Bombshells United #14 Review

Writer: Marguerite Bennett

Artist: David Hahn

Colorist: J. Nanjan

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Published by: DC Comics

After having made their way to Hawaii in search of Black Canary, the Batgirls get trapped by a Volcano and rescued by not only Black Canary, but also a returning Bumblebee (if memory serves). However, not even two seconds back at Black Canary’s radio broadcasting station does a group of misfits (who resemble an awful lot like the main DCU’s Suicide Squad), led by Lt. Charles - who I can’t place for the life of me, to detain Black Canary for questioning. Her crime? They aren’t sure yet, but a signal emanating from her broadcasting station is turning people who listen to it into mindless,, happy zombies.  

You’d think that would be the end of it? Wrong! This is comics after all. Instead of going calmly with Lt. Charles, Black Canary decides to fight back (with the help of the Batgirls) and succeeds in making her escape. However, in doing so, she inadvertently restarts her console that starts broadcasting that strange music that turns people.

The rest of the issue deals with the consequences of her actions as both Ravager and Junie Moone (Enchantress) get possessed by this audio entity and cause all sorts of havoc - all while Black Canary flies the coop (pun intended).

The art team is probably the highlight of this issue this week. Hahn does not have an overly complicated style which allows for some nice, clean paneling, distinct characters, and very easy to follow action. Nanjan’s colors bring everything together as well.

Where this issue suffers this week is the plot. I understand that you have to have some sort of conflict within the issue itself, but it becomes pretty lazy storytelling when the go-to plot point is heroes fighting seemingly heroic characters (I’m not sure where faux-Suicide Squad falls right now) over a simple request. Literally everything that goes wrong in this issue is Black Canary’s fault. This in turn doesn’t lend to too much sympathy on my part.