365 Days of Defiance, Day 246: Bombs Away

Cover of DC Comics Bombshells #7 (February 2016), art by Ant Lucia
We definitely live in a modern golden age of graphic design, and yet for inspiration and fervor, the patriotic and inspirational posters of World War II still have a strong hold and influence on us. Subtract the racism of the 1940s and add sisterhood, power, and feminism and you wind up with today's perfect updating of the Golden Age ideal: the DC Comics Bombshells.


Cover art for DC Comics Bombshells #5 (January 2016), art by Ant Lucia
Bombshells, a DC digital-first series, reimagines the heroines (and a few villainesses too!) as women fighting the Second World War. Tho' the concept debuted in 2015, long past the Elseworlds publication history, its concept is virtually the exact definition of Elseworlds: In Elseworlds, super-heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow.


Cover art for DC Comics Bombshells #8 (March 2016), art by Ant Lucia
What's most remarkable is that the initial design for this series sprang from single creative mind, artist Ant Lucia, whose good-girl pin-up art of DC heroines was used to create a line of statues for DC Collectibles, and later, the visual aesthetic and covers for the comics. (Read more about the debut of the statues here.) Later that year, comics written by Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by a wide range of women artists (Marguerite Sauvage, Laura Braga, Bilquis Evely, Ming Doyle, Maria-Laura Sanapo, and many more) have filled in the mythic background and the thrilling adventures of these characters in DC Comics Bombshells, and later in the Bombshells United series. The cover art for much of the first series is by Ant Lucia. (See the covers for Bombshells and Bombshells United.)


Variant Bombshells cover art for Justice League of America (2015 series) #3 (October 2015), pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson
Bombshells variant covers appeared on a handful of regular DC Universe titles in 2014...


Variant Bombshells cover art for Superman/Wonder Woman #9 (August 2014), art by Emanuela Lupacchino and Ant Lucia
...and were popular enough that nearly all DC books with the cover month October 2015 were published with variant Bombshells covers. You may call it cheesecake, we call it sideways promotional integration!


Variant Bombshells cover art for Superman (2011 series) #43 (October 2015), art by Des Taylor
I've been reading Bombshells since the beginning and enjoying it immensely. Each digital and floppy issue is imaginative, female- and gay-friendly, fun, and most of all, inspiring.


Variant Bombshells cover art for Batman/Superman #23 (October 2015), art by Des Taylor
The design and artwork harkens back to the Golden Age of Comics and the Dark Days of World War II, and gives us a cadre of never-say-die woman warriors to look up to and thrill to their exploits.


Variant Bombshells cover art for Superman/Wonder Woman #20 (October 2015), pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson
Good girl art merged with intelligent and entertaining stories? Count me in!


Variant Bombshells cover art for Justice League (2011 series) #43 (October 2015), art by Emanuela Lupacchino
In comics, the saga of the DC Bombshells isn't over yet, but with powerhouses like this, the War may just end early and victorious for the Allies. Keep 'em flying, girls, and keep inspiring us to resist and defy the evil in the world!

Two-page cover spread art for DC Comics Bombshells #11-12 (June-July 2016); art by Ant Lucia
(Click picture to Fat Girl-size)

So, always remember:


Variant Bombshells cover for Wonder Woman #32 (October 2015), art by Ant Lucia
PS: I heartily recommend the gorgeous The Art of DC Comics Bombshells coffee-table book!