Batwing #6

Summary

Armed with newfound knowledge of Massacres’ whereabouts, Batwing races to Egypt to apprehend the masked murderer. However, with revelations of Massacre’s true identity slow emerging – will Batwing have what it takes to stop him?

What I liked

· Massacre: This may sound incredibly unprofessional but... I love the notion that Batwing’s first villain is a guy with a massive knife. Batman has a secret organisation which has been plaguing Gotham for centuries – Batwing has a bloke with a machete. There is something very visceral and even threatening about this unstoppable killing force and it is refreshing to see brawn just as well written as brains.

· Africa and The Kingdom: Judd Winnick’s new series could have easily come across as gimmicky - by bringing race into the Batman mythology but leaving the substance behind yet it does nothing of the sort. Batwing is a series about culture, and a culture which most people reading comics, watching films or listening to music in Western cultures are unaware of. Winnick sets up a beautifully realised Africa in which decades of superhero activity has been occurring already and delivers it to us in a way which does not feel forced.

· The Fight Scene: There is a lot of attention given to fighting in this issue, which is not always a good thing, but here it seems to work. The unconventionally realistic art-style combined with the use of oversized panels helps portray a sort of gritty realism to the violence. Moreover, Winnick doesn’t feel it is necessary for the characters to speak constantly through the fights and sometimes opting for a silent moment to focus our attention on what is actually occurring on the page. There are some really tense moments in this issue, especially as the issue draws to a close.

· Revelations: This is only a minor point, because I am not sure what this means. We are given some hints to the identity of Massacre in this issue – however we reach the conclusion that it would be impossible for him to be the person David thinks he is. It is comforting to know that Massacre won’t be just a random “nobody”, however they do seem to be dancing around the point a bit too much and should probably unmask him soon.

What I didn’t like

· Getting a bit stale: I love Judd Winnick’s works! I’d even argue he was one of the more significant contributors to the New 52 – and he only has two books to his name. However, I do feel like this story is beginning to drag. We are on the sixth issue now and we haven’t progressed much since the third issue. The origin story in the fourth issue was a welcome break, and possibly even vital to the current story, but since that broke the flow of the narrative, it seems the story is having trouble getting back on track. That is not to say nothing important happens, it just seems to have been happening a bit sporadically recently.

· The ending: The ending bothered me slightly – It just felt like fan-service. I read Batwing, above all else, because of the setting. As Batwing is situated in Africa, the series has a completely different feel, compared to the American-based Batman series’, in terms of small details like vehicles and buildings to real life issues like child militants. By taking Batwing out of that setting, a lot of the comic’s appeal, for me at least, is gone.

· Flashbacks: In prior issues of the series it feels that whatever Flashbacks we had were relevant and had some baring on the story at hand, however in this issue they felt like padding. We are given four pages to Batman recruiting Batman recruiting David right in the middle of the issue. This may be important later on, but it feels like we are retreading familiar ground here.

Verdict

This issue was really good, it was well written, directed and draw –however it didn’t feel like we had made much progress. This feels like a six issue arc which is being forced into seven or eight by using flashbacks for padding. However, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it in terms of a single issue. I recommend reading this issue – I may change my tune if next month’s issue is just as slow.

7/10