The Misadventures of Bombshell and Atomica #4 is a comic written by Kat Calamia and Phil Falco with art by Joel Souza. Veronica and Betty adjust to life as a couple while facing hate on multiple fronts. This is a science fiction superheroine comic that features LGBT+ relationships, societal drama, and it takes place in the 1950’s in the early stages of the Cold War. Veronica Vale aka Atomica is the blonde and the more assertive of the two and she was in a loveless marriage with Victor, a disgruntled former general. Betty Buchanan aka Bombshell is the dark-haired member of this duo and she is in what could be described as a lavender marriage with Brant, a former soldier. Both of these ladies have increased durability but whereas Atomica has super –strength and standard flight abilities, Bombshell has green lasers that she can fire and use to propel herself through the air. Sometimes when these ladies make physical contact with each other a very powerful explosion occurs. This story begins with Betty bringing Veronica a drink as she works on her car outside. After saying hello to a couple of gossiping old ladies they head inside and talk about how it has been a while since them touching has led to a violent explosion. Things then take a friskier turn as they decide to take advantage of the situation. This takes place in the early 1950’s USA where being seen as anything deemed “un-American” can lead to a variety of consequences. The action here is pretty tame outside of a bit of blood and destruction. This moves at a steady pace with an adult Golden Age of Comics vibe. This is a very dramatically intense with rare moments of violence. The dialogue here has that old-timey black-and-white TV show talking style with vulgarity, frequent back-and-forth, and classic slang/terms. There are no word-heavy pages here but one gets close. This is an intriguing drama with a bit of action that focuses on how these characters interact as the world, themselves, and those around them undergo significant changes.
The art here is drawn in a sharp cartoonish style reminiscent of something from Bruce Timm in the 90’s with well done realistic lighting and shading. While we will see some the standard suburbian lawn with bushes and perfectly cut grass most of this takes place indoors or the inner city. During the course of this story we’ll visit multiple homes, an apartment, and a supermarket among other places. Backgrounds here tend to be a bright gradient with not much outside of the foreground being shown. The expression level here is very high as these characters react strongly and frequently. Emotions tend to go back and forth between happiness and joy to fear, sadness, and melancholy, along with some anger. Faces here look like something from a cartoon with a decent amount of detail and they can get very animated so the expressions are usually clear. Violence is light overall with a bit of blood being as “gory” as it gets. There are a few one-page action scenes that are only one, usually large, panel in length.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like science fiction superheroine stories that star two women in relationship and that features Cold War drama, the way LGBT+ people were treated in 1950’s society, and multiple erotic moments then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
NC-17. Blood, nudity, sexual scenes.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Somebody’s ears must have been ringing.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/williamtener/bombshell-and-atomica-4-0/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 30
Violent Pages: 3, for 10% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 4, for 13% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 2
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 2
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 1
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 5
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
