Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Battle Lines #1 is written by Chip Zdarsky & Tina Howard and published by DC Comics. Pencils are by Mike Hawthorne, inks by Adriano di Benedetto and colours by Romulo Fajardo Jr. Main cover art (left) is by Jorge Jimenez.
Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Battle Lines #1 is available now in print and on digital where all good comic books are sold.
Synopsis
Crime is down in Gotham City…Could that be a bad thing? A coordinated effort in Gotham has led to a reduction in violent crime, but at what cost? Villains scatter as their lives begin to crumble under a new regime. And as Batman recovers from his epic battle through the Multiverse and the horrors of Knight Terrors, one name runs through his mind. One name at the heart of this new, safer Gotham…Catwoman. A conflict that’s been brewing for well over a year finally hits the streets, and it will fracture the Bat-Family as war erupts!
Review
The DC Universe has barely awoken from their nightmares but already another event is getting underway. Though much lower key than the brilliant Knight Terrors, the equally dangerous Gotham War is laying out its grand plan to rip apart from of Gotham’s key relationships, that between the Bat and the Cat.
Masterminded by Batman’s Chip Zdarsky and Catwoman’s Tini Howard, The Gotham War kicks off today with this special, oversized story dubbed Battle Lines and as the title suggests it’s going to be bumpy ride!
The team of Zdarsky and Howard is seamless. I couldn’t tell you if they split writing parts of this story. They could have written alternate pages or even written only the scenes featuring their character, there is no way to discern between their voices. Incredibly, the pair has come together to craft something which, after only one issue, feels like something incredibly special for fans of Gotham and its two leads.
Whilst it remains to be seen how much action the war will produce, this issue shows the depths it will reach emotionally. Battle Lines displays an incredibly grasp on the current mental state of both Bruce and Selina coming out of Knight Terrors. It picks up on the threads of Zdarsky’s most recent arc of Batman with Bruce still showing the scars of his multiversal trip. For Howard, The Gotham War is the culmination of Selina’s stay in prison alongside the emotional upheaval of her terrible nightmare vision of Gotham at the hands of Insomnia.
Coming in to Battle Lines, Bruce has been out cold for eight weeks and has missed some huge developments on the streets of Gotham. Thanks to Selina’s bold vision, crime is down 75% and Batman might just find himself surplus to requirements. If only Howard didn’t have an ace up her sleeve for causing some serious conflict. Selina’s idea? To train Gotham’s goons for hire, up-skilling them from simple street thugs to become high-end Robin Hoods, stealing only from the rich.
From an intriguing prologue through to a run-of-the-mill crime which is interrupted by the Dark Knight, the setup feels perfectly familiar. As soon as Selina sets a meet with the Bat-Family, Zdarsky and Howard flip the script in the most perfect way, creating one of the most exciting stories of 2023.
The meeting between Gotham’s key players is really the centre of the story. As Selina puts forward her plan for Gotham it instantly splinters key relationships. In mere moments, decades of friendship and family are torn apart. The mere suggestion of Selina’s approach is the spark which ignites discord in the Bat-Family and pushes Battle Lines narrative through to its conclusion. The perfect jumping off point for the next few issues.
The story is underpinned by the brilliant artistic trio of Hawthorne, Di Benedetto and Fajardo Jr. The three bring together the styles of the Batman and Catwoman books to create a hybrid of the two that sits in a Gotham sweet spot. It looks great and feels right where every Bat-fan would want it to be.
Verdict
The Gotham War ignites with a compelling first issue. Laying exquisite groundwork for the morale (and potentially cataclysmic) events to come.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
