Review — Battle Lines Are Drawn In ‘Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War #1
by Tony Thornley
The Gotham War crossover is about to dominate the Gotham corner of the DCU. To kick it all off, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War #1 shows us the stakes and the draws the line in a brutal war that might not be what we expect.
Chip Zdarsky, Tini Howard, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano DiBenedetto, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Clayton Cowles try to come to terms before war starts.
Batman has been through hell, with Failsafe, the multiverse war, the Lazarus planet event, and Insomnia’s attack. With everything, he slipped into a coma, leaving Gotham unprotected for eight weeks. When he awoke, he found a Gotham in a better place. And it seems that it’s because of the city’s new underboss- Selina Kyle!
Too many philosophical debates about superheroes- Batman in particular- are simply too boring to build a story around. Unfortunately too many stories in comics are built around those debates. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be the case in Gotham War.
In the time Bruce was asleep, Selina took over Gotham, and organized its organized crime. Zdarsky and Howard makes the set up about their philosophie.- Bruce sees the world in black and white- any crime is bad and must be stopped. Selina meanwhile has created proven results that by training criminals and setting their focus on robbing from the rich, she has practically eliminated dangerous crime in Gotham. They don’t just make for an interesting plot, but they do it while making the characters the core of it, and each one is written well and perfectly in character.
Hawthorne and DiBenedetto ensures the emotional depth is in the story. With the action, they pace each page well, and they use darkness and shadow to deepen each moment. They are as much storytellers as the writers too, such as making sure Bruce doesn’t take off his mask after he puts it on for the first time while Selina barely puts hers on. It looks good, and Fajardo makes it stronger with his colors. The single Riddler page alone shows how good colors are additive to a story.
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War #1 is available now from DC Comics.
Overview
If this opening issue is any indication, the crossover is going to be an interesting one. It raises questions that actually have the potential to make an interesting story. But even if it doesn’t go the right direction, it all looks great, and that’s one of the most important things about any comic.
