AME-COMI GIRLS VOLUME 3

"EARTH IN CRISIS"
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Artists: Adam Archer, Steven Cummings, Horacio Domingues, Ted Naifeh,
Eduardo Francisco, Andres Ponce, & Ruben Gonzalez
Colorists: Randy Mayor, Wes Hartman, & Adam Archer | Letterer: Wes Abbott

Like volume 2, this third installment of AME-COMI GIRLS opens with a large-scale threat uniting all the characters, followed by some smaller pieces. This time the major villainess is Sinestra. Armed with her yellow and black power rings and an army of Black Lanterns, she invades first the planet Thanagar and then proceeds to Earth. Alana Strange, a scientist/adventuress from the planet Rann, rescues Shyera "Hawkgirl" Hol from Thanagar and together they recruit Earth'e heroines to oppose Sinestra.

The womens' ace in the hole is Metra, the first of a race of "New Gods", who arms the entire group with white power rings to combat Sinestra. They do their best but aren't a match for their foe, dropping one by one to her Black Lanterns, and it is Metra's direct intervention which saves the day in the end as she reveals that Sinestra is possessed by the Black Hand, and reborths both halves of this evil as twin planets of light and darkness.

First off -- White Lanterns? Black Lanterns? I know -- it sounds silly, but here in this alternate universe story, completely unrelated to actual DC continuity, it's a fun little diversion. Let's just hope nobody ever reads this story and gets the asinine idea to insert a spectrum of Lantern colors into the mainstream DCU! That would be... dopey, I guess, to say the least.

(This concludes the scathing sarcastic commentary portion of our post.)

AME-COMI GIRLS VOLUME 2

"RISE OF THE BRAINIAC" | "THE CHOSEN"
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Artists: Santi Casas, Eduardo Francisco, & Derec Donovan
Colorists: David Lopez & Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Randy Mayor & Wes Hartman
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Art: Eduardo Francisco

Last March, I wrote a bit about DC's AME-COMI GIRLS, volume 1. While it didn't blow me away, it was a fun alternate universe story where the only superheroes are female "manga style" versions of various DC luminaries. In some cases these are the existing distaff characters standing in for their male counterparts (Power Girl for Superman, Batgirl for Batman, etc.), while in other situations we simply have (to my knowledge, at least) new female versions of existing characters such as Steel and the Flash.

AME-COMI GIRLS volume 2 picks up where volume 1 ended, with the assembled heroines facing off against Duela Dent and her gang, along with Brainiac, in rural Kansas. The battle has just been joined by Wonder Woman, but even she seems unable to turn the tide against Brainiac and her mind-controlled pawn, Supergirl. However Duela and friends defect in order to preserve themselves, while Power Girl meets up with a race of beings beneath the Earth's crust who also oppose Brainiac. Together the heroines save the day, but the villainesses escape. In the aftermath of Brainiac's invasion, Power Girl and Wonder Woman lead their allies in forming a "League" to defend the world against future threats.

THE UNBOXING - AUGUST 2014

So, what do we have this month? A little of this, a little of that, it seems. Two items from Marvel, two from DC, and, in a rare occurrence, something from Dark Horse!

Age always goes before beauty, so we'll glance at the DC offerings first. We have AME-COMI GIRLS VOLUME 2: RISE OF BRAINIAC. Readers may recall that I covered the first volume of this Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray alternate universe story back in March. It was enjoyable enough that I grabbed the second volume, and I plan to get to it at some point before year's end.

Also from DC is DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN ADVENTURES, a small collection reprinting a sparse few issues from the nineties BATMAN ADVENTURES series, which was based upon BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. This isn't quite a trade paperback, but it's not quite a comic book, either. It's squarebound with a light cardstock cover, not unlike the comics we used to call "Prestige Editions" when I was a youngster.

AME-COMI GIRLS, VOLUME 1

Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Artists: Amanda Conner, Sanford Green, Ted Naifeh, Mike Bowden,
Santi Casas, Tony Akins, Walden Wong
Colorists: Randy Mayor & Paul Mounts | Letterer: Wes Abbott

Art by Amanda Conner

When I started my GUNDAM reviews, I noted that I'm not a huge anime/manga person, which is true. However, I do like the art style quite a bit. I even bought a few of the DC "Bishoujo" statuettes based on that style (I own one single Ame-Comi figure as well).

I've read a few things by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and generally liked what I saw, so I figured on a lark that I would check out the AME-COMI GIRLS trade paperback when it was released (it didn't hurt that exaggerated female anatomy and skimpy costumes are right up my alley as a discerning collector).

The story is a reimagining of several DC characters, set in a universe where all the superhumans seem to be women -- either female versions of male characters like the Flash, Robin, and Steel, or simply characters like Power Girl and Batgirl filling the roles of Superman and Batman, respectively.