Bombshells United #1

Title: Bombshells United #1 - American Soil
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Cover Artists: Terry and Rachel Dodson
Variant Artist: Babs Tarr
Editor: Jessica Chen

So the first thing you're probably wondering is, what's a DC Bombshells review doing here? Well if you've been on Legion World or paying attention to DC's variant cover solicits, you'd know this series features the unexpected appearance of a Legionnaire.

DC Bombshells started life as a series of statues designed by Ant Lucia, before becoming a variant cover theme and then gaining its own digital comic series. What could've been an excuse for DC to shill gratuitous cheesecake art with absolutely no plot turned out to be their most feminist and empowering comic to date, and considering this began when the New 52 was still going, that's really saying something.

Marguerite Bennett, plus a rotating cast of artists including Marguerite Sauvage, Mirka Andolfo, Laura Braga, and several others, has created an alternate take on the DCU during World War II, where the majority of the world's greatest heroes are all openly queer women. Wonder Woman, Batwoman, the Batgirls, Supergirl, Stargirl, and so many others are reimagined with a 1940 retro Bombshells design. The original series dealt mainly with the Nazi Party in Germany and Europe, but this new series, "Bombshells United," takes place in 1943 and examines the internment of Japanese-American citizens following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Considering what's been going on in the world for the past few years this is extremely relevant.

In Arizona, 1943, our narrator offers a brief recap of how much the world has changed in three short years thanks to The War, and how in that time women of power have risen; like the Wonder Woman, the Batwoman, the Supergirl. They changed the world and were changed by it. And then Pearl Harbor was bombed, and the President of the United States signed Executive Order 9066, for the immediate internment of all Japanese and Japanese-American citizens for fear any of them were agents for Imperial Japan. But our narrator, Donna Troy, refuses to comply.

Somewhere near the train that Donna is on, with many other citizens of Japanese descent, three girls on motorcycles report that they've received their signal and now act. One of them, a blond girl, manages to jump inside the train and fights the guards to pull the brake, while the other two women use grappling hooks to wreck the tracks as the train comes to a stop. Donna greets their rescuers, Cassie Sandsmark and twin sisters Yuki and Yuri.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is fighting American soldiers near the train, to stop them from interrupting the rescue mission.

Cassie explains that they got in touch with Wonder Woman by summoning her messenger/familiar, the Black Eagle, utilizing a spell their friend Emily Sung told them about involving a candle and a wind chime. Wonder Woman holds up a necklace with an eagle symbol on it, and summons several large eagles to help transport Donna and the rest to a safe haven in the Pacific Northwest. Wonder Woman reveals the spell wasn't always a thing with her, but she's a magical person, and over the years her legend and what she's capable of have changed.

In a forest, the birds disappear as soon as their passengers descend, but they were not of Wonder Woman's power. That honor belongs to someone else, a spell-caster from beyond the cosmos. Everyone, meet... DAWNSTAR! Wonder Woman and Dawnstar greet each other like old friends, and she alludes to adventures held in the past year with the Amazonian Princess. Dawnstar discusses with Donna the cycle of peoples and nations being oppressed over the centuries, and how those oppressed in the past can be exploited by new oppressors.

Donna, Cassie, and the twins talk about what's been happening and what Donna's end goal is for the internees. Donna spells it out she isn't just about granting them safe haven, but taking back their homes and rights the government is trying to deny them because of Pearl Harbor.

Wonder Woman overhears Donna's discussion, and that night she converses with her familiar. The Black Eagle warns Diana that she can't change human nature, no matter how much as she wants to save these people and their country. As they talk, Diana notices the slime trail on her shield and flicks it off. And then the slime trail gets up.

Diana is shocked to see the soldier from the desert who shot her. He gushes on what an honor it is to be recognized by the famous Wonder Woman, who inspired many and then betrayed America to help "Vermin" like Donna and the others. The soldier fires his gun despite Diana's warning of the ricochet, but is horrified when the wound in the man's face bleeds some sort of gunk like... clay.

To be continued.

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I love everything about this story so far. I mean Titans AND Legionnaires together in one place? My favorite!

The Story: I love that Marguerite is focusing a completely separate series on the aftermath of Pearl Harbor instead of making it just one arc of the original series. And she's shown total dedication to her decision of giving queer women and POC women more agency and power in these stories than they had in real life, regardless of any nonsense about "Historical accuracy." Marguerite's still honest about the injustices the Japanese-American people of the U.S. were put through back then, and as she makes it clear, this kind of thing was always capable of happening, then as it is now. And it is not something that should ever be accepted, now or ever.

The Art: Is breathtaking, that's all I can say. God I want to get a sketch from Marguerite Sauvage someday.

The Characters: FINALLY, a portrayal of Donna Troy that's not complicated or bogged down by backstory contradictions, and a likable version of Cassandra Sandsmark after Geoff Johns and several others turned her into an irritating moron. I'm surprised by the use of Yuki and Yuri, who in the New 52 were villains Batgirl faced during her "Burnside" phase (they were styled after an obscure anime and called themselves the Jawbreakers), and Emily Sung, who first appeared in "Flashpoint" as the kooky Element Woman.

Dawnstar: I've longed and I've hoped for the Legionnaires to appear in this world, and I'm so glad it's Dawnstar. I'm not entirely sure if she truly is an alien, but this is the first issue so I'm willing to wait and see.  I love Dawny's costume and how it's probably the least sexual of all her costumes save the Magic Wars one. And God bless Marguerite Sauvage for giving her the appropriate skin color. I'm not sure how many other Legionnaires may appear, but as long as Dawny is in this series I'm reviewing it here. Granted the "Magical Native American" trope is a bit overplayed, but I'm still excited to see what Marguerite has planned and I hope she acknowledges Dawny being bisexual. And for those wondering, yes, she is going to have a bigger role in the next issue. The first half's already been released digitally, but I'll be reviewing these as the physical copies are released.

For the love of God if you care about the Legion and want a talented, capable writer handling them, buy this book!