Reviews 

“Batwoman” #4

By | June 23rd, 2017
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Kali Corp takes the Barbed Wire Rope, Exploding C4, and Time Bomb Match to a whole new level by making the entire island the ring! Will Batwoman get out of the way in the nick of time?

Cover by Steve Epting
“Batwoman” #4
Written by Marguerite Bennet and James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Steve Epting
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Deron Bennett

“The Many Arms Of Death” finale! Batwoman’s been following the trail of the deadly weapon Monster Venom, while simultaneously trying to discover what became of her lost lover, Safiyah…but what happens when those two roads meet? And how does it all connect to the death of Batwoman’s mother? A terrifying new threat is unleashed on the world when the true nature of the Many Arms Of Death is revealed!

“Batwoman” #4 marks the opening arc finale, ‘The Many Arms of Death.’ While the next issue is billed as an epilogue chapter, one that will reveal more of the emotional context hinted at in this issue, that advanced notice dose not dent the impact and quality of this issue. For its part, issue 4 is a physical finale as Batwoman and Knife battle over the mysterious group’s plans to blow up Coryana. Marguerite Bennet, James Tynion, and artist Steve Epting pull off a satisfying, open ended, conclusion to this first chapter.

One of the key marketing lines from the last James Bond film, Spectre, was Christoph Waltz proclaiming that it was he who was responsible for all Bond’s pain. It’s a deliciously melodramatic line. There’s a Bond influence, including the reveal of a shadowy puppet master, in “Batwoman” #4. Bennet and Tynion all but have Knife proclaim Batwoman to be the author of all her pain as they battle in the smugglers’ cave. Kate is the woman who brought the outside world to Coryana. Kate is the one who stole and drove Safiyah away from Tahani. And even before all that, is representative of the conditions that had her in squalor from previous flashbacks.

Except, here is the thing about that line from Spectre. In the context of the film, it doesn’t play. The emotional/dramatic context that would have allowed for that moment to land wasn’t properly developed. In two pages, Bennet, Tynion, and Epting do more to develop that emotional/dramatic context for Tahani, the future Knife, than what an entire movie did for Blofeld. One of the thematic motifs the series has played with so far is how the present is a culmination of past events. In two pages, the creative team show how Knife was forged.

First is a page that mirrors the broken stain glassed motif of Kate’s life from the “Rebirth” issue. However, the materials and subject matter are reversed. Kate’s page characterized her history as a shattering of layers until only her true self remained. Tahani, like knives, was forged by these past events, they show her receiving training and instruction, slowly transforming into the assassin she is today. The jagged black inks making up the panel gutters are like roughly-forged metal, like little sheets slowly stacked together and welded as part of the modern forging process for Damascus steel. Knife is the culmination of that process.

We also see that Kate wasn’t the only wayward soul Safiyah fed fruit too. While Epting’s expressions latter on in the issue don’t quite match the script, the moments of realization that comes across Tahani’s face as Kate approaches is phenomenal. I almost wish letterer Deron Bennett had figured out a way to move the text of Tahani’s monologue away from the panels and let the spectacle of the art speak for itself. In these two pages, everything about Knife’s present predicament is made clear and we get the necessary amount of insight into her character. It fully develops Tahani from a fun, if generic, themed heavy into a important dark mirror for Kate and the series going forward.

These early pages are also why Steve Epting’s art may not be the most suited for depicting fighting — which isn’t to say Epting’s art isn’t suited for depicting action. Action can encompass a wide range of movements and sensibilities, the first issue of “Batwoman” had an excellent chase sequence through an open-air market, for example. With his heavy lines and copious blacks, his figures and images are strong and stoic. Those aren’t the qualities you expect for a flowing combat sequence. The sequencing of the action isn’t the problem: it comes in the disconnect between the images. It doesn’t help the solidity of the Eptings figures contrast with the dark, organic, and slightly impressionistic design of the cave walls. While the page design for these scenes isn’t complicated, largely designed to be read vertically, the flow and art feels segmented from one another. There just isn’t the sensation of weight change or motion. Compare the pages where Knife makes her escape from the cave with the previous one where she fires her tether. The latter is beat for beat correct but the next page is the one that elicits a sense of motion as Epting plays with perspective and uses the figures in his 3 vertical panels to create a strong upwards angle.

“Batwoman” #4 is defined by actions both in confrontation and smaller choices. With Coryana, Bennet and Tynion, have created an alternative to one of the more Orientalist aspects of the Bat origin: the journey to the East in search of knowledge. Coryana isn’t in the East, it’s in the middle of Ancient Western world and open society. The villains she fights are not old teachers turned bad, but manifestations of her late western capitalism. One trope the writers haven’t quite figured out how to subvert yet is the necessity of the mission in the face of human connection. It wouldn’t let them be the outsider, and we wouldn’t have an ongoing series. However, the small character moment of Kate choosing to leave is effective.

Final Verdict: 7.5 – The creative team manage to close this chapter of “Batwoman” in a satisfying fashion that develops everything you need emotionally for this issue to work.


Michael Mazzacane

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