DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 2: Allies by Marguerite Bennett

DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 2: Allies Reviews

• 
  Sesana

  The art is great, the characters are great, but the story is wanting. Not terrible, mind, but certainly underwhelming. This is par for the course with Bennett, actually. I really like the way she writes characters, especially female characters, but her storytelling needs some serious work.
• 
  Gabrielle

  I am enjoying this series so much. Granted, it isn’t the most sophisticated and developed plot, so perhaps it is more the spirit of the series that I am fond of: if I can’t indulge in a little feminist revisionist alternate version of WWII featuring my favorite DC gals, what am I going to do on a lazy Friday morning?
  
  Following the events of “Enlisted” (
  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), “Allies” follows four main storylines. On the battle lines, Wonder Woman has to deal with an army of the undead (and a seriously PTSD-affected Steve Trevor), Stargirl and Supergirl have found refuge in London, but this means a painful reunion for Kortni, and Aquawoman will face an old foe; while in Berlin, Kate Kane unites with Selina to confront a particularly nasty Nazi officer – who reveals that his plans are linked to the events witnessed by Wonder Woman and those taking place in London.
  
  Again, I loved the artwork: the little Batgirls uniforms are just the cutest thing, and the color-work truly pops! And of course, it’s full of great (if a little ham-fisted) moral lessons about women writing their own stories, people being compassionate and tolerant, uniting against what will destroy them if they are divided and so on. Add to that a few wonderfully cheesy puns, and you have a great, fun comic book! But just like the first volume, there are too many stories happening at once, which makes the reading experience feel a bit scattered. I know that we are in for the long haul with these characters and their respective arcs, but I can feel a bit frustrating to only get snippets of each story.
  
  I’m looking forward to the next volume, and hopefully, a little more Harley and Ivy stories in the future…
• 
  Nikki

  I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. All the ladies, kicking all the butts, all the time.
• 
  Cupcakes & Machetes

  
  Volume One Review
  
  I continued to feel a bit lost throughout this volume as well. I don't think it was entirely my lack of background knowledge, scenes jumped before I knew what exactly was going on in the first place.
  
  I still enjoyed it, the artwork was fantastic. I like the batgirl copycats distributing justice and the sea battles with Aquawoman.
  
  I'm ready to admit that I don't care about Stargirl or Supergirl at all. I don't know what it is but I just cannot connect with them.
  
  
• 
  Corrie

  Onwards with the second volume. They're quick reads with very nicely done art work.
  
  The basis of this series with kick-ass heroines in the lead were a line off 1940s pinup style Bombshells variant covers and a series of statuettes. Set in a WWII alternate universe we follow our female superheroes and how they came to be. I really like how this is done.
  
  Themes: DC Comics, female super heroes kicking ass in WWII, alternate universe, super powers, feminists.
  
  4 stars
• 
  Liam

  The art is phenomenal, the characters are fantastic, the concept is brilliant... But the story falls flat for me. There's a lot going on, which is good in a way because you get to see lots of different great characters, but it makes the story a bit all over the place and difficult to follow. I am excited to see where this series goes as, despite being 12 issues in, I still feel like it's very much still in the introduction of the story and that it will develop to become better. Think my favourite thing about this volume had to be issue where we meet Harley Quinn (no surprise there), the way they portray these characters is so awesome!
• 
  L. McCoy

  Ya know when I added this series to my reading list I was expecting silly fun. I mean I thought it was just WWII era DC pin-up girls punching Nazis or something. There’s a lot more to it and it is amazing.
  
  What’s it about?
  Hard to describe without spoilers. This is pretty much the second volume of this series so it continues the story. In this volume we are introduced to the Batgirls. Vigilante girls who beat the shit out of their opponents by using ball bats.
  
  Why it gets 5 stars:
  The story is still interesting. I’m really surprised by how much to it there is. There are quite a few subplots and such in this intense story that mixes war and superheroes, it’s so good.
  Just like in the previous volume, the art is freaking wonderful!
  
  The characters are very cool. Supergirl and Stargirl actually become more interesting in this, so does Zatanna (though there isn’t very much of her). Wonder Woman and Batwoman are still bad-ass. Batwoman might be even more aggressive than usual (though being a Jewish lesbian, she has plenty of reasons to hate Nazis even more) and I like it. I also like the Batgirls, usually teams of one same hero annoy me or seem to cheesy but in this it actually works and is pretty fun. Strong, stunning, bad-ass and showing more emotion than many superhero-y characters, I think the characters in this series are fucking awesome!
  There’s a lot of great action throughout. It’s very intense and exciting plus you can expect at least one action scene every chapter!
  There’s some good comic relief. I particularly like the “Batgirl” pun!
  This book is fairly suspenseful. There are a lot of great, unexpected twists. I wish more creators could come up with ways to make DC characters more suspenseful.
  Just like in the previous volume, I wouldn’t consider it horror but there’s an element of horror that works well. Seeing superhero girls fight monsters is just fun.
  The social commentary in this book is well written, I even say that regarding the (few) things this book says that I don’t 100% agree with. I think the reason it works so well is that it fits into the story, it’s not like how some books just cram it in and/or beat a dead horse making you wonder “Holy shit, am I reading a book or the longest fucking PSA ever?” so I like that a lot.
  The ending... holy fuck, the ending. Nothing could have prepared me for such a beautiful and emotional ending. Probably one of the best endings to a book I’ve read recently, perhaps even ever.
  
  Overall:
  This series is amazing. So glad I decided to try this. It might not look masterpiece worthy but holy fuck, it is.
  The interesting story with great artwork, lots of action, more suspense than many DC comics, emotion and well written commentary... I don’t see what else you’re looking for in a superhero comic. This is so damn good, read it!
  
  5/5
• 
  Ma'Belle

  I LOVE the characters, context, and queerness of so much of DC Bombshells, so it's extra sad that I can't give this volume more than 3 stars. It's gorgeous the whole way through, and there are plenty of things that happen that made me giggle and fangirl wave air over my own face. But something went terribly wrong with the storyboarding. There were several page layouts where a character's placement or weapon changed back and forth from one panel to the next, as if cards, script bubbles, and even ideas got shuffled in the editing process. I've come to terms with the fact that Margeurite Bennett is not that great of a writer (to put it very kindly). She gets into the kitschy, comic tone of this period piece, but even admits within the dialogue at times that her characters speak in one-liner quips.
  
  So many mushy, gushy, admiring feels for this series, but the second half of Year One got messy real quick. Too many characters all at once, so like in most major DC/Marvel Event debacles, you get action and monologues that make less and less sense, rather than focusing on quality character and relationship development. Bombshells started as a line of pin-up style statues, but it could have easily been two or three titles crafted by talented women working together to intertwine their various casts.
• 
  Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈

  I loved the first volume but this one didn't grab me as much as the other. I feel as though there's something about Wonder Woman's storyline that just isn't grabbing me? Although I do love the subversion of the damsel in distress trope. I like that she's the stronger, more stable warrior and Steve needs help here. They're fighting an army of the undead and all of the mysticism about where the army came from and who's leading it weighed this down for me.
  
  I enjoyed the opening short about the younger women the Bombshells have inspired. That was great to see because girls need more female role models. I loved that and the art was gorgeous. I really love that the bombshells are now legend across the globe.
  
  Stargirl and Supergirl's relationship was just as moving as in the first one. Not enough Kate Kane here but she had a pseudo romance with Selina? I'm down. There was also a romance with Big Barda and while that broke my little bi heart (I don't do jealousy well), it was quick but enjoyable. Mera was my queen on this one. She sacrificed herself for the greater good and that really hurt but I understand it. Stargirl's death I didn't see coming and it was incredibly moving.
  
  Seriously, what does a girl have to do to be sandwiched between Batwoman and Big Barda? Just asking for a friend...
• 
  Batastrophe

  The story with the batgirls was amazing, but the rest of the volume wasn't keeping my interest very well. Not bad, but I kept putting it down and forgetting what had happened. Zatanna's also beginning to really annoy me, and I normally really like Zatanna.
• 
  Jenny Clark

  The art continues to be phenomenal, the story-lines interesting, and the dialogue well written. This is a pretty cool take on classic dc girls, and it has a strong feminine message, with out making men out to be less, or exclusively the villains, or any of the other issues you can find with modern feminist movements.
  Being set in the second world war does help this, on the home front part at least, since most men were off at the front and the women had to step up.
  Overall, a really well done series, with a great look.
• 
  Devann

  I liked this one a bit more than the first volume. It might be because the team is coming together in a more concrete way or it might be because I decided to stop worrying about my general lack of knowledge of the DC universe and just go along for the ride, but I'm definitely enjoying it at this point and am interested to see where it goes.
• 
  Steven

  So here we go, my continued attempt at plumbing the dark and shadowy territories of openly feminist/LGBT+ comics and the content therein and after the first volume of Bombshells, I didn't come out of it exactly singing its praises. The artwork was nice and colourful but the plot was wonky, the characters were flat and the whole tone felt kind of weirdly out of synch with the style it was attempting to ape. But never it be said I'm not willing to try new things a few times, unless we're talking nipple clamps and a car battery but anyways, Volume 2: Allies, yay.......
  
  I'd thought I'd do something different for this volume. Instead of my usual shtick of going over the whole thing at the end, instead here's my mental thought process as I went through each subsequent issue. At least this way, if I prove to go insane from the ordeal, I'll be dragging all of you cheeky bastards down with me.
  
  Issue 7:
  Okay so we're following off from Issue 6 with Zatanna's plotline, that's a good start. The art is the same as before, dark shades and all that noirish tosh. The Joker's Daughter is running the show, enacting a demonic ritual to summon a demon, okay good we've got a potential set-up for an ongoing villain....
  .....and the demon's taken up the centre stage and the Joker's Daughter's been sidelined....
  Bennett, why didn't you set the Joker's Daughter up to be the villain?
  Is this going to be a trend?
  Okay it's not the end of the world. Provided the next issue continues this.....
  
  Issue 8:
  You cut to Kate Kane.
  Bennett, I get that you have a large ensemble cast, but would it kill you to give your current cast more characterization that's thicker than an anorexic's lunchtime snack?!
  Anyway Kate is shaking down a racist thug for the names of Jewish families with a baseball bat - because she's the Batwoman get it?
  
  
  
  You know, I'm not really feeling Kate's character. She's supposed to be this badass military veteran and yet all I'm getting is the vibe of a street thug. This woman fought in the Spanish Civil War! Where's her gun training, her military tactics and strategic thinking?!
  Anyway her and Maggie spend the day at the fair, Kate get gushed over by a fangirl and is carted off to Amanda Waller's military base where....
  .....Cameos by Doctor Light and Big Barda?
  Bennett, please.....
  Stop shoving cameos into the story and give your current cast time to shine. Please.
  
  Issue 9:
  And we're back to Wonder Woman and Mera, along with Steve Trevor along for the ride. So the dialogue is decent, we have some slow, heartfelt character moments. It's okay, I'll give it that. But I'd be a lot more on board with this if this wasn't the same retread of Diana's backstory that we've heard a hundred bloody times! And what's Mera doing anyway? She's basically just the valet here!
  Oop!
  Explosion time!
  Nazis!
  Fight scene!
  Wonder Woman being badass!
  The nazis are faceless mooks without personality!
  Um....yay?
  
  Issue 10:
  And we're back to Kara and Kortni.
  We have some nice propaganda artwork and some suitably sinister rhetoric, and then Bennett fucks it up by explaining why the propaganda is bullshit.
  And you're literally doing the whole backwards R thing! You are actually demonstrating cultural insensitivity in a series about sensitivity!
  And now they've obviously defected because surprise, surprise! The Soviets are dick-whistlers!
  
  Issue 11:
  And now you've switched to Harley Quinn. Bennett seriously, pick a lane and stick with it.
  And more cameos. Although Shondra Kinsolving's a little obscure at this point so I can let that slide.
  Wait, how did that prisoner escape his cell?!
  Why does Harley now have a split personality?!
  Why the fuck is she crashing a christmas party?!
  How did she manage to knock out a bloke with a thin wooden cutout?!
  What the fuck is going on?!
  
  
  Ow.
  
  Issue 12:
  Okay last issue. Let's see what's up here.
  So we're back to Wonder Woman, the least interesting of the bunch. Bennett, I get that you want to make Wonder Woman the heart of the story, but constantly having conversations between her and Steve Trevor does not equal heart, especially when all they're doing is waxing poetic.
  And then you end on a cliffhanger with the US army about to execute her for stopping some random soldier from killing a nazi POW?! They literally saw her tear through tanks in the last Wonder Woman issue! Have they all come down with a case of the Stupid Virus?!
  
  
  Buuuuuuhhhhhhhh.......
  
  So......yeah, that was a thing.
  
  If it sounds like I'm coming down on this series so far, it's because so much of it feels so all over the place. To sum it up in one word, the polite word would be inconsistent, but since I'm an Aussie and I reserve the right to be crass and blunt, a better word would be bipolar. The constant shifting of storylines means that the pacing is like a methhead on a rollercoaster, the characterisation is as dry as a Puritan in the middle of a sexual drought and the tone feels naive and childish.
  
  A short while ago, I reviewed Larry Correia's Hard Magic and gave that novel flak for committing to a 40's pulp aesthetic without any of the bombastic tone or characters the genre was known for. Bombshell's has a similar problem in that while it wants to present itself as a pulpy 40's adventure, it doesn't want to commit to the world or tone of the genre.
  Criticize Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon for being a Fu Manchu stereotype all you want, but the bugger had presence! He had character and personality! None of the ladies in Bombshells feel organic; their backstories and motivations are spelled out through infodumps and painfully obvious dialogue, the villains of the setting - the nazis - are relegated to faceless mooks with no characterization to give me any real reason to hate them.
  
  And before anyone points out - BUT THEY'RE NAZIS! - yes, I know that. Thankyou Captain Obvious. You know who else was a Nazi? The Red Skull! Baron Zemo! Hans Grosse from Wolfenstein! You know what makes them distinct? They have personality, they have character! They give the reader/player a motivation to hate them and see them fall. Bennett offers nothing!
  
  On top of this aside from the Nazis, we haven't been introduced to an actual main villain yet. The Joker's Daughter was set up initially but within a couple pages was reduced to a sobbing toady of a demon, a demon which quickly faded from importance because the story can't pick a plotline and stick with it for a couple of issues.
  
  At the time of this writing, Bombshells sits at the top of Margueritte Bennett's comics here on Goodreads, but I'm 12 issues in and I still don't see what the fuss is about. The jet-black obsidian cynic in me - or rather that is me, when I let him off the leash to run around the yard and hump the neighbour's leg - is increasingly convinced that the main reason why people gush over this is simply because most of its cast is female and LGBT+ friendly. And if that's the case, I find that actually kind of sad.
  
  Is there something I'm not seeing here? Is this the best that people can aspire to want out of their entertainment? Shouldn't you want better? Shouldn't you want to see your favourite characters treated like people, instead of cardboard cutouts on a page?!
  
  
• 
  Rachel

  Finished while bawling my eyes out. This series is my new favorite thing ever.
• 
  Genna

  Read in one sitting, I couldn't put it down for even a second. Love the story progress, love the characters.
• 
  Megan

  POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: The next book in a series you started
  
  
• 
  Cale

  It feels like there are too many stories going on at once here. Too many characters get short shrift (Zatanna especially, although Barda and Dr. Light are others who get very little time), while others get overburdened with plots that feel reminiscent to volume 1 (Stargirl and Supergirl). When the stories focus on the characters, they're fairly interesting, like the Gotham girls taking on an orphanage and its secret factory. But most of this collection are massive action scenes, and those scenes just don't pull it off - there's too much going on, and too many coincidences and random appearances as Mera and Wonder Woman and their various factions all come together in the Battle of Britain. And there's a sacrifice made that doesn't really feel like it was earned. But in spite of that, the series as a whole is still fairly strong, and the world being built here is intriguing. The art walks the line between pinup and female-strong imagery, with a tendency toward the female-strong imagery, which is ideal. So while I wasn't thrilled with this volume, I do look forward to reading more.
• 
  Emma

  Honestly can't fault this. Really great story, and an awesome collection of artists and colourists. Even though there was some switching of artists between chapters, I didn't find it jarring at all. On a whole, definitely enjoyed this even more than volume one. My favourite part was the Batgirls issue and pretty much any scene with Batwoman. Seeing Supergirl's vulnerabilities and more of Mera was great too. This is fastly becoming one of my favourite series. Highly recommend.
• 
  Lenny

  I only made it 1-2 issues in before giving up. I liked the premise from volume one - essentially, DC's women superheroes living in the 40's - even though Bennett quickly expanded to include everyone possible, and the story collapsed under the weight of a huge cast.
  
  Here, that problem only gets worse with multiple Batgirls and other groups (most of whom I can't or don't have time to get invested in), confusing and meandering dialogue, and attempting to do far too much in a few issues. It's frustrating that none of these characters are reimagined in particularly interesting ways (except maybe Zatanna, who I didn't get to in this volume). And the 40's setting never feels serious or real; the Kanes try to smuggle in and hide Jewish immigrants, but it's virtually impossible that they even got to Gotham, since Jewish refugees were unable to immigrate due to antisemites in high places; regardless, this important inclusion is minimized by the arrival of "the Batgirls" and then forgotten...the Nazi villains are the same old cliché, and they are minimized when the big bad is something else. Like volume one, rampant discrimination against people of color and queer folks seem forgotten as well. The setting feels like a coat of paint to distract from an otherwise standard superhero story, rather than saying something new about superheroes and/or the WWII era. I also couldn't get past the art, in which everyone looks twee (not a great look for a WWII book), and also a bit crosseyed -the series suffers without Sauvage.
  
  This is a shame because comic books, DC (and Marvel), and the superhero genre were created by Jewish immigrants in the 30's, blocked out of other pursuits due to antisemitism. There is a LOT of material here, and specifically a lot of untold and under-appreciated stories of real women who made a difference during this era who could have been featured or honored. Maybe this series finds its footing in later volumes, but at the moment, I don't have the desire to get there.
• 
  Eva B.

  How it started: Aw, the Batgirls are teaming up!
  How it ended: NO KORTNI WHY?!
• 
  Heatherblakely

  1. I'm a little confused
  2. Why does everyone have to have huge boobs?
• 
  Hannah Givens

  This volume gets a little choppy jumping between all the characters and getting most of them in one place for a big battle, but it's still super good.
• 
  Lucie

  4.5 stars
  
  IT WAS EVERYTHING, I LOVE THE BOMBSHELLS SO MUCH.
• 
  Kelly W.

  While I thoroughly enjoy reading this comic, this volume was a bit of a step back from the first volume. A lot of the things I loved about volume 1 are the same - the art, the inclusion of WOC and lgbt+ women, the girl power. Unfortunately, the plotting and pacing degenerated a little, and more often than not I was confused at how threads fits together. It’s still a fun read, just not as fluid as I would have liked. Since this book is next in a series of trades, this review will focus on things particular to this volume.
  
  Things I Liked
  
  1. Allies Theme: The title of this volume is “allies,” and I love the way Bennett integrates the title into the events of the narrative. The story about the formation of the Batfamily, for example, mirrors the allies theme via a massive team-up. Next, Supergirl and Stargirl have a crisis as to what “family” constitutes: blood or bond (so, in the end, it’s a story about sisterhood). This volume also features all the Bombshells teaming up towards the end into an all-female Justice League-eque squad, which is exciting.
  
  2. Queerness: It seems like everyone is LGBT+. There’s more queerness in this book than in the last one, and it was AWESOMELY EXECUTED.
  
  Things I Didn’t Like
  
  1. Narrative Fluidity: More so than the previous volume, I found myself confused at the amount of skipping around in this volume. The locations change quite suddenly, and there’s also a lot of fast pacing in the action sequences, which left me wondering at how everything fit together. As a result, most of the volume felt like a long string of action sequences.
  
  2. Layouts: I’m pretty sure part of my confusion stems from the layouts of pages and panels, since I found myself more than once reading things in the wrong sequence. Maybe that’s due to the printing, but even so, there should be a bit more thought as to where the center fold occurs and how to keep your reader’s eye moving in the right direction.
  
  3. Lack of Harley/Ivy: Harley Quinn and Ivy were included in the previous volume, so I was surprised that they were almost non-existent in this volume. For purposes of consistency and unity, I would have liked to see more of them.
  
  Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in DC’s female characters (especially Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batwoman), World War II history and culture,
  supernatural threats, and elder things.
• 
  Chris Lemmerman

  This second volume of the digital-first Bombshells series collects the next six print issues, or the next 18 individual chapters.
  
  The first half of the book feels a little disjointed, with the first two-part story actually being two one-shot stories about the Batgirls and Batwoman, whilst the following two two-parters bring the Bombshells together for their first true test as all of their enemies unite to try and destroy London. Even though this is an Elseworlds, the stakes feel high and when one of the characters falls, it's really quite devastating, especially when you consider all that they've been through across the past year of stories.
  
  The art in this volume is a little more consistent than in the first one, with Laura Braga and Mirko Andolfo dealing with the majority of the pencils, with Marguerite Sauvage popping up to do two chapters in the middle too; their styles are more cohesive than the selection in the first trade, and this is especially important once all the characters are together since each chapter follows on directly from before rather than shifting focus like they did when the characters were separated.
• 
  Valerie Anne

  This is literally the perfect thing to read right now, in this political climate. Read it. It feels like punching a Nazi.
• 
  Kendra

  Meraaaaaaaaaaa
• 
  Joana

  This series is so GOOD and it makes me so damn happy!!! And it's something I recommend to both comic book fans - because all these characters are brought together and you will probably pick up on a lot more easter eggs than I can - but also to comic book newbies, because it's a very particular and independent story, that you can read on it's own.
  Also I LOVE how the explore the World War II in very different fronts, from Germany, to England, to the USSR, to the USA, and not just in different places but with different parts of society - which gives you a broader view of the war
  The art is stunning... The people and the places are beautifully drawn, the battle scenes look great, and I just LOVE them working together!!!
  And personally, these books are making me LOVE Mera so much!!! I barely knew her, but I'm loving her in this!!! And it's making super excited to see her in the Justice League movie :)
  100% recommend!!! :D
  
  [Read for the 2017 BookTube-A-Thon, for challenge #6 (Read a book you got because of the cover) - this is the closest I can probably get to this challenge, since I like knowing about what I'm reading and I never buy a book just because of the cover; with this series I knew very little about it, I had just seen the art and loved it (not so much the cover, more the Harley and Ivy art, but this is the closest to the challenge I can get); this also works for other challenges like #2 or #4 (that I already filled with another book) :D ]
• 
  Amanda Perry-Larkin

  Art is great but I did not like it as much as the first one. I found some of the stories were all over the place and needed to be connected a little better together. I loved the characters though as well as their bombshell costumes. They stay true to their character and are still really really awesome. The first story featuring the batgirls(kids) was phenomenal and I loved how it was different and a change of what usually happens. And OF COURSE I loved any of the parts with Wonder Woman, it's just the constant switching between places which made it seem like t was all over the place.