It’s the end of an arc, and Batwoman and Wonder Woman’s rather Lovecraftian crossover adventure is coming to a close. There will be tentacles. Oh yes, there will be tentacles.
Written by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
Illustrated by J.H. Williams III• It’s the massive conclusion to the current storyline as Batwoman and Wonder Woman struggle to defeat Medusa and a horde of villains!
• Don’t miss the start of a surprising new status quo for Batwoman!
One of the principle selling points of this arc, which shouldn’t have worked, but for the most part did, was that it was so completely insane. The trouble with outright craziness in a comic, though – and in this case, the craziness came from seeing Batwoman and Wonder Woman’s entirely different supernatural worlds merged together – is that it doesn’t mesh well with a sense of finality. Crazy is open-ended. It’s about tearing open the fabric of reality, rather than closing it up. And though Kate recognizes that the vortex that has opened up over Gotham City can’t just be neatly stitched up again, that’s kind of the purpose of this issue. Ends get tied up, and it defeats the crazy that was making this arc so good.
But taking as given that the crazy’s gotta let up some time – and that the problem that was plaguing Batwoman’s Gotham, and has been since the first issue, was definitely due to be solved – the abruptness of the gear-shift here can be partly forgiven. It helps, of course, that Williams and Blackman’s writing is up to its usual high standard. From the long captions that don’t over-explain what’s going in a panel, but add a new dimension to it, to the explanation behind Gotham’s monster problem, to the emotional and rather surprising conclusion, there’s care and nuance and thought aplenty going on here. On a macro level, pretty much every story thread that has come up in this arc gets addressed in some fashion, although some of it happens very quickly. What’s significantly more interesting here are the new stories being opened up – and since one of them involves a crustacean (?), I think that means we can hope for sufficient cray in future.
(I’m really sorry about that pun.)
Moving along to the art: there have been some little problems in Williams’ work over the last couple issues that have probably been the result of short deadlines as this story was pushed to a close, and what stand out in that respect in this issue are a couple over-earnest facial expressions. Happily, the rest of the art is as lovely and innovative as you could ask for. There are the expected, mind-blowing double-page spreads, and then there are the cool little details – like a city skyline defining the edge of a panel, or silhouetted monsters filling up dead space at the edge of a page. Then, of course, there’s the fact that Williams can make any moment look gorgeous, whether it involves tentacles or not, and the consistent high style of his art helps balance out the decrease in crazy as the issue draws to a close.
Finally, Dave Stewart’s colours have been one of the principle pleasures of the arc, extending beyond Batwoman’s usual black and red into all kinds of nightmarish purples and greens and blues, and they’re fantastic here, particularly during the concluding seaside scenes. The washed-out tones really help bring out the emotion as a sense of finality pervades the pages.
Overall – between the consistently wonderful art and the careful, nuanced writing – this is a satisfying if somewhat cramped finish to a thoroughly surprising arc. And while it’s a shame that J.H. Williams won’t be doing the art for the next little while, Trevor McCarthy’s work has risen to the challenge before, and should make for some fun reading in future.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
