Double-O Batwoman.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett, James Tynion IV
Art: Steve Epting
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Deron Bennett
What They Say:
“The Many Arms Of Death” part one! At last—Batwoman is back in her own ongoing series! On the island nation of Coryana, anything goes for members of the criminal underworld…and during her lost years after being drummed out of the military, Kate Kane found a kind of refuge there. But now, a deadly new bioweapon is available in the markets of Coryana, and Batwoman will have to face up to the things she did in those days…and the people she left behind, some of whom would be happier to see her dead than alive!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having enjoyed the Rebirth issue that largely served as a montage style recap of Kate Kane’s life, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what the team would do with the character as the series gets underway. I’ve enjoyed Bennett’s take on the character in the Bombshells world and I know that she’s appearing in some other Bat-books that I’m not following, so getting something that should, for the most part, focus on Kate’s adventures and building up her supporting cast has a lot of appeal. That’s doubled thanks to Steve Epting as he turns in some fantastic work here as we get a look at the bigger world she’s diving into for this opening arc, making it feel properly real and gritty as it should be while also delivering some wonderfully small character moments with the right emotional beats.
There’s a welcome worldly feeling with this book as it kicks off in Istanbul where Kate’s tracking down the Venom virus and trying to find the supplier for it so that it can be dealt with, a task she took on for Batman who thankfully makes no appearance here outside of a few words. What we get with this is a solidly crafted action sequence that lets her cut loose within context of her opponent, who naturally takes the serum, with Epting really making it flow well as she deals with the brute strength of her opponent. That it ends with no real information to some degree is no surprise, but I did like the mysterious woman who shows up and eliminates her potential source of information but leaves a trail for Kate to follow. Things are being set up easily and Kate can’t not investigate further.
What’s being setup digs into her past during the lost year and involves Coryana off of Malta, where she was involved with a woman named Safiyah that made a big impact on her.The arc is designed to get us there and dig into more of her past and it’s certainly intriguing and Epting makes this world feel so rich and lived in that you want to walk down each of the alleys. But what got me into things a bit more was the time spent on her motoryacht before heading to Coryana. I’ve been out of the Bat-books for a while so getting introduced here to Julia Pennyworth and her role with Kate was a delight, especially since Kate’s not sure if she’s a babysitter, her version of Q, or just Batman’s spy. That presents a good working dynamic to explore more while having twists open to it but it’s also a fun piece of the larger Batman mythos with the Pennyworth line that’s been explored from time to time.
In Summary:
Batwoman sets its ongoing phase well here with what it wants to do and it’s already excelled over some other Rebirth books for me in how it’s handling its heading out into the world away from Gotham. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Batgirl. Bennett and Tynion have a good flow here in handling the pacing and dialogue for the cast as we know them so far and Epting and Cox really nail the look of the book, giving it a “high end” rich quality look that captures the worldliness that reminds me of an opening segment of a Bond film. I’m curious to see what they’ll do going forward and if they can get me to invest and care about Kate and what we discover at Coryana since I don’t have years of this character in my own background. But the foundations are definitely there for it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 15th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99
