Batwoman 0

Obviously we don’t review comics by the yard: quality is what counts, not quantity. Nonetheless, if an issue 0 (why?) has any purpose, surely it is as a promo, to entice us to add this series to our pick-list. Pricing it the same as a normal comic, but giving us just two-thirds of the story pages, then padding it with previews, which are of course ads, is a lousy way to get me on board.

As is the story, which deftly blends the idiotic with the dull. We get two parallel strands, one drawn by JHW, the other by Amy Reeder and Richard Friend. The former is a formula fight against some gang – the captions suggest she has a history with the organisation she is fighting here, but it is nonetheless our hero taking down some goons, and this should surely never be the core of any issue, still less a special launch comic. The other strand is Batman following Katie Kane around because he thinks she is Batwoman. Oh, he is also following Batwoman around in the first strand, and we get his review of her.

I know I am doing this a lot lately, but I remember the moment in the Justice League cartoon where one character suggests they need to reveal their identities to each other. When another protests, Batman just says “Wally West, Diana Prince, Clark Kent…” When asked how he can possibly know that, he just stares at them as if it’s a stupid question.

Here we get how he finds out. We don’t get how he latched onto her in the first place. We don’t get him discovering any factual giveaway – he doesn’t find the costume or see her change or anything. No, he attacks her in disguise and she fights him off then watches him run away. He does this on the street, in front of some shops, demonstrating how much he cares about her keeping her identity secret. This is very lame detection from the world’s greatest detective, and stupidly inconsiderate.

Am I asking too much here? A bit of good detective work turned out by the writers, a bit of respect from Bats for someone I take it he is going to recruit for his new army? Did Williams and cowriter Blackman really say to their editor “Batwoman fights some goons” as their plot description? That’s not even remotely worth a “that’ll do”, is it?

It’s a pity the writing is so weak, because some of the art is good. Williams draws her cloak very nicely, and gives us some energetic compositions. He’s solid on bodies and clothes, but I’m not sure about faces – Batwoman looks bizarrely Jokerish in her close-up on the first page. Actually here the preview does help me – the four pages of #1 have some very good Gulacyish and Quitelyish faces, so maybe he is good at that too. The second art team are a bit less strong. Some nice trees at the start, and to be fair they have a big pacing challenge in that there are sequences with almost nothing for them to work with, but some of the faces and bodies are hopelessly vague, and they also seem to think Bruce Wayne’s head shape completely changes when he puts on a wig and moustache. I should add that the colouring, by Dave Stewart, is superb, at times subtle and perfectly judged, at other times spectacular.

Should I be satisfied with some attractive art, even when the story is so poor? God knows there are hundreds of comics with art that puts me off, so maybe I should be a bit forgiving of vacuous writing – but it is possible to have both, as for instance Morrison & Finch demonstrated last week. The bottom line here is that there is simply nothing here in the story that makes me even vaguely interested in what happens in #1, that makes me imagine there might be something at all intriguing or exciting or affecting in any way. I can always take a look at the art in the shop, if I feel so inclined.

I’ll also note that this is my fifth random-purchase comic in the last month. Obviously not entirely random – Will has nominated some, at my request, and the only one that wasn’t a first issue was the first of a new Batman story arc with a new creator. ALL of them have been far stupider and ineptly written than I had assumed was the standard these days – clearly following Morrison, Millar and Bendis had given me a very distorted picture of the general standards at Marvel/DC now, which I should have guessed. I am unsure whether I should keep this up. Am I getting a genuine picture of what most superhero comics are like? Since it is the writing that has annoyed me most, who should I be trying? Is there a good jumping on point for a Brubaker series somewhere soon, as I have liked what I have read of his? Are there other really good writers out there? Comments and suggestions welcomed, including suggestions that are far less mainstream.