Batwoman #8 is written by Greg Rucka and published by DC Comics. Artwork is by DaNi, colours by Matt Hollingsworth and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Main cover art (left) is by DaNi and Hollingsworth.
Batwoman #8 is available from today, in comic book stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your physical copy from Forbidden Planet or digitally from Amazon Comixology UK.
Synopsis
In the Cathedral of St. Dumas, the members of a GCPD TUCO squad think that they’re about to kill Batwoman, score a victory for Vandal Savage, and make themselves rich in the process. They are wrong.
Review
Batwoman’s chapter of the “Bad Seeds” event continues today as Kate Kane holds up in the Cathedral of St. Dumas alongside a gravely injured Huntress. Greg Rucka wraps up his part of the event by reminding readers that there’s plenty more going on in Kate’s life outside of Poison Ivy’s disastrous takeover of the city, setting the scene for a return to the events of Petalon next month.
Despite the two-month break in usual proceedings in order to have Kate visit Gotham there’s been little room to forget the chaos that she has left behind her. Rucka has neatly stitched Batwoman into the wider narrative of events in Gotham without losing sight of the fact that Kate Kane is currently a controversial figure in the DC Universe. Last issue it was passengers on the flight to Gotham commenting on Batwoman’s reported attack on soldiers in Petalon, this issue it’s the wounded Huntress who worried about Kate’s methods.
Of course we know better and have context around Alice replacing her sister in the cowl and using rather extreme methods. But even now, with a group of GCPD TUCO soldiers closing in, Kate is still protecting her sister rather than sharing the whole truth with Helena. That protective nature is brilliantly reflected right across this issue as Kate protects her injured comrade. Rucka shows both sides of that protective nature by having Kate helping Helena medically followed by her attack on the TUCO goons when they finally catch up with them.
Given the nature of the story which Rucka has been telling with Kate and Alice there hasn’t been much room in the book for big action sequences. But here he’s perfect utilising the cramped space of the crypts under the Cathedral of St. Dumas to choreograph a brutal fight sequence. It’s got to be the most action we’ve seen so far in Batwoman and it plays brilliantly on the page. Kate is like a predator stalking the TUCO officers from the shadows. Knowing that we’ll be going back to regularly scheduled storylines next month, seeing Kate in action like this is a nice palette cleanser.
Of course all of that action is enhanced by seeing how DaNi handles rendering it on the page. This is a very different beast than seeing Kate in the asylum or on the streets of Petalon. DaNi perfectly brings all of the claustrophobia of the crypts to the page. The space is palpably small and that instantly ramps up the anxiety when reading how events unfold. Of course the pops of red are beautifully brought to life by Matt Hollingsworth. The murky black of Kate’s costume disguises her in the shadows but is stunning punctuated by the sharpness of the red accents.
There’s always a sense when one of these books is brought into an event storyline that it interrupts and has a negative impact. That hasn’t been a concern for Batwoman because of Rucka’s measured approach to storytelling. This two-issue side-quest has been a masterclass in tagging into “Bad Seeds” without losing sight of the overall narrative of the character.
Verdict
Batwoman stalks the crypts of the Cathedral of St. Dumas like a predator on the hunt. Greg Rucka steers Batwoman through the end of her “Bad Seeds” journey effortlessly and with an energetic brawl with the GCPD TUCO.
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