A Bat Walks Into A Church — Reviewing ‘Batwoman’ #7

Fresh off dealing with the return of her twin sister, who she thought she had killed, Batwoman has returned home. Unfortunately, Gotham City isn’t the friendliest place at the moment, as Kate Kane finds herself pulled into the prehistoric tinged war between Poison Ivy and Vandal Savage.

A new chapter opens as Batwoman #7 brings the series into the “Bad Seeds” event curtsy of Greg Rucka, DaNi, Matt Hollingsworth, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Color me surprised. I never would have imagined that this series that has been pretending that it’s still 2010 would actually take part in the current Batline event. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

Not a ton goes down in this issue. Chiefly we see Kate return, get an update on sister Beth’s status, the event stuff goes down, the armed military force of TUCOs make their presence known, Batman gives Kate a mission, and she goes after the TUCOs. Okay, that seems like a lot, but it’s a pretty rapid fire quick read of an issue.

Nothing wrong with that at all. Rucka is pretty deft at making sure it’s to the point and hitting the right beats. At some points the TUCOs are a bit cartoonish in their “hoorah” fascism styling, but at the same time that’s not unrealistic. Just look at the real life ICE, the kind of group that the TUCOs represent, and yeah it’s not that far fetched.

This book always has such a defining look to it, which isn’t hard to do when DaNi is behind the overall appearance. It’s perfectly rough, with the right kind of sharp edge that will makes street-level book sing. Grand panel placement and pacing shifts from big to small moments with relative ease, keeping our focus tight at all times.

Each bit of the color palette from Hollingsworth matches this energy. Heavier, more natural or neutral colors give the space a familiar foundation.  This boosts the much darker tones, befitting the night time aesthetic of the story but also the darker tonal ranges of the series itself, saving the flashier vibrant beats for Batwoman’s costume or similar aspects.

Rounding it all out is the always phenomenal lettering work that Otsmane-Elhaou delivers time and time again. He employs a very simple idea of letting the lettering flow and go where the creative or practical applications require, letting sounds and voices flow smooth as silk across the page with little modifications, graphic changes, and so much more.

Batwoman #7 is now available from DC Comics.