If you have never ready the Batwoman stories from Detective comics you should do yourself a favor and go get the collected stories now.  J.H. Williams is always great and always has some new surprises.  In this book he writes the stories too, or co-writes them anyway.  Usually when an artist starts to write comics, he starts with some cool ideas with some great visuals and then runs out of steam fast.  I don’t think that is going to be the case here.  He shows a great talent with writing and dialogue.  I’ve heard far worse dialogue from many other ‘established’ professional writers in comics.

But, really the reason to buy this book is for the art.  When she is in the Batwoman costume you cannot take your eyes off the page. Just when I think I’ve seen the best picture of the character, he finds a new way to make the costume even shinier.  Or sets of the red against some white snow.  So pretty and so tough at the same time.

He does some great layouts.  He not only cares about the look of each panel, but how all the panels look simultaneously when you turn the page.  Sometimes his tricks get in the way.  There are a few times where you might struggle to figure our what section of the page to read next, but it is a small price to pay for such great stuff.  There were some cool tricks like the ghost lady, and some not so cool tricks.  There was one scene where Kate was looking at a picture of Renee and all the color was bleached except for the photo.  It was a neat technique, but it stopped the motion of the story cold as you first wonder if there was a printing error.

Great job A    —  Don

This issue picks up right where #0 and the Detective run left off, and the art is as gorgeous as ever. As much as I love Greg Rucka’s writing, J.H. Williams III has always been the draw for me on this book, and he continues to deliver. As if that wasn’t enough, the obscure-character geek in me was delighted to see Bette Kane (Firebird from the little-known Titans West team) as well as Director Bones and Chase from the late, great Chase series (Bones is an even older character, first showing up in Infinity Inc. decades ago, I believe).

Sometimes this book trades clarity for pretty, pretty visuals, but I’m not about to complain about having to spend a little extra time on a page to catch everything that’s going on. Just reading the text can take a few minutes, but it would be such a waste to keep turning pages if it means passing over some minute detail or clever layout.

A-  —- Ed

Yay! Another great Batwoman book. Beautiful art. Good story. Can’t wait to read #2 and continue reading this series.  If you haven’t read Batwoman: Elegy and Batwoman #0 – do so now. Do not walk, but run to the comic shop to pick them up. (Comic Quest has them in stock.)   

Batwoman #1, continues where #0 left off.  But with a new mystery for Batwoman to solve. (or is it related to the overall arc mystery?Time will tell).  And it appears her cousin Bette Kane will help. But don’t expect the usual teen titan Bette used to be, that is if Batwoman has anything to say about it.

IF you haven’t read Batwoman Elegy or #0 — it’s okay. You can still pick up #1 and read it and not be lost. There is a little recap in #1, that’s very subtly and very well done, so you can follow where Batwoman’s current head is at. Phew. What a relief, huh.  But the other books are so good, and the art is so amazing, and they will give the current “new” issues even more punch, I would highly recommend picking them up.

Next, I must take issue with my fellow blog reviewer Don’s comment about the so-called “printing error” with the panel with the pictures of cops and and Renee. The technique that was used was to draw focus to the picture of Renee by having all other pics faded into the background. To help emphasis to the reader how important that pic was to Kate and how important Renee was to Kate.  It in no way looked messy or bleached or an error. It also in no way “stopped the action” or was distracting in any way. There’s a similar technique in film, where the most important visual is in focus and the rest of the background fades or gets blurry.

This book gets a solid A from me.

—–Kelly