World Comic Book Review

28th March 2024

The Fine Line Walked

DC Comics Bombshells #1 [review]
(DC Comics, October 2015)
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Review by DG Stewart, 1 October 2015

American publisher DC Comics have recently released a series of statues of some of its female characters under the brand “DC Comics Bombshells”, each with a bishoojo style appearance. “Bishoojo” is the Japanese word for “beautiful girl” and is a term used to describe characters of youthful, attractive appearance in Japanese manga. Bishoojo style has become increasingly sexual over the years. The DC Comics Bombshells statues themselves are a mix of sugary innocence and provocative sexuality, orientated towards a certain demography of collectors.

Which is why the first issue of DC Comics Bombshells is a surprise. DC Comics had, a few years ago, abandoned the World War 2 origins of many of its major characters and realigned its continuity for the 21st century. But DC Comics Bombshells takes the reader back to the 1940s. The writer, Marguerite Bennett, reasonably explains the focus on exclusively female characters in the book by noting that all men in the 19040s United States were at war (albeit an early war – Ms Bennett postulates a reality where the United States joined England and France in fighting Nazi Germany pre-Pearl Harbour). The story captures the 1940s nostalgia of Roy Thomas’ All-Star Squadron (1981-1987) but with more fun, and the sassiness of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer (1982) but with more class.

Read more