Batwoman #2
“Eschatology” Part 2
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: DaNi
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Good news! I had a much easier time following what was happening in Batwoman #2 than I did the first issue.
Bad news: that's mostly because the majority of the issue is an extended chase/fight scene.
Let's break it down.
My Big Fat Greek Brawl
We start off still in Petalon, Greece. First check-in is with Jacob Kane, retired Colonel, father of Kate and Beth, and the "man in the chair" for Batwoman. Jake is on the phone with his second wife, Cat, who is back home in Gotham. He says that he hasn't seen Kate since she was admitted to the sanatorium, at the doctor's recommendation. Cat asks if Jacob has any idea what led to Kate's breakdown, but before he can answer, he is distracted by the sight of a giant red bat-shaped light on the skyscraper in the center of town! Excusing himself from the phone, he heads down to their mini-Batcave, where one of Kate's suits is missing. He pulls up her suit diagnostics on the computer, seeing that her biomonitoring is turned off, but the tracking is still working. Jacob gets on his motorcycle and heads to intercept her.
In town, the cultists in the skyscraper find themselves illuminated by the Bat-light. They dispatch soldiers to the rooftop across the way, where the light is originating from. They find the spotlight, but no sign of Batwoman. There is a note attached to the light, but before they can read it, a grenade lands at their feet and goes off! As the troops try to recover from the explosion, we see that the note reads "You will pay for what you did." Batwoman appears and kicks one of the soldiers off the roof, smiling as he hits the ground below with a splat.
Across the way in the skyscraper, we learn a bit more about two of the cultists, Mr. Gores and Despina. Mr. Gores is a new member of the cult, and he knows that she doubts his faith and resolve. He offers her a coupling, her leading the Daughters of Lilith, and him in command of the Stone Legions. She reminds him that her line goes back to the very beginning, and if he wants to have her, he needs to prove his conviction: bring her back, alive and unspoiled, and he will get what he desires.
Back on the roof across the way, the leader of the Stone soldiers is leading his men in a concentrated beatdown of Batwoman, who is clearly still not 100%. Batwoman tries to flee, making her way to the ground below but landing roughly in the center of traffic. As the soldiers start to flank her, Jacob appears on his motorcycle and tries to get her to get on - but he takes a knife to his shoulder before she can do so!
Batwoman tells the soldiers to let Jacob go, but she is clearly weak and wounded, so they are not threatened by her. Quietly apologizing to her father, she draws a gun from a holster at her side and starts firing, killing all of the soldiers! As the police arrive, she walks away, leaving her father there with a knife in his shoulder and dead men all around him.
"Oh, Kate… what have you done?"
Daddy Issues (Among Others)
I'm having a hard time with this book.
It's well written, and the art is good, but it's just not "clicking" for me.
For being our main character, Kate/Batwoman is a bit of a cipher. She doesn't say much, and her actions don't all track. There's a small part of me that is starting to wonder if she's Beth and not Kate, but I think the "twin switcheroo" is a little too cliche for Rucka. I know Kate has been through a lot, watching her sister die for a second time and all, but I just can't reconcile the broken woman in issue #1 with the murderer getting this issue.
The other thing that's bugging me is the villains. I know that at the end of the day, they're all part of the Darkseid cult, but there are apparently at least two different subgroups, based on the conversation between Mr. Gores and Despina. At least they got names. I still don't know who the other people from the skyscraper are, or if they even have names. Then there's the Stone-faced soldiers and their commander. What should we call them? I don't think I've seen them named in these issues, so I just started calling them Stone-faced because of their masks.
I don't want to sound like I'm totally bashing the book, because I'm not. It has some issues, for sure, but overall it's still grabbing me enough to bring me back next issue. It's got a great neo-noir look and feel, and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. And it's still very different than your typical Big Two superhero book, so that gives it some bonus points from me as well.
Group Therapy
Greg Rucka knows the Kane family well and has picked up from where he left off in his previous run without missing a beat. That's both good and bad - good, because it keeps things consistent with his prior storyline that this seems to be picking up from, but bad because it seems like it's skipping over anything that the characters have done in the time since his initial run. He does a great job on this issue, using the usually unflappable Jacob to show just how messed-up Kate is right now, with him basically broken by her actions at the end of the issue. The issue is paced well, using interludes with Jacob and the villains in the skyscraper as ways to cut away from the fight scenes featuring Batwoman and the Stone soldiers.
The art by DaNi is not as strong this month - it's still got a great gritty noir feel, but everything feels a little more sketchy and unfinished. I'm starting to get a little worried about her ability to maintain a monthly schedule on a high-profile book, if I'm being honest. There are panels where the art is amazing, and then there are others where Batwoman looks like she has a curved spine, or I can't tell the Stone-faced soldiers apart - and actually, it took me a few pages to realize that their masks looked like stone statues, it just wasn't clear enough early on. The action was well rendered, and in particular, the page of Kate firing a gun at the soldiers was incredibly effective.
Matt Hollingsworth's colors add to the neo-noir feel, which means, like the art, they are largely very effective - with a few exceptions. The inability to get much detail or individuality from the Stone-faced soldiers is as much on him as it is on DaNi. When they fade a bit more to the background, their coloring is so dark and almost muddy that it's hard to pick out much detail. Batwoman herself stands out against everything else, which is as it should be, and since the entirety of the issue takes place after midnight, there is some good uses of lighting to keep things interesting.
Take Your Daughter to Work Day
Batwoman #2 is another good issue that falls short of being great due to a lack of insight into our main character, villains that I don't even know some of the names for, and art that is a little too sketchy and unclear. The story being told is overall very interesting, and I have faith that Rucka and company will bring it all together given time, but so far it's been tough to get too engaged in the book. I'm intrigued enough to stick around and see where things go, but if I don't get a little bit of clarity soon, that might not still be the case.