First and foremost, DC Comics Bombshells is a line of variant covers and collectible statues created by Ant Lucia and featuring superheroines reimagined in a 1940s-era pinup style. The line was launched in 2013 with Wonder Woman and the brand became soon enough popular enough for DC Comics to expand the line with art prints, T-shirts, mugs but also an out-of-continuity series.
Written by Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by rotating artists, DC Comics Bombshells is a reality where female superheroes guard the homefront during World War II. When the story began, Kate Kane is the Batwoman, a player in an all-women’s baseball league where the player’s identities are kept secret to protect them from sexist backlash. Kate Kane plays baseball and fights crime in her Batwoman identity. Soon enough, she is recruited by Commander Amanda Waller who offers her to join her Bombshell, her team working to end the war.
Bombshells is an ensemble comic book series, in which you can also find alternate versions of Queen Mera Curry (Aquawoman), The Question (Renee Montoya)Stargirl (Kortni Duginovna), Supergirl (Kara Starikov), Diana Prince (Wonder Woman), Zatanna “Zee” Zatara, and more.
As a digital-first ongoing series, Bombshells ran for 100 digital issues (the equivalent of 33 print issues), with the final issue released in August 2017. That same month, the second digital-first series named Bombshells United was launched, picking up from the end of the previous Bombshells series. The first arc introduced Bombshells versions of Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark. This second series was less successful as the title was canceled after 38 digital issues and 19 print issues.
DC Comics Bombshells, The First Series
As Word War II rages across Europe, the Allied forces issue a call to arms for the greatest heroines the world has ever known: THE BOMBSHELLS!
- DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 1: Enlisted
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #1–6 (Digital Chapters 1–18). Also collected in Deluxe edition. - DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 2: Allies
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #7–12 (Digital Chapters 19–36). Also collected in Deluxe edition. - DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 3: Uprising
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #13–18 (Digital Chapters 37–54).
- DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 4: Queens
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #19–24 (Digital Chapters 55–72). - DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 5: The Death of Illusion
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #26-29; Annual #1 (Digital Chapters 76-90). - DC Comics Bombshells Vol. 6: War Stories
Collects DC Comics Bombshells #25, 30-33; Annual #1 (Digital Chapters 73-75,91-100).
Bombshells United
Following the conclusion of Bombshells, the story begins in 1943, with the Bombshells now back in America. The war-torn world of the DC Comics Bombshells pits new combinations of heroines against unexpected threats at home, and finds Wonder Woman facing a deadly, dedicated enemy who strikes at the heart of her nature: the shape-shifting Clayface!
- Bombshells United Volume 1: American Soil
Collects Bombshells United #1–6 (Digital Chapters 1–12). - Bombshells United Volume 2: War Bonds
Collects Bombshells United #7–12 (Digital Chapters 13–24). - Bombshells United Volume 3: Taps
Collects Bombshells United #13-19 (Digital Chapters 25-38).
Since the end of Bombshells United, the Bombshell reality has been visited once, by the Prime Earth Harleen Quinzel in one issue written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. Somehow, someway, Harley’s managed to find herself in the world of the Bombshells, a universe where female heroes have taken to the battlefield of World War II! And most unbelievably of all…she’s gonna meet herself?!
- Harley’s Little Black Book #4
Collected in Harley’s Little Black Book Volume 1Harley’s Little Black Book Volume 1
What to read after DC Comics Bombshells?
You can check out other DC universes:
- Arkhamverse, based on the video game series.
- Injustice, an alternate universe where Superman is bad.
- DCeased, a world transformed by the zombie apocalypse.