Wonder Woman #22

Stalker.

• This issue begins with Wonder Woman prostituting herself out for over a quarter of a million dollars. Don't worry! It's for a good cause that is explained on the first page in the exact opposite of that totally not too preachy way I expect from my comic books. Also, even if it wasn't for a good cause, you shouldn't worry. If Diana wants to sell her body for scads of money, that's her choice. Nobody has the right to judge her! I mean, technically, we all have that right. It's a free country and all.

• Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor get into a bidding war that's less about wanting to date Wonder Woman and more about whose dick has more money in it.

• Don't worry (again! Man, you worry too much), neither of them win a chance to defile the Amazonian Princess! Veronica Cale wins the date for fifteen million dollars. Diana pees a little bit because she's pretty sure for fifteen million dollars, she going to at least have to do some digital manipulation of Veronica's anal sphincter. Bruce Wayne looks pretty upset. I bet the plan was just to have Batman win it so Diana wouldn't have to spend any actual time with some grody loser nobody.

• Veronica and Diana ditch the banquet early because they're both so excited about going out on a fifteen million dollar date. What must that be like? I bet I'd have an orgasm just knowing somebody wanted to pay fifteen million dollars to spend some time with me. I'm practically having one right now thinking about having one due to that scenario!

• By the way, who pays on a date like this? I mean, Veronica already paid fifteen million. Is she expected to pick up the check as well?

• Veronica Kale reminds me of Darcy Parker. She even has her own Parker Girls.

• The date winds up in a gunfight in the desert where Wonder Woman protects Veronica from the men Veronica sent to attack her so that she could record some kind of resonance frequency given off by Wonder Woman's lasso.

• The issue ends with Veronica realizing Themyscira lies in another dimension and with Wonder Woman letting Veronica know she'll be keeping a close eye on her and with me confused by reading two stories about the same people searching for the same thing happening years apart. At first I thought using the biweekly schedule to tell two different stories was a nice trick to use two different teams of artists. But that was before I knew the stories would be so intertwined that I'd have a difficult time remembering what parts happened in the past and which parts were happening in the present. I could reread them all but I remember being bored through most of it so that's not really an option. Anyway, both stories end in their next issues. Maybe after that, Rucka will try to be less confusing. Or maybe Frank Cho will take over writing duties. Man, could you imagine that disaster? I so want to read that comic book.

Killer Frost Rebirth #1

I hope this is just twenty pages of Killer Frost shaving the side of her head.

This issue is a test to see that Killer Frost can keep her need to kill in check otherwise Batman will have no use for her. It seems odd that Batman and Amanda Waller's entire concern is that Killer Frost doesn't feed on anybody when they know she needs to absorb other people's life force to stay alive. They simply expect her to suffer. At the end of the issue, we see that she's been coping by absorbing small amounts of energy from everybody she comes into contact with instead of completely draining and killing a person every few days. But, again, nobody discusses this with her. I'm not sure if the ending of this issue is supposed to be a revelation that she hasn't quite lost the killer inside of her or that she's just doing what she needs to do in a responsible way. I have to assume that, since she's being sneaky about it, we're supposed to think she hasn't changed as much as she's saying she has. But wouldn't it be better for Batman, who is supposedly the smartest guy ever or something, to discuss the issue with Killer Frost? This issue shouldn't be twenty pages of making sure Killer Frost doesn't take a life even when she's about to die. This issue should be twenty pages of Batman sitting down with Killer Frost and discussing a plan for managing her need to absorb heat. It's not like Batman is recruiting other members for the team and telling one that the can't eat and another that they can't breathe and another that they can never shit. He needs to take fucking responsibility and work out a plan to manage Killer Frost's physical needs! If I were Batman, I'd try to set her up with Lobo. They'd make a nice couple. Lobo would probably love being completely drained while fucking and Killer Frost wouldn't have to worry about killing him either.

What Did I Learn?
I mentioned in a previous Justice League vs. Suicide Squad that Batman was making a great new Outsiders team. But I also only brought that up when Deadshot was one of the pretend members. That's a team I'd like to see. But I also see why it would be wrong to call this team Outsiders and why, symbolically, Orlando needs to call it the Justice League of America. Calling a team with a gay guy, an Asian immigrant, a young black female model, a white female pop star, and Lobo (who represents the MRA or something, I guess) The Outsiders is sending the message that these character types are on the fringes of America instead of that these are examples of the make-up of America. And Batman fills it out by being the rich bastard controlling everybody. See? Perfect metaphor for America!

The Ranking!
Can we just get to JLA Rebirth already?!

Bombshells #11

Big Barda's weapon is a flute?

The Review!
As a "critic," I usually concentrate on the writing and the story and the characters. I talk about the art rarely. I talk about the lettering even less. I suppose those are important parts of critiquing comic books though whenever anybody praises the letterer, it just comes off as being polite. It's like acknowledging that the right fielder on a baseball team did his part to win the championship even though everybody knows he mostly just ate sunflower seeds for three hours. But this time things are different. I have fallen in love with Mirka Andolfo's art. The Bombshells are genuinely adorable in this issue. Maybe I've noticed it and mentioned it before but I don't remember because I've been slacking in my reviews over the last few months. So great job, Mirka. And great jobs Bennett and Braga as well, as usual. This is a fun comic that looks terrific. But everybody probably knows that already, right? This comic probably outsells Batman, right? Okay, maybe that's a stretch. But I bet it would if DC would just stick a centerfold in it already!

The Commentary!
Instead of being a completely cynical jerk and ranting over everybody's responses to the death of Prince, how about I just add one of my own inconsequential to anybody but me brief summaries of how Prince affected my life. Here are a number of memories I have of Prince: crying to "When Doves Cry" because of that whole parental relationship stuff, roller skating to "Little Red Corvette" until I finally understood that he wasn't singing about a car at all, masturbating to the Lake Minnetonka scene in Purple Rain, and singing along to "1999" for seventeen years thinking how fucking awesome it was going to be when I could finally sing it in 1999! I wasn't the kind of fan who bought Prince albums. I think the best testament to his talent is that I was into metal in the eighties and still never hated any of Prince's singles. They were just too fucking catchy.

And with that out of the way, I'm ready to look at hot women in skimpy costumes!

Granny Goodness invented timeouts. And probably roller skates.

I don't think this comic book needs any commentary and I'm not in the mood. I just want to look at all the sexy pictures.

I don't know what the 'FWOOM' and 'SSSSSSS' sound effects are for but I think they're sexy.

After this kiss, Mera tells a sexy story about how she was Diana's first kiss. But Diana interrupts the story before Mera can reveal what other of Diana's fists she was. I mean firsts.

I know something that's not a first: my current boner!

Batgirl is also in London now. I guess she got done fucking Catwoman. Like I mentioned previously (although the mention may have been in a previous commentary), I haven't been keeping decent notes on the stories for the past few months so I sort of forget where exactly every Bombshell was last seen. It's easier now knowing that they're all mostly in Europe. I guess Zatanna and Harley are still in Germany and that's about it.

Okay, now I can't decide if Braga's or Mirka's Bombshells are the most adorable.

At the end the Bombshells unite into the best looking Justice League ever.

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!