Batwoman Annual #1 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy & Moritat (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Behind every good Batman is a Batwoman—ready to take him down.

The Review: Considering how sudden and dismissively J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman were shooed off this title last October, the least DC could do was offer a resolution to their long-invested storyline, which was also cut off when Williams-Blackman left. DC did one thing right in committing this annual to that task, but their inability to bring back Williams-Blackman for this special occasion almost guaranteed the annual’s failure.

Without Williams-Blackman, Andreyko basically has to guess how his predecessors would’ve ended their own story and execute it as best he can. Andreyko’s very capable of course, but this is asking too much of any writer, especially when Williams-Blackman had set up conflicts that require a careful, delicate touch to untangle. There’s simply no way Andreyko could’ve divined Williams-Blackman’s intentions to wrap up their plotlines as planned. Even so, that’s no excuse for him to throw sense and integrity out the window just to get the job done.

Batwoman #24 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Sandu Florea & Derek Fridolfs (finishes), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: If you’re gonna go after Batman, you might as well make it worth his time.

The Review: I’m afraid we can’t get down to business until we discuss to some extent the circumstances leading to Williams-Blackman’s impending departure.  After sorting through all the various accounts of what happened, the whole controversy boils down to this: frustrated by regular, oft-times sudden editorial interference and a mandate that Kate Kane cannot marry, Williams-Blackman chose not to continue a story that was increasingly no longer their own.

Since I don’t know the specifics behind the other editorial mandates reported of, I won’t comment on those.  At any rate, editor-creator tensions are old hat for mainstream comics, and by and large, it’s often impossible to tell exactly when and how they affect any given series.  Only on these rare occasions when a writer airs his grievances publicly do we get real evidence of how an intended storyline gets thrown off course or stonewalled by a decree from above.

Batwoman #20 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Sandu Florea (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: If you start thinking you can take the Batman alone, you need an intervention.

The Review: My favorite thing about this title is its willingness to allow all its characters to have a voice in the story, to make decisions and have a life that isn’t dictated by Batwoman’s actions.  That’s not to say the series doesn’t take on an additional burden with that.  The more rounded and independent characters you have, the more attention and development they demand.  By taking on a life of their own, they can shift the story in ways the writer didn’t intend.

While Williams-Blackman obviously have an interest in explaining how the D.E.O. came by Batwoman’s sister in the first place, I’m not sure that merited a six-page long, somewhat rambling narrative from Chase.  It really opens up more mysteries than it closes, as we don’t know how the Religion of Crime got their hands on Beth or even how she was revived.  Bones admits that where the sarcophagus in which she was found is concerned, “Hell, we still can’t figure out if it’s magic, or alien tech, or something else entirely.”

Batwoman #19 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Walden Wong (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Chase and Kate demonstrate that every sisterhood is its own beast.

The Review: Where Batwoman really separates itself from the competition is how much effort has been put into developing the supporting cast as fully-rounded characters, with lives and problems outside of whatever Kate’s got herself up to at the moment.  At this point, you feel like you know Maggie Sawyer, Jacob Kane, Cameron Chase, and Bette Kane as intimately as you know Kate herself, which is a rare and special kind of achievement for a superhero series.

How often do you get a series where a supporting character is so compelling she can have her own series.  At one point, Chase had just that, and here, Blackman-Williams demonstrate why.  Her vendetta against “the capes and masks” is clearly a manifestation of witnessing her father die from his wannabe superhero aspirations.  There’s a genuine pathos to Chase’s bitterness that makes this otherwise ludicrous set of circumstances feel real.  In some ways, her perspective of the whole costumed capers thing (“cosplay”) is very convincing; in some ways, you can easily be swayed into viewing her as a hero in her own right.

Batwoman #18 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batman and Batwoman squabble over who gets to take what for their trophy case.

The Review: All in all, the Medusa storyline took three arcs and eighteen months to get from start to finish.  That’s a long time for any superhero title these days to spend on a single antagonist.  While Williams-Blackman did break up the action with quite a few smaller plot threads within the overarching story (e.g. Bette’s fall and recovery, Maggie and Kate’s relationship, etc.), this doesn’t change the fact that they put our heroine into a fictional rut.

For that reason, this issue is our first chance to see Batwoman take on a new mission, giving us a sense of the kind of challenges that sets her apart from the rest of the Bat-family.  Unfortunately, she’s not exactly operating according to her own agenda now, is she?  With the D.E.O. calling the shots, Batwoman winds up tackling opponents usually under her counterpart’s domain.  By doing so, she is no longer her own woman; she becomes the redundant, derivative hero we all dread—and she knows it, too.  Thus Colonel Kane observes as she threatens Mr. Freeze, “Look at her posture…  She’s posing, play-acting.”

Batwoman #16 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III (story & art), W. Haden Blackman (story), Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: Even monsters love their mommies.

The Review: Although I readily agree that as a half-visual medium, comics shouldn’t really need too much text to move itself along, I don’t actually think a heavy script is a flaw unless it doesn’t serve a purpose to the story.  It’s one thing when a writer injects a whole lot of fluff for no other reason than simply to enjoy the sound of his own voice, but if all that text actually tells you something that the art itself doesn’t, then that’s a good reason to have it in there, right?

In this case, if you didn’t have all that character narration in each scene, much of the issue’s subtleties and development would be lost.  Dialogue and art can only convey so much; neither can really let you delve into a character’s mind or reveal the fantastic details that make a living, breathing story.  Williams can deliver nearly any imagery possible, but even he can’t convey smell through visuals.  Do you realize how rarely comic book writers pay attention to these kinds of things?  As Batwoman fights her way across Medusa’s army, she notices,

Batwoman #13 – Review

By: W. Haden Blackman (story), J.H. Williams III (story & art), Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: Old-school monsters versus new-school warriors—guess who wins.

The Review: This has been a pretty grand week for Wonder Woman.  Not only did her critically acclaimed ongoing series release a new issue, but she got her a personal arc in Justice League and a sizable guest role here.  This gives us the rare opportunity to examine her character from three different angles at once.  Brian Azzarello’s Diana is compassionate, classy, wise.  Geoff John’s Diana vacillates between blithe naivety and hardened conviction.

Blackman-Williams offer a Diana who winds up coming across as the most human of all of them.  If she appears at first blush as somewhat remote, it has everything to do with Batwoman’s anxiety at merely being in her presence.  While Kate makes a valiant attempt to keep it cool, her nerves manifest in little ways (the plane she pilots shudders every time Wonder Woman speaks).  Well aware of her comrade’s tension, Diana keeps quiet, wisely or not, and seems distant for it.

Batwoman #12 – Review

By: W. Haden Blackman (story), J.H. Williams III (story & art), Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: Amazon meets Marine.  It may be a match made in heaven.

The Review: I’ve spoken quite a many times on the enigmatic persona of Wonder Woman, how remote and difficult to pin down she is, but now lately, I wonder if that’s as negative a quality as I’ve made it out to be.  In a way, she can’t avoid being removed from us because of her unique nature.  As a mixture of goddess and mortal, as a member of a mythic race, as someone who prescribes to a lifestyle and ideology all her own, maybe she has no choice but to stand alone.

That may explain why, after all these years, Wonder Woman still has no one you can consider her definitive partner.  I don’t count her Trinity status, which often just feels like her getting shoehorned between the World’s Finest.  Nor do I view her relationships with Donna Troy (if indeed the character still exists in the new DCU) or Cassie Sandsmark as true partnerships; she’s more of an occasional mentor, happy to meet up every now and then to dole out a new Amazon warrior trick, but uninterested in any long-term collaboration.  And we’ve definitely never seen her get intimate with any of her peers in the superheroine community.

Batwoman #11 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy & Pere Perez (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: From woman to man to dog—the devolution of Maro.

The Review: At one point in this issue, Maggie remarks, with total affection, “Oh, Kate…you never do anything half-assed, do you?”  And while this is trademark Bat-family behavior, for Kate this seems especially true.  She has a persistence that slides well into stubbornness.  She may be resistant to change, but once she decides to, she doesn’t transition into it like most of us; she goes for it heart, mind, body, and soul.

Take this case of Gotham’s disappearing children, which Batwoman has investigated since nearly a year ago.  With each arc, the opposition gets only more formidable and the stakes bigger, yet she’s clearly committed to seeing this mystery through to the very end—whenever that may be.  Just when you thought her underground confrontation with Maro and four supernatural minions would top everything off, you learn there’s a greater battle yet to come.

Batwoman #10 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Sometimes people are so close, it’s like they share one body.  Sometimes they actually do.

The Review: This fragmented approach to storytelling that Williams-Blackman have taken on has been an interesting experiment, and a pretty successful one.  Keeping six different plotlines running at the same time in each issue and somehow delivering a coherent, unified read is no easy feat, so in that respect alone, Williams-Blackman have been wildly effective.  But up until now, there didn’t seem to be any reason to write the arc this way except for sheer novelty.

Now, however, with each plotline running closer to each other in time, all coalescing into the “Now” of the present story, you can see how each informs and plays off the others.  Imagine one of those photo-mosaics, where you have scads and scads of little pictures, each with a distinctive subject of its own, yet all coming together to form a single, focal image.  We’ve been too close to the individual pictures, and only now do we step back and see what we’re really looking at.

Batwoman #9 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (story), Trevor McCarthy (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Kate Kane has it all—the good life, the love life, and definitely the night life.

The Review: I know I’m a bit late to the party in saying this, but I think it’s pretty amazing how naturally people have taken to this title as an ongoing series considering how its lead is an openly lesbian character living an openly lesbian life.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this makes Batwoman the first mainstream comic of its kind, and beyond even that remarkable achievement, it’s impressive how few people have given it a second thought.

And why should they?  Certainly Kate and her supporting cast do not.  Perhaps the complete lack of discrimination shown in Kate’s world thus far seems a tad idyllic—fictionally so—but it also emphasizes that Kate’s sexuality is irrelevant to the demands of her story, except insofar it determines where her relationships with certain characters will proceed.  In many ways, this situation represents the way things might be, or ought to be, in the future.

Batwoman #8 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Kate demonstrates she’s not exactly girlfriend material.

The Review: A black friend of mine once told me that to make it in this world, “you can’t work as hard as a white man; you have to work harder.”  A dim outlook, but one no less wise for it.  I think the same philosophy applies to women as well, perhaps even more so, and perhaps especially to women in the superhero business.  One of the long-running, subtle themes of this series is Batwoman’s struggle to craft a heroic identity beyond “the female Batman.”

The first step in that struggle involves her lack of resources.  Though independently wealthy, she doesn’t have the technological connections and inventiveness to be as well-equipped as the Dark Knight.  Working for the D.E.O. has clearly caught her up some.  Here, she gets to put her voice-controlled throwing dart (with the bit of alien A.I. inside) to use against Medusa’s monster minions.  As cool as the dart’s versatility is, it takes away from Batwoman’s abilities to a certain extent as it takes down all her enemies for her, all in a row.

Still, considering she’s outnumbered by supernatural foes, the extra help is warranted.  Besides, she proves her chops later in the issue (but earlier in the story) by singlehandedly executing a breakout at sea, clearing two boats full of GCPD cops, including her girlfriend, in the process.  The scene plays out yet another complication in Batwoman’s life: the overlap between her civilian identity and her night job.  Batman’s had a long time to separate his personas, but now that Kate’s dating Batwoman’s direct competition, such divisions don’t seem feasible now.

Batwoman #7 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Don’t be too hard on him, Kate—everyone needs a hook to get by in this world.

The Review: Last issue marked something of a turning point for this title.  The first story arc, appropriately enough, focused entirely on delivering a knockout tale that would get you to fall in love with its tone, its sophistication, and its star—check, check, and check.  Now that you’re hooked, it’s time to expand the scope of the series and get you to sympathize with its world and supporting cast.

With that in mind, Williams-Blackman’s “six story” format works very well, especially in this issue, now that most of the light setup is out of the way and they can really focus on knitting the various perspectives together.  It’s clear that a lot of thought went into deciding which scenes go where, as despite the lack of chronological order, you can still see the plot develop in a fairly clear fashion.

The best example starts in Kate’s story, where she encounters Abbott (a werebeast from the Religion of Crime), who worries Medusa might “run us out of Gotham.”  We cut to Maro, and see Killer Croc complain that the occultist promised to make me big time…to give me the juice I need to eat Gotham alive.”  Both these scenes intersect in the following chapter from Maggie’s POV, where we see Croc, now buffed out and feral, tearing into various werebeasts.  A Medusa agent soon after states, “…the Gator’s gut is full of acolytes and Abbott has gone to ground,” proving Abbott’s concerns from earlier.  This is a situation where you can have your cake and eat it too; the story feels lively from the constant cuts, but you can follow along quite easily.

All this is the more plotty sort of stuff, but Williams-Blackman also take the opportunity to do some necessary character work.  So far, they haven’t quite managed to pin down Maggie nor Chase, both having assertive, wry voices which just happen to echo Batwoman’s herself.  It’s a case where we have three strong women, each with strikingly similar backgrounds, so it’ll take some doing to define Chase and Maggie’s personalities and make them more distinguishable.

Batwoman #6 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter & Richard Friend (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Review: Talk up any comics enthusiast, and one of the first things out of their mouths will be something along the lines of how unique comic books are for storytelling.  You hear less about their painful limitations.  I don’t know about you, but the most frustrating restriction on comics, in my mind, is their painful shortness.  Many writers have made the most of the pages they get, but by and large, I find myself wishing there was a little more substance in my hands.

That was the prevailing feeling I got reading this issue.  You shouldn’t take that to mean Williams-Blackman skimped on the story in any way.  After all, it’s fairly ambitious of them to not only play around with a number of different character perspectives in the story, but also to set each vignette at a different time.  All told, you get six mini-tales, each standing on their own, and each with enough drama to support half an issue on its own.

This fragmented structure can easily get confusing, but Williams-Blackman do two things to keep things moving smoothly and clearly.  First, they bookend the issue with the central action, Batwoman facing down the kid-thieving Medusa, which lays down some context for each of the different stories we get here.  Second, while each scene has only faint connections to the others, they have enough common ground to deliver a unified story overall.  Think of it as a mosaic, each scene piecing together to form a bigger picture of where this series plans to go next.

Batwoman #5 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), J.H. Williams III (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist)

The Story: Screw the Ghostbusters—Batwoman’s on the case!

The Review: Kate Kane as Batwoman faced a lot of scrutiny from the moment she came into existence, and although her sexual preferences were the most controversial, I think even if she’d been straight as an arrow, people would still look at her with a doubtful eye.  Anyone who takes on “Bat” in their name is bound to have tough comparisons made on them, and since she presumes to hold herself as the female equal to Batman, she has even more to live up to.

So it’s been a great pleasure to see her doing just that.  While her methods and attitude to the work have obvious differences, she’s shown just as much of a hyper-competence and willingness to do the most radical things to get the job done.  You may have been wondering how she planned to grapple with the Weeping Woman; ghosts aren’t exactly within the Bat-family’s usual line of work, after all, not even with the Dark Knight himself.  And it must be said, the spiritual tactic she uses to figure out what’s to be done, and her execution of it, is both surprising and brilliant, something Batman would do in his most esoteric, probably the best praise of all.

And like any great Bat-story, Batwoman’s confrontation with the Weeping Woman has just as much dramatic depth as it does action.  What really makes the scene sing is how it shows Kate as both human and superhuman at the same time.  If we can take the theory that every Batman rogue represents some different aspect of the hero’s character, and apply it to Batwoman, the Weeping Woman represents Kate’s grief and guilt over the loss of her sister.  While she will probably always think of Beth with regret, Kate makes it clear she will no longer feel guilt over what happened, as it was not her fault.  The Weeping Woman, however, can’t say the same.

I won’t spoil the sequence for you by describing the specifics, but I can say that in addition to showing Batwoman’s ability to be both unmoved and compassionate at the same time, we also get a name drop of her next mark, one the D.E.O. also want to take down.  While Chase and Bones describe Medusa as a “criminal cartel,” that begs the question: what the heck kind of criminal cartel can summon demons to possess stray spirits and compel them to kidnap kids?

Batwoman #4 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman (writers), J.H. Williams III (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist)

The Story: Unlike another firebird themed heroine, Bette Kane may not rise again.

The Review: I’m always doubtful when artists take on the writing role, and that’s admittedly a bit unfair.  After all, there are those who dedicate themselves entirely to writing and yet much of what they produce is disappointing, to say the least.  And I’m honest enough to admit that as a writer, the idea that someone can draw and write well irks me to no end.  So it’s with some chagrin but mostly pleasure for me to say that Williams is doing wonders in both art and words.

And before anyone gets indignant, yes, Blackman co-writes the series and his role in its success is undoubtedly essential, possibly critical.  Whatever the case, he and Williams have produced some of the most consistently gripping scripts in the new 52, and this issue exemplifies that with every page.

Let’s start with the opener.  Last issue, Bette reacted quite violently to her cousin’s declaration that she’s not cut out for the vigilante business.  Here, she goes out of her way to prove Kate wrong and in the process does almost the opposite.  While she makes small work out of your common thugs, and shows some grit against an impossibly bigger opponent, her bravado (“You know how many heroes have me on speed dial?”) ends up her undoing.

In most circumstances, the scene would underscore Flamebird’s trademark egomania, but then she follows up by stressing she’s “the real deal.”  Considering how pained she was being told she didn’t have what it takes, her boasts here feel less like overconfidence and more like an attempt to convince herself of her competence.  That makes her defeat all the more painful to watch; you’d like for her to beat the odds, but she only highlights her own limitations.

Batwoman #3 – Review

By: J.H. Williams III (co-writer & artist), W. Haden Blackman (co-writer), Dave Stewart (colorist)

The Story: As always, having too many women in your life can be a big problem.

The Review: Comics rely on a sympathetic collaboration between words and art.  When the artistic pedigree of a title reaches the kind of heights you see here, sometimes the story becomes almost irrelevant, which can be tough on a writer-centric reviewer like me.  But so far, this title has managed to beat the odds and be a powerful force on both a visual and textual level.

Take the opening of this issue.  Setting aside the jaw-dropping imagery for a moment, the scene itself has great integrity.  It not only starts you off with an immediate sense of peril, it also has importance to the story long after it ends.  When the Weeping Woman drags Kate into the depths of a Gotham river, Kate takes on the form of her twin sister.  You don’t know if this is a supernatural effect from the ghostly lady, or if it’s Kate’s drowning fancy of how her sister might have died, but whatever it is, its effects can be felt throughout the rest of the issue.

Kate carries the trauma of that experience back home with her, and it unfortunately leads to a very messy confrontation with her cousin.  It’s a very painful exchange.  Kate’s near-miss earlier that night has clearly rattled her, and she projects that anxiety onto Bette in the harshest way possible: You don’t have what it takes… The only thing you ever lost was a beauty pageant.”

When Bette originally appeared as the flippant, attention-seeking Flamebird, you were almost forced to not take her seriously.  But in the pages of this title, she’s shown her dedication to the Bat has been sincere (even at the cost of ditching of her sunny outfit and taking on the codename of “Plebe”).  Her wounded reaction to Kate’s rejection tells you exactly the pain she’s feeling, even before the quiet tears come: “Why, Kate?  What did I do?  What happened?”