Wonder Woman #20

I wonder if Frank Cho sees Rucka allowing sexy Wonder Woman covers like this where she's casually jerking off a sword and rolls over in his perverted grave?

The Review!
If you're into feminism, you'd better be reading this comic book! Also, you should be into comic books. I'm not into this comic book which poses a problem because I'm really into feminism. At parties, I'm always all, "Hey! How about that feminism? Pretty cool, right?!" Then when nobody talks to me, I throw an incomprehensible tantrum while using phrases like "nice guy" and "total bitch" a lot. You'd think women would be all over you when you proudly proclaim you're into feminism! And I suppose some of them kind of act intrigued but then they want to discuss it and they lose interest pretty quickly when you ask them if they're drunk enough to take off some clothes.

All that being said, this issue — Issue #20, by God! — is the first issue I truly enjoyed. Why the fuck did it take this long to get to the story, Greg Rucka? I hate unnecessary prologue! I mean, some of the previous story could probably be considered necessary. But not a lot of it! A lot of it was boring garbage!

Some questions you were probably too bored to ask were answered this issue and boy were they doozies! Here's one that was answered: Will I ever get to see a panel where Circe strips naked? The answer to that one was yes! Another one was this question: Are the dogs, Deimos and Phobos, any relation to the gods, Deimos and Phobos? The answer to that one is no! I mean, they are Deimos and Phobos and not relations of them. Why would you think some gods would be related to dogs? Oh yeah, that's right! Because the Greek gods fucked anything that moved!

The Ranking!
+1! Finally! An issue of Wonder Woman worth reading. I mean, some of the other ones were worth reading too. But only if you needed to fall asleep quickly.

Wonder Woman #18

That skirt's a little short, Rucka. I'm beginning to think maybe you just had a problem, specifically, with Frank Cho.

I know! I can't believe it either. I'm still reading this book! It's like reading Styrofoam peanuts while eating rice cakes and getting a blow job from some guy in a back alley who really isn't into it.

What happened to Nicola Scott?! Where's my Nicola Scott issue?! All I ask if I'm to keep reading this bland story is that I get to look at Nicola Scott artwork! She hasn't been seen since Issue #14! I'm jonesing over here!

Well fine. No Nicola Scott. But at least we've got Bilquis Evely's artwork to look at this issue. Not that it compares. Comparing Bilquis to Nicola is like comparing something mediocre to something orgasmic. No offense, Bilquis!

Don't you love people who add "no offense" to critical statements? I only did it because I'm a goddamned troll. Also because I just really miss Nicola's artwork and I'd shit all over the work of anybody who followed her on a series (except Moritat! Fucking Mary sitting on Jesus's face, I love Moritat's art! (Not the Virgin Mary, you perv! Mary Magdalene! Sheesh!)). Also I called Bilquis's art mediocre! That's practically a compliment in the Eee! Tess Ate Chai Tea lexicon!

This issue begins with Veronica of Squad Ares bringing her friend Adrianna back from the dead. She's not entirely successful. She actually just creates a holographic AI using her stored neural pathways. Holographic Adrianna accepts her new identity more quickly than I'd expect from the way Greg Rucka loves to waste comic book pages with nothing but tone building and unnecessary frivolities. But she doesn't want to be called Adrianna anymore. From now on, she's Doctor Cyber. Would it have hurt her to have spent a few extra pages thinking about her new moniker? Sure, I would have bitched about it like Willie Olsen being told he can't have any more candy by his beta cuck father. But at least she could have come up with something more exciting.

Meanwhile, Barbara Ann Minerva (the one in the past! Remember the even issues take place in the past (unless sometimes it's the odd ones that do!)) has decided, since meeting Wonder Woman and discovering Ares was real, has decided to search for other gods. I hope she discovers they're all real except for the God of The Bible (which is also the God of The Koran, so don't think I mean Allah exists as well. They're the same God, dum-dums)!

Is Barbara Ann allowed to discover the Norse Gods or will Marvels' lawyers start getting antsy?

I guess this is where Barbara Ann flies off into the exciting world of fictional archaeology and comes home as a cheetah. Because the gods are jerks!

Veronica's daughter Izzy is still a faceless husk. I guess she hasn't died from starvation yet even though it's been a year since The Phobros interfered with her life. Now she's opted to fund Barbara Ann Minerva's research into finding old gods. Mainly the one named Urzakatakaraka or whatever. I don't have enough brain space left to remember the names of sexist gods! Knowing Yahweh is already one too many!

To make sure Wonder Woman is too busy to save Barbara Ann before she can become Cheetah, Doctor Cyber hacks the world, causing all kinds of problems that are too low level for Superman to deal with but right up Wonder Woman's alley!

This is why I only use the Fremont Bridge (which is my favorite bridge because it reminds me of something out of Astro City)!

Barbara Ann winds up turning into Cheetah in what is now the only canonical way ever because Greg Rucka said so. Barbara Ann, now Cheetah, decides Wonder Woman isn't her friend anymore because she believes she lied about rescuing her. That's always a good way to turn a friend into an enemy. Just have them believe their friend lied without taking the time to figure out if the lie was really just some other kind of misunderstanding. I mean, why think, "My friend would never have betrayed me like this! I should get to the bottom of this!" when it's so much easier to think "Fucking cunt! I'll kill her!"?

The Ranking!
No change. Don't you just love revisiting the origin story of a superhero every few years?! Especially when the new origin takes well over twenty issues to tell? Are you enraptured?! Well good for you! Because I'm still bored.

Wonder Woman #16

Imagine the chimera. At one point in the ancient world, a goat was bad-ass enough to stick on a lion to make it tougher.

• I bet the legend of the Chimera began when a drunk guy was walking home and he saw a lion off to the side and in the distance behind the lion was a goat so that it looked like the goat's head was sticking out of the back of the lion. Then he told people about the creature and they were all, "Bullshit! Didn't happen. Pics." But instead of admitting he was drunk and maybe he didn't exactly see things clearly, he doubled down on his story and was all, "And there was a snake coming out of its butt! And it breathed fire!" Then everybody was all, "Oh shit. Now that sounds plausible!"

• The Chimera on the cover is totally based on the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual Chimera. But the Chimera Wonder Woman wrestles on the first page is the more historically accurate Chimera. What I'm suggesting is that Jenny Frison plays Dungeons and Dragons.

• Veronica and Adrianna of Empire Business and Hand Soap Solutions discuss Wonder Woman and how great or not-so-great she is. Adrianna is all goofy in the pants for her but Veronica remains distant and aloof to the possibility that maybe Wonder Woman is the greatest thing to ever happen to immigration. They're busy working on a thing that will cause Wonder Woman no end of problems in the odd numbered issues. But right now in these even numbered issues, Empire Business and Hand Soap Solutions still don't know how much they despise Wonder Woman or how much the hand soap is hurting the rest of their business.

• Meanwhile in Geneva, Switzercountry, Veronica's daughter, Isadore, meets a couple of men who seem to be the same man. They begin using all the regular chat-up lines on Isadore like "This painting is called 'Kill Your Father' and 'We're twins' and 'Have you ever seen a man's stick this big and fancy?' and also, the best, 'Gaze into my magic gem of secrets!'"

• After her encounter, Isadore loses her face.

This is probably some kind of metaphor for sexism, right?

• The twins who stole Isadore's identity are Phobos and Deimos. Those are the gods of Vietnamese Soup and Gay Gods, respectively. That doesn't explain why they would need the face of a little girl. Maybe I got the translations of their names wrong.

• Phobos and Deimos are, of course, the moons of Mars. Apparently they've taken human form and this is going to wind up being a Martian Manhunter crossover. Maybe they needed the little girl's face so they could build more face art on the surface of Mars.

• The Phobros believe that Empire Business and Hand Soap Solutions can meet their needs. They would like to know the location of Themyscira but they can't seem to find it in Diana's head. So they need Veronica's not-quite-ready-to-go technology. It will probably be ready in about five or six years. Once they get the information, Isadore will be freed from some tartar sauce.

• Adrianna volunteers to hook herself up to the CyberWalker machinery. That probably explains why she's a hologram in the odd numbered issues. Unless they were, at one point, the even numbered issues. It's hard to say since there was that stupid Barbara Minerva Cheetah Origin story smack dab in the middle of everything.

• Being that the technology is in that not-quite-ready-to-go status that I so scientifically detailed earlier, it fails to provide the Phobros with the information they need. But it does manage to kill Adrianna! I mean, trap her mind inside a computer. That's the way things work when you attach brains to machines and then turn switches and run currents and all the other technological stuff that I can't be bothered to explain to dullards. Not that you, the person currently reading this right now, are a dullard! It's all those other people reading this.

The Ranking!
No change! When I was a teenager and way too naive for the age I was, I wished the local zoo had been full of creatures from Dungeons and Dragons. That's not a great chat-up line in junior high. I can only tell you the not great chat-up lines from junior high since I never figured out the successful ones. That's no great surprise though since one time, Marilyn Mendoza, the girl I had a crush on for nearly my entire junior high school life, was writing notes back and forth to me in the library. Her final note to me said, "I love you anyway," and I instantly went into a fugue state. I would explain how Marilyn reacted but, as I pointed out, I went into a fugue state! Totally botched that one!

Legends of Tomorrow #6: Sugar & Spike!

Sugar & Spike have the same amount of pages in this book as Firestorm. This cover is bullshit.

Everybody should be happy now that we're living in Trumpland! In Trumpland, nobody is ever allowed to make you feel stupid or else you'll get a fist in the face, buddy! Finally, the violent and dumb are perfectly normal citizens! And don't think you can get away with pretending you didn't know you were making somebody feel dumb! Don't you dare read a book that doesn't have "Choose Your Own Adventure" on the cover in public because that would make so many people feel stupid! And only use the same vocabulary that Trump uses. You know, short, easily learned words. The kinds of words they use as examples for parts of speech in Mad Libs. Some words that are okay to use in Trumpland: Sad! Unfair! The Best! Mad! Dog! Cat! Banana! You know what? I'd stay away from using "banana" because it just has too many syllables. You should also put "really" in front of words you want to emphasize instead of using the words that already exist that mean the easy word but to a greater degree. So don't say ecstatic! Say really, really, really happy! And don't say indefinable. Say really, really, really not a best word! And don't say female orgasm because no man in Trumpland has ever pleasured a woman in his life! Sure, a lot of them have pleasured themselves inside a woman. But the woman was probably making a grocery list in her head during it.

I'm going to love living in Trumpland! Nobody can argue with me ever again because facts don't exist! We all just get to believe what we want to believe and feel really fucking good about ourselves! Although I have a feeling a lot of people probably suspect that they're not as smart or right as they pretend to think they are. Losers!

Anyway, I wonder if Sugar & Spike would help supervillains or morally bankrupt space assassins from Czarnia with their past indiscretions? Because I'm pretty sure Lobo probably wouldn't mind Sugar & Spike locating and destroying the video of his wedding with Bueno Excellente.

Perhaps "indiscretion" isn't the right word for what happened here. I think there's a harsher, more repugnant word for it. And one that Lobo doesn't have to be ashamed of at all. What happened to him wasn't his fault! I mean, it kind of was his fault a little bit. Mostly because he became popular enough for Garth Ennis to want to humiliate him.

Sugar & Spike are now the proud owners of the Museum of Humiliating Comic Book Story Arcs. I suppose it's more accurate to say that they're oddities since that's what the comic book calls them. Also, they have displays like Cheeks the Toy Wonder and when did he ever humiliate anybody? I don't think Ambush Bug was ever embarrassed about having him as a sidekick. I have a Cheeks the Toy Wonder project for DC Comics that I'll never get around to writing because why would DC Comics ever want me to write anything for them? Especially unsolicited! Also I have no wish to write comic books. I'd probably write half of the first story and get bored with it. But I'm not going to say any more about it because I don't want some hack like Cullen Bunn stealing my idea!

While unpacking the new displays, Sugar and Spike and Lee Carver (the guy who founded the museum) are visited by Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad. But not the dorks from the eighties or nineties or other decades that are more cool than the older decades. No, these are the original super duper dorks from whatever decade they were invented! I think. I wasn't born then so how would I know exactly when these particular versions of the characters are from?!

The three original Legionnaires want to hire Sugar and Spike for a job! I mean, of course that's what they want. That's the whole point of this comic book. If they had wanted to have sex with them, this review would just be full of orgy pictures and semen stains.

While the job is being discussed, more Legionnaires arrive! This time, it's Lightning Lad, Brainiac Five, and Supergirl! Is Supergirl a member of the Legion of Super-heroes? Probably a complimentary member, or whatever word I actually meant to use that's different than complimentary. Who can be bothered to know things? I'm living in a Post-Trump World! Unless it's just a Trump World. Does it matter? Nobody can correct me in Trumpland because facts don't matter! All opinions are equal! I'm going to get a job building rockets!

These new Legionnaires appear in a Time Bubble instead of a Time Closet. That means they're more moderner! This is going to turn into one of those crazy time travel situations, isn't it?! Sugar realizes things are about to get stupid too and decides she's had enough for the day.

Shower?! Now we're talking! Pants off!

As you might have been able to tell, if you're an astute reader (and who isn't in Trumpland?!), the reason I scanned the panel where Sugar says she's going to take a shower is because there are no panels of the actual shower. Would you like me to draw one for you?

Pretty good for using a touch pad and not being totally familiar with a naked female body! Right?

After her shower, Sugar discovers she's part of a time paradox. It's a good thing time paradoxes don't actually exist or she'd be in trouble! How do I know they don't exist? Well, have you ever encountered one?! See? That's also my proof of the non-existence of God! And fish tacos without cabbage in them.

I almost typed "And fish tacos without cabbage in" but I don't think it's acceptable to speak like a Britisher in Trumpland. You have to go to Farage Island for that! Never heard of Farage Island? Maybe you know it as Cuntsville?

Supergirl and Sugar rush off to STAR Labs to grab the whatzit that'll stop the time paradox from happening, even though it never really happened. Because it's not a thing! And this story proves it! Because all of these Legionnaires come from all sorts of futures to stop the time paradox which is stopped by Sugar's retrieval of the whatzit which means the time paradox never happened! Not that it would have happened anyway, time being what it is! Sugar could have just taken a much longer shower and everything would have resolved nicely because time paradoxes can't exist! That's why the word paradox is in there! I know this is Trumpland but sometimes you're going to have to use a fucking dictionary!

The Review!
I definitely wouldn't mind the occasional one-shot Sugar & Spike comic book after this. I'm not sure I'd want to read a monthly Giffen title because his dialogue is too confusing and I generally have to read his books two or three times before I ask somebody to help me figure it out. But I adore the concept of this series. It's also quite brave! Giffen is taking stories that are so obviously out of continuity that he'd be a fool to admit that they are continuity! Good thing he's such a fool then, right?

Wonder Woman #8

Remember in junior high school how learning the different types of Greek columns seemed super important? Was junior high simply preparing everybody for the day they might appear on Jeopardy?

Here are the three most important things that happened in my 7th grade history class: I tried a date for the first time; my teacher told me a terrible story about keeping your arms inside the windows of moving vehicles lest they get sheared off at the elbow; and Midori Moody took off her sweater in front of me and her shirt went up with it. Also I guess I learned that there was some kind of superficial difference between Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian columns.

I hope this is the issue that sets down in canon that Diana is bisexual. I hope it sets it down for like seven or eight egregiously detailed pictures. I'm using the archaic definition of egregious! Also, possibly, some of the modern definition.

Cheetah is a polyglot?! Sexy!

Apparently biweekly comic books make it difficult to tell a coherent story with a cohesive look. So not only has every other issue been about Wonder Woman's past, and every other other issue has been about Wonder Woman trying to figure out her past, now it's time for an interlude so everybody telling those other stories can catch their breath! This issue is about Cheetah. But since the cover said Wonder Woman and not Cheetah, I'm still hoping that eight or nine pages of it will star Diana Prince's tongue and fist and Amazonian strap-on.

Early in Cheetah's life, her father forbade her from using her imagination. From that point on, it was all serious business! That's the only real defining moment of Cheetah's childhood, so the story move on to many years later when Cheetah is much older and has much more polyglot experience. It's also possible that Cheetah had some other formative moments from her childhood but this is only a twenty page stories and eight or nine pages of it have been reserved for the sex scene.

In these early years, Cheetah wasn't Cheetah yet but I'm going to keep calling her Cheetah because fuck you. Sorry, sorry. That was probably more aggressive than it should have been. It probably shouldn't have been aggressive at all! It sounds like I know I'm doing a disservice to the character but sticking defensively to my guns because I'd rather double down on ineptitude than admit that I'm being disrespectful to the character of Barbara Ann Whatever.

Anyway, Cheetah believes the Amazons weren't myths at all but a real civilization that threatened the patriarchies of their day. Amazons were so good with bows that suddenly men couldn't show their erect penises in public for fear of getting an arrow through their shaft. They probably went around grumbling how women were ruining everything with their vocal demands for individual respect! I bet they were all, "Women are ruining our leisure activities! All of the games down at the Greek Game Spot were always about fucking as many women as possible! But did you see what was on the shelves last week?! A game about women having successful businesses! How am I supposed to enjoy Vagina Tallies or Breast Who or Titillation Town when I know there's a game that doesn't treat women as prizes! Outrageous!" Cheetah's peers are all, "You're probably wrong for man reasons. Also, how did you get a degree in man's work?"

On this expedition where another man was telling her, yet again, to stuff her imagination, Cheetah discovers the tomb of a queen of the Amazons. But immediately after discovering the tomb that only her eyes saw, the mountain collapses on it, sealing it forever. Her peer, Dr. Martin, is all, "That's too bad! I told you the Amazons were a myth!"

Dr. Martin scolds Cheetah for trying to fake up evidence and then clears the camp and leaves the site. But Cheetah wasn't the one to break into the tomb first! Somebody else broke in before her! Unless they broke out? The rubble was lying in the wrong direction for somebody to knock the wall into the tomb!

Cheetah spends the next few months trying to learn more. She realizes part of the one picture she took showed a star map and so she spends more time looking for the place on Earth where one could see the stars in her map. Eventually she discovers Paradise Island but finds no Amazons upon it. So they disappeared after Diana left. But at least Cheetah knows where the island is, so she can help Diana get back to find out what happened to the Amazons. It also might help Wonder Woman figure out her own history. Are the Amazons missing because of Crisis on Infinite Earths? Infinity Crisis? Identity Crisis? Convergence? Zero Hour? Bloodlines?! The New 52?! Rebirth?! What's real?!

The Rankings!
1. New Super-man (*)
2. Deathstork (*)
3. Wonder Woman (*)
4. Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (*)
5. Suicide Squad (*)
6. The Flash (*)

I don't think this book is much for me. I recognize that it isn't terrible but I'm just not quite interested in the story it's telling. I suppose at this point, I just want DC to figure itself the fuck out and stick with something. Of course, that will never happen. But they really screwed up by erasing their entire history with The New 52. Now they've got to figure out a way to sneak it all back in while continuing to tell stories in The New 52 universe.

Bombshells #5

"We can do it" is my second favorite phrase uttered by a woman. My first is "I also brought pizza for during!"

Marguerite Sauvage's name is not on the cover of this comic book again which is devastating to my future boner. That wasn't meant to make Marguerite Sauvage uncomfortable! That was to make Bombshell Batwoman and probably anybody reading this uncomfortable! Might I politely ask that if you're a really visual reader whose mind cannot help producing images of everything you read, please be generous with your mind picture of my erection. My fake self-esteem will appreciate it.

The first story in this issue is a Batwoman story and now I'm completely depressed. I simply assumed that Marguerite Sauvage would be doing the art for every chapter in the Batwoman story. Now I have to look at art that might be just fine and perhaps amazing for most people but does nothing for the limpness in my pants. It's too bad, really. When I pick up a comic book called "Bombshells" with a beautiful woman on the cover, I expect a comic book full of the Boob-Butt Showcase and tiny bikinis and undulating things which undulate! And while this may be that along with a message that I'm totally ignoring because it's against my own best interests to make misogynist jokes (no matter how funny I could probably make them!), I'm more than slightly disappointed that it isn't also drawn by Marguerite Sauvage.

I don't know how you pronounce her last name but she surely was called "Miss Sausage" in elementary school on a weekly basis, right? I should know since I had a last name that, while not horrible, was constantly used in sorry and often unoriginal attempts at humor. But my last name is a secret (it is not "Tess Asecret") because this is the internet age and if you really want to figure out who I am, it really wouldn't be that fucking hard. Besides, all you really have to do is send me a message saying, "Hey Tess! I want to send you a gift! What is your address?!" Then I'll be all, "Oh yeah! Awesome! Here's where you can find me if you want to murder me in my sleep! Ha ha!"

Batwoman is currently in Berlin to probably kill Hitler? So am I supposed to assume that the story where she and Italian Catwoman fucked for seventy-two hours straight never happened anywhere except in my Fan Fucktion Diary?

Oh boy! The sex is still going to take place! Naturally I assumed it would take place in Italy because Selina's last name is gibberish pronounced with just the right hint of garlic.

Some people might accidentally think that the above caption was rude and prejudiced. But here's a quick lesson in self-deprecating irreverence. The caption is actually poking fun at me being an American who can only speak English and understands all members of other nations through only one or two stereotypes. So I, as an American, really can't pronounce Selina's last name the way it should be pronounced and I, as an American, really think all Italians have an irrational fear of being attacked by vampires.

Selina's last name is DiGatti which--being a self-certified expert in all languages--I can translate as "Woman who loves petting cats if you know what I mean." Alexander Luthor (some might call him "Alex" or "Xander") owns a self-driving car which the two take to the sex party to meet Selina's nether regions.

Selina wastes no time getting to the sex talk and how she likes her "cats" coiffed. She's a modern woman!

Selina leads Batwoman into the backroom where things get super sexy if you're into resurrection rituals. The demon-infused Joker's Daughter demonstrates that she has the power to animate dead soldiers. It's part of some plan to do something which will lead to other things. It doesn't really make much sense to me but then my mind might already be off playing video games. I guess it's some kind of attempt to help the Nazis win the war quickly so that the rich and powerful can keep their money or something? Maybe it's just supposed to be cool because undead soldiers! Neat!

Meanwhile in the second story, Hal Jordan's fighter plane gets shot out of the sky. Luckily he's not in it because Harley Quinn stole it so she could fly around and sing Christmas carols. I would also try to explain this scene but I can't. Not because my mind is drifting off and thinking about killing noobs (are people who play Call of Duty who are garbage still thought of as noobs? (Are their skills still described as garbage?! (Obviously I need to learn to taunt other players better))) but because Harley Quinn is insane. When the plane blows up, she rides a bomb down to her death. When it doesn't explode and, I guess, lands softly in a greenhouse, every reader puts a hand down their pants because they know what a greenhouse means: it's another potential lesbian sex fiesta!

I'm about ninety percent certain that Poison Ivy is saying, "Would you like to experience the taste of my inner thigh?"

Poison Ivy should think about a different outfit that shows more nipple. Wasn't that ever all the rage in France? It sounds like the kind of clothing that would force me to hear somebody say haute couture.

Poison Ivy tells Harley Quinn all about how she loves to kill Germans and bury them under the greenhouse. It's the kind of speech you usually only tell people you've known since childhood or you're about to kill. Sometimes both. It's possible you'd also reveal secrets like that to the lesbian you're about to lesbian fuck in a double page spread, cross my fingers!

Since Germany has just defeated France, some Nazis come to the door. Harley kills most of them while Poison Ivy gets the getaway truck ready so they can head deep into enemy territory looking for Harley's boyfriend. What they leave behind are a bunch of Nazis raised by Poison Ivy's perfumes and tinctures.

Nazi zombies! Now I really am distracted by thoughts of playing Call of Duty!

The final story is about Kara Starikov and Kortni Stargirlikov which is great because it's the story I care least about! All of the other Bombshells are working their way to Berlin where they'll meet up and defeat the Nazis by working together and then proclaiming the war over and celebrating with drinks and German jokes which will become constant reminders to the German people that they allowed this to fucking happen and they should pay for it forever until the end of time, generation upon generation! If you're German in 2015 and you don't feel the appropriate level of embarrassment for your part in what Hitler did, then you're probably a lot like white Americans who don't know anything about history but can tell you the exact number of years since slavery was outlawed. But Kara Starikov and Kortni Stargirlikov? They're going to wind up in Berlin helping the allies and then after it's all said and done, they'll be all, "What is our reward, comrades? How about everything east of where I am standing? Good for you? Because we could probably continue warring if you want to say something other than no?"

Okay, maybe Kara Starikov and Kortni Stargirlikov won't say that! But unless they defeat General Arkayn, he'll say all of that! Unless this comic book follows history how it actually happened without superheroes and then Russia will wind up owning lots of countries no matter what anybody does. Because let's face it. Everybody was tired of war at that point and Russia was all, "We could go few more rounds."

Starikov and Stargirlikov have refused to follow the orders of Arkayn and now they must rush back home to keep Arkayn from murdering their parents. They return to find soldiers ready to kill their parents if they do not surrender to be used as medical experiments. They have no choice! They cannot stop all of the soldiers from shooting their parents. I guess General Anton Arkayn has won because who could possibly stop this madman?!

Oh yeah! Although shouldn't Swamp Thing have boobs and maybe a pair of knee high heeled boots to make his ass pop?

Kara and Kortni carry their parents away but are attacked by the Night Witches. During the scuffle, their father is captured and tells the girls to take their mother and run. I mean fly! It was important that he said "fly" because they loved to fly and because they are not The Flash who never misses a chance to say something about running.

DC Comics Bombshells #5 Rating: No change. Another month (hell, it's actually only been two weeks, I think?!) where the stories weren't quite up to the quality I was expecting after the first few issues. That doesn't mean it wasn't good! It just means I didn't increase its ranking on the chart! The dialogue in the Stargirl and Supergirl story was top notch and I enjoyed the interaction between Harley and Ivy although it could have been a bit more adult and included a few more happy endings. But the parts I was disappointed in have my expectations to blame! When I pick up a Bombshells comic book, I'm expecting lots and lots of cheesecake pinup shots! Um, surrounded by empowering and feminist dialogue, of course! That part is even more important. Although wouldn't things be more empowering if there were more tongues exploring more orifices? Maybe DC Comics should think about publishing a companion comic book to this one that's printed without dialogue and in which the clothing has been removed from the female characters. It can be called DC Comics Male Gaze (Not To Be Confused With Pretty Much All Of Our Other Comics With Female Leads Especially When Drawn by Tony S. Daniel or David Finch)!

Bombshells #4

There is subtle and then there is Harley Quinn straddling a chubby bomb.

A brief period of time existed where I could look at this cover and ask, "How many kids today know about Doctor Strangelove?" But that time is past because the internet has made all information available to all people. And since kids are no longer allowed to go outside because it is dangerous and full of people who eat Subway sandwiches, they have plenty of time to sift through all of the knowledge of mankind. Some old fuddy-duddies (who aren't me at all because I am totally hip and with the grooves) probably think kids today are dumber than previous generations because they have so many forms of mindless entertainment at their fingertips (I'm not talking about video games; I'm talking about their stupid friends they're constantly texting). But kids today probably know a little more about everything than kids of any previous generation. You can't help but accidentally learn things when you're Googling for porn on the internet. Because eventually your lusts are going to be sated and then you're going to just randomly putter around the internet, going from one topic to another as link leads to link and YouTube video leads to horribly misogynistic comment boards. Although sometimes it just seems young people are all learning the same stupid garbage from each other so that they all spout the same trite bullshit that they think constitutes deadly philosophical mic drops. But really it's just regurgitating crap they heard in an echo chamber. The internet may allow for people to pick up lots and lots of trivia but it doesn't often allow for cultivating a unique perspective on the world.

[[MORE]] I should know! I wrote about half of the content on the internet! And ain't nobody learnin' nothin' profound from my idiotic rants!

The point I was trying to get at is that most people buying this cover probably realize it's an homage to Doctor Strangelove and not just Harley Quinn coming her eyes out on top of a huge dildo.

This issue begins with Kara Starikov and Kortni Stargirlikov. They didn't get a story last issue which was fine with me because they don't interest my libido as much as Batwoman and Mera do. I mean, I'm not really a fan of their personalities in this comic book. They're just way too...blonde!

That blonde comment was not a comment about their intelligence. It was a comment about how I'm not sexually attracted to blonde women and also how I understand that "hair color" is the most important aspect of a woman's character.

Since Starikov and Stargirlikov work for the Russian military, nobody is surprised that they are being lied to and used for propaganda purposes.

Shocking!

My favorite thing about propaganda is how most people find it so easy to identify when somebody else is falling for it but they never realize or admit to being manipulated by it themselves. You don't have to be stupid to fall for propaganda. You just need to like having your genitals stroked. If you believe in anything strongly, you will eventually succumb to some form of propaganda that feeds on your bias. The only solution is to stop believing in everything. It's the only way to be sure you're not being manipulated!

Disgusting! I'm glad I live in America where this kind of thing never happens.

The second story takes place in Arkham in London. Inside, Doctor Harleen Quinzel goes mad when one of her patients does a spot-on Joker impression. It's also Christmas which means Harley gets to dress up like an elf and terrorize everybody with Christmas tidings and her bosoms.

I think this was hardcore pornography in the 1940s. It's also possible that hardcore pornography was hardcore pornography in the 1940s and I'm simply suffering from the idea that past generations were more innocent and childlike than modern ones.

Harley tries to bang all the women in the bar but the servicemen get pissed because their dicks haven't seen vaginas since they were...well, they probably have never seen vaginas! But now they're surrounded by vaginas engorged with patriotism and they were sure they were finally going to have a good tally wack! A brawl starts but Harley manages to escape in the arms of a brash American pilot named Hal Jordan.

Hal takes Harley to the airfield where he learns that pants means underwear and fanny is a lady's private parts. He's also knocked unconscious and his plane is stolen. Harley flies around London dropping gifts and singing Christmas carols until she eventually--I'm assuming--crashes.

The final story is about Wonder Woman and Mera and Steve Trevor's penis. Hopefully it's mostly about Mera but I won't mind if they linger on Steve Trevor's penis for an uncomfortable amount of time. I am disappointed that Bunny Constantine isn't going to be making an appearance this issue.

No. He told them you wouldn't stop pawing at his crotch.

Wonder Woman learns that people are assholes. But she's willing to put up with them if it means she gets to enjoy more of this "penis" she'd never knew she needed! While Wonder Woman thinks about a new line of candles that will sell like crazy on Paradise Island, the soldiers bring in some Nazi prisoners. One of the men tries to murder the prisoners but Wonder Woman comes to his defense. She points out that the man has surrendered and that this is not the battlefield. She stands up for justice and order and maybe compassion although if she has compassion for a Nazi she's the grossest person ever.

You tell her, Doctor Tumblr!

I bet Wonder Woman is only defending this Nazi because she believes in the right to kill Jews! There's absolutely no way she could be defending this Nazi for any other reason at all! It's like all those cis-het white males who only want to defend the freedom of speech so that they can use whatever slurs they want whenever they want to and for no other reason at all!

Remember that earlier part about propaganda? If you look up the definition of "propaganda," you'll find a picture of Tumblr next to the actual definition of propaganda! It must be nice to spout righteous fury to make the world a better place while actually making it worse with your shrill, unsubtle arguments that are simply suited to turn other people into monsters and not actually think about anything critically. It must be nice to boil every argument down to "if you don't agree with me, you're gross." Sometimes you can be wrong even when your intentions are demonstrably good. Although the extreme liberal voices and arguments are far better than the "traditional" conservative voices. You need people trying to swing the pendulum of social movement as far to the left as possible because the pull back is going to keep it from moving the whole way. So if you only have rational arguments saying "The pendulum would be fairest if it were moved right here!", the pendulum would only move a fraction of the way to that spot. But if you have people saying things like "The pendulum needs to move way up here so that cis-het white male tears flood the nation!", you'll generally get the social justice pendulum moved much closer to the spot where the majority of compassionate people think it ought to be.

If you're thinking that the "social justice pendulum" can't move too far to the left in favor of social justice, you might not be thinking clearly. Because too far to the left lies madness! That's where people make arguments that free speech is a tool of the patriarchy and the world would be better if we had laws censoring what people can say. That's a terrible place to be no matter how free everybody would be from hearing or reading words like "nigger" or "tranny" or "retard." And nobody arguing for freedom of speech is doing so just so they can use offensive words willy-nilly! Well, most people aren't. I have a feeling that if somebody is a liberal and is arguing for freedom of speech in all cases, they're not doing it because they want to be an offensive asshole. Now if a conservative is arguing for freedom of speech, by all means call that person an offensive asshole! Because they're probably trying to get people to stop saying "Happy Holidays" because it's not "Christmas" while also arguing their right to replace saying "nigger" with saying "thug" while winking.

The issue ends with me probably putting my foot in my mouth because everything I type will be misunderstood because I can't explain how every person reading it and thinking I'm a stupid jerk is just reading it incorrectly! I mean, the issue ends with Wonder Woman being threatened with execution if she doesn't follow orders! That probably won't end well for the American military.

DC Comics Bombshells #4 Rating: No change. Marguerite Sauvage didn't do any art for this issue so I'm disappointed because two-thirds of the reason I love this comic book has to do with Batwoman drawn by Sauvage. Oh, and Batwoman wasn't in this issue! The stories this month were average and not very titillating. Although the part where Harley Quinn knocks out stupid Hal Jordan got me a little sexually excited. Mostly because I love seeing Hal take a beating. If I could make a suggestion, Marguerite Bennett, without sounding like a guy telling a woman how to do things correctly: less Supergirl and Stargirl and more Kathy Kane and Amanda Waller! Also more Mera! Maybe also more bikinis and lacy underwear! And more Bunny Constantine! Much, much more of that!