art 