I’ve very much been looking forward to this issue, mainly because I saw a preview of J.H. Williams III front cover art and was immediately astounded – it has been my desktop background for months!
In this issue we see Sune kill Medusa leader, Falchion; Maggie Sawyer is getting a lot of negative feedback from not getting anywhere with the missing children case and she has a daughter, Pixie; Jacob Kane admits that he loved Kate’s twin Beth more; how Killer Croc got involved with Medusa; and last but not least Sune is in actual fact Maro.
That is all in 20 pages – Phew!
As much as I love the Batwoman series and what the writers have done with it, I’m really not liking this non-linear-jumping-backwards-and-forwards-in-time-from-different-character-angles-type of story telling. I’m trying to just go with the flow and hope that it all just makes sense in the end, but this issue especially didn’t work. The only things that I got from it was that Jacob loved Beth more and Sune is actually Maro. However, I forgot who Maro actually was because there is so much going on and to take in, especially when the issues only come out a month at a time! What should have been big momentous scenes have been ruined due to the anti-climatic pacing of the story. Jacob’s love of Beth came as a big surprise for me and this was expertly handled. I really liked this emotional twist in the story.
Trevor McCarthy’s inside illustrations and panels were on point once again. The crisp lines and attention for detail is something that I really appreciate in his art. The panels and flow from one page to another are easy to follow and really drive the narrative well – I think he has definitely taken influence from Williams III!
All in all, I want to enjoy this story, but the non-linear format is making it more of a chore and that is not what I want from a character that I love. Hopefully Blackman and Williams III will return to a more traditional form of narrative so I don’t get a headache every time I pick up an issue.
