52 Pickup: The DC Shuffle – Batwoman

 

I can honestly say that prior to the New 52 DC Reboot I had never read an issue of Batwoman.  I say that to explain why it may seem like I have no idea about some of the things going on in this issue that may have been apparent or expected in those of you whom had read the book previously.

 

First, the book is weird.  Not necessarily “good” weird.  Just weird.  The artistic style is more reminiscent of art-house wall paintings than comics.  Batwoman is a very strange character.

 

It’s cool that she’s a lesbian, again I come back to my appreciation of DC’s willingness to venture into diversified audience fields.  The world is not as simple as it was in 1939 and all forms of media need to be representative of that.  But W. Haden Blackman (the writer) and J.H. Williams III (the artist) seem to have missed the point of the empowered female character that Batwoman represents.

 

I say this because in several scenes Batwoman and her sidekick are reduced to barely clothed women on a page.  I would have sworn I was reading an issue of 90s Image comic Glory.  It detracted from what I thought was some very cool parts of the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setting that aside and going back to the art.  It’s definitely strange.  It leaves you wondering what direction this story is really going in because it’s hard to connect the dots.

 

There’s definitely a lot of emotion in the main character.  She has a passionate hatred for her dad.  She’s smitten with a certain detective Sawyer of the GCPD.  And she has a lack of faith in her would-be partner.

 

Almost as an afterthought the writer throws in two bits of intrigue.  First, a scene involving some government officials (one of whom is a skeleton head smoking a cigarette) talking about infiltrating Gotham and collecting the Batwoman.  The second is right at the end when Batman shows up to offer some kind of deal.

 

I’ll admit I’m a little bit intrigued as to what is going on with the female heroine’s in Gotham City, and whereas I had my reservations about Batgirl, Batwoman leaves me with so many more.  I don’t have the faith in the writer here that I have in Simone.  Plus, Simone isn’t trying to use Barbara’s sexuality as a platitude to get new readers.

I’m sorry Batwoman, but you disappoint me, on several levels.  For that, you get a JACK.

 

The best is yet to come so keep your eyes (and browsers) open on 8DaysAGeek all month long as we tackle the biggest story in comics!

 

For now,

 

This is your Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off.

 

p.s. Did you spot the hooded lady?  I’ve included a picture below.  She keeps showing up in the strangest places!  Who is she?  What’s her impact going to be on the new DCU?  Discuss below in comments!!!

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