DC Comics: Bombshells #1 review

Bombshell: 'An unexpected and surprising event, especially an unpleasant one; a very attractive woman'

Well, there are attractive women aplenty in this debut DC Digital offering - or should I say broads, dames maybe - but it's miles from unpleasant. From the first page's spin on young Bruce Wayne's movie trip to the stylish final page arrival of a huge favourite of mine, this is pure pleasure.

While new takes on Wonder Woman, Supergirl and more are promised by this Forties-set series' cover, chapter one focuses on Kate Kane. She's not a costumed crimefighter, but she is the Batwoman, star of the Women's Baseball League. And like her sisters, entertaining America while the menfolk fight abroad, she's wearing a mask. Well, some people don't like women getting uppity on the sports field, so 'anonymity is the name of the game'.

Writer Marguerite Bennett and artist Marguerite Sauvage provide a great intro to Kate, as she uses her not inconsiderable baseball skills to stop a gang of hoodlums robbing the stadium crowd. She's skilled, she's sassy, she's ... a little bored, to be honest. Having spent the Thirties adventuring around the world, she feels her life has lost the momentum it had. She needs purpose.

Girlfriend Maggie Sawyer, police captain about town, hoped she was adding some meaning to Kate's life, but the ballplayer yearns for a role in the war. And that's when someone lands on the roof of their Gotham pad with an offer...

I love this comic. The original statues by Ant Lucia - who provides the irresistibly elegant cover - have a cheesecake element, but Bennett and Sauvage don't go over the top in that direction. Kate and Maggie are sexy, but even when we see them in bed together there's no invitation to leer; Kate's snoring sound effect hardly says sexy sapphic action. The gals here - there's also Kate's cousin and colleague, Bette - are offered to us as people first - smart, capable, funny people - not objects for the heterosexual male gaze.

Bennett's script quickly sketches in character and situation, while Sauvage's breezy full-colour artwork brings everything to four-colour life. For less than a dollar, the creative team - let's not forget letterer Wes Abbott and editors Jessica Chen and Jim Chadwick - give us a delightful introduction to a world I can't wait to explore. I adore the zingy dialogue, the evocative streets, the stylish outfits worthy of Colbert or Hepburn - if I could step into the comic and join the story, I'd be in like Flynn 

Bombshell: 'an explosion of fun'.