Batwoman and Wonder Woman? If any team could make that combination work, it’s this one. With J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman providing the words, and Williams himself back on the art, you already know that this issue is going to be well written and good looking. But crossovers are always a little tricky, and with its slightly reduced length, can this issue still manage to deliver the goods?
Written by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
Illustrated by J.H. Williams III– J.H. WILLIAMS III returns as artist on this new story!
– An adventure of epic proportions begins here, with BATWOMAN and the werebeast zealot, ABBOTT, hot on the trail of the urban legend BLOODY MARY. The trail leads to a twisted carnival and an abandoned HALL OF MIRRORS, where they face nightmarish versions of themselves…
– Batwoman seeks an unexpected ally: WONDER WOMAN!
Before I say anything else about this issue, it seems needful to get the art out of the way. Why? Because it is DISTRACTINGLY GORGEOUS. Williams’ work on Batwoman has always garnered heaps of praise, particularly for those kinetic two-page spreads, but he steps things up to an even higher level here. More than good-looking, the art is complex as anything, with Williams manipulating numerous innovative layouts across the double-page spreads, often with the dizzying end of narrating Wonder Woman’s actions — belonging as they do to another world entirely — in counterpoint to Batwoman’s. These characters are distinguished by more than their personalities and goals as Dave Stewart’s jaw-dropping colours really sell the disparity in texture between the worlds they inhabit, with Batwoman in her usual black and red and Wonder Woman making her way through a much more colourful space. The result is one incandescent, eye-searing issue, with even the naturalistic scenes — Kate chilling on a yacht with Chase and Director Bones, for instance — coming across with their own arresting look and texture. In all honesty I think the story could be that Batwoman and Wonder Woman went to the corner store, the end, and nobody would mind.
All of that said: the story is pretty complex in itself. Batwoman has joined forces with shapeshifter Kyle Abbot in an attempt to bring down Bloody Mary, one of the supernatural forces that’s terrorizing Gotham; meanwhile, Wonder Woman is kicking all kinds of ass in her search for a fabled serpent cult. Somehow, we get a chance in amongst everything else to check in with Kate and Maggie’s relationship, and spend a moment with Bette as she recovers from the attack that brought her near death in the last issue.
On a sentence-by-sentence level, the writing in this issue is unusually poetic. Wonder Woman’s inner monologue in particular carries a lot of gravitas, and matches well with the grand and colourful landscape she negotiates. The dialogues taking place during the day, meanwhile, are as naturalistic and compelling as ever. But on the level of story there’s a bit of an imbalance. While the ratio between action and plot exposition is good (it’s a thoroughly mind-bending encounter with Bloody Mary that provides the intel motivating Batwoman to seek out the Amazonian princess) the whole thing is light on emotion. A confrontation between Bette and Kate seems to come out of nowhere, and Bette only gets in the prelude to an important conversation with Colonel Kane.
The comic does come in a little short at twenty pages, with the whole thing going by pretty quickly despite the pace-slowing lushness of the double spreads, so that may account for the lack of emotional development. Really, this issue is more of a convoluted set-up for the meeting between Batwoman and Wonder Woman, and as good as it looks, the decompressed pace doesn’t work as well when there’s less character development to chew on. Still, there’s clearly been an effort here to show that Batwoman can’t just cross a street and talk to Wonder Woman, or call her on the phone; there are worlds between them, and crossing over is something that’s going to require a certain amount of energy and lead-time. That, as an underlying implication to the whole issue and arc to come, makes a lot of sense, and keeps the issue from feeling too much like your usual one-off crossover “event”.
And despite the crossover content, this is an excellent jumping-on point for those of you who haven’t been following “Batwoman” this far. J.H. Williams’ art is the heart and soul of this title, and it couldn’t more beautifully exhibited here. Meanwhile, a new storyline is kicking up, and it’s looking to be a pretty wild one at that. “Batwoman” hasn’t had a perfect run so far, but this encounter with Wonder Woman, while slightly arbitrary, is being handled with flair. This will be an arc worth following.
Final Verdict: 8.0 — A worthy buy despite its length
