REVIEW: Batwing # 1-8

BATWING
Issues #1-8
Story arc: Massacre/The Kingdom Storyline
Writer: Judd Winick
Artists: Ben Oliver, Chriscross & Dustin Nguyen
DC Comics


BACKGROUND:

   Welcome back folks. Been a while since I did a whole storyline. But, let's get down to business. Batwing first appeared as a part of Batman's new Batman Inc venture about a year before the relaunch. Fast forward to around last summer when DC announced the New 52, Batwing was one of the titles that was to be bolstered. And that came with both positive and negative press. Yet, Batwing was just one of the many characters that were going to give diversity alongside Mr. Terrific, Static, Voodoo, Blue Beetle & Batwoman. I just want to point out that the first 2 titles were canceled a few month ago and Voodoo gets her last issue this month. Yet, the other two are going strong.

  So, what is making Batwing a title that keeps going? Part of it may have to do with the Bat-family. The other part of it might be the fact that it is being sold as "the Batman of Africa." But, let's examine the truth behind this title and see if it really  measures up.


LOW DOWN:

  Batwing # 1 opens to ... narration while our hero is fighting the villain in question, Massacre. It looks brutal. The background definitely feels like a different place. Our hero tells us how brutal Massacre with on very little armor in comparison to him. Yet, for the first time, we hear a phrase that will haunt readers and our hero: We Honor Them  All in Blood.

   Wow. What a colorful ... line.

  We go through a flashback of Batwing, where we are outside of the city of Tinasha as Batwing takes down a drug lord known as Blood Tiger. After scaring the crap out of Blood Tiger with some narration from Batwing being told by Batman to be theatrical in order to instill fear into the hearts of criminals; we go to an investigation being done by Tinasha officer Kia Okuru and our hero's civilian identity, David Zavimbe. Earlier, David left a clue while in his Batwing gear. David subtlety tests Officer Okuru who finds the wallet. Back in Batwing's lair, The Haven, he and his Alfred, known as Matu Ba, connect with the Bat Computer and figure out the identity of Massacre's first victim . . . a hero known as Earth Strike; a hero in African's super hero team known as The Kingdom.

 We find out that the Kingdom has disappeared and David goes back in civvies to his police job ... only to be met with a machete stabbed through his back to his chest after walking in a room full of severed heads and bodies. YAY. I like Tinasha.

  It seems as if Massacre came to leave a message to the Tinasha police. And he did. While David was dealing with his recent impalement, Officer Okuru brought reinforcements ...only for her to get hurt and the rest of the reinforcements to be killed by Massacre. Boy ... the guy is living up to his name.

We find that Massacre left little survivors among the police and has decided to attack  . .. an ELEMENTARY School. Okay. You know, I know we want to show how dark and gritty this new city in Africa is but DAMN! Of course, this is two weeks after Massacre' s glorious first confrontation with the Tinasha PD.

  David figures out that Massacre is gonna attack an elementary school as Massacre attacks one . .. mostly,a teacher in one. But this teacher actually happens to be former member of the Kingdom, Thunder Fall. The electric Thunder Fall takes on Massacre ... only to lose an arm in the process. GEEZ!

 Batwing, against Matu Ba's wishes . . . okay, okay ... Batwing shots Matu with a sedative, knocking him out . . .goes and joins the battle against Massacre. Batwing is able to fend off Massacre but the damage is done. Thunder Fall succumes to blood loss, dying. Yet, before he dies, he is about to tell Batwing that they should not be forgiven for what they did.

  As the mystery gets deeper about The Kingdom and Massacre, we get a look back at David's childhood ... as a child soldier for a warlord named Keita. Both David and his younger brother Issac were the two best child soldiers of General Keita's army. They would kill who he asked to kill ... except women and children. And they would not hesitate to beat up older soldiers. They were the Dragonflies and they were vicious. Yet, their moral stand against Keita lead to their defection ... and Keita seemingly killing Issac after beating him up  and throwing him off a cliff side.

  For his trouble, young David kidnaps Keita, ties him up near an enemy camp and let's them known Keita is there.

Ah ... the joys of youth.

After that ... we find that Massacre kills another member of the Kingdom, off panel and it is now time ... for a fundraiser. It seems that there is a fundraiser at The Kingdom's former headquarters, known as The Citadel. The Kingdom's old pilot and weapons mechanic, Josiah Kone. And wow ...  he's at the Citadel, alongside Bruce Wayne who have transformed The Kingdom's old headquarters into a museum. Yet, Massacre ... with help this time, is able to destroy   The Citadel and kidnap a group of people with him.

  Batwing manages to corner and stop Massacre, saving the people and Josiah from certain death. Yet, as Batwing continues to dive into the mystery behind  The Kingdom ... he learns of their greatest shame and secret.


 SPOILER ALERT

 The Kingdom allowed for a genocidal maniac to team up with a group of warlords to fight the peoples army ... and let them kill each other. The maniac, General Okuro, was exiled from Africa, led by the Kingdom themselves.


  It is from this one event which lead to the break up of the Kingdom and the events that are currently happen with Massacre. Batwing and Batman track down the remaining members of The Kingdom to Gotham City and ...

 I will stop here.


BREAK DOWN:

Art:

   We have 3 very distinct art styles here. Very distinct and very different. Dustin Nguyen's issues were good and really captured the grit of Gotham and the mood for the story during those last two issues of this first storyline. It was a dark tone with a fast pace and the art conveyed the urgency really well.  The emotional parts were a 50 50. The major reveal of Massacre was done extremely  well but his benefactor being revealed seemed to lack the energy that the previous reveal had.

   Chriscross had done the pencils on issue #4 and I loved it. Going into David's past for the first time really needed to be vivid, painful, colorful and gruesome all at once. Chriscross succeeded with that. The tormented, blood-soaked history of David and his brother Issac with General Keita was rendered in a beautifully grizzy fashion. The backgrounds where vivid, the colors were vibrant. Everything fit where it was supposed to fit. It was a strong issue.

  Ben Oliver has some mind-numbingly beautiful art. Oliver penciled most of the issues of this story and they look amazing. His fusion of realistic and comic book art really makes the book a pleasure to the eyes. The characters are distinct in the way they move and look. The one flaw to Mr. Oliver's art ... which may not be his fault ... was the lack of backgrounds. There are times where no backgrounds are fine. Yet, with this being a launch title and introducing us to a brand new original locale, we didn't see much of it.

  There were some backgrounds that were just well done as we saw small areas around Tinasha. Yet, there were others that were just very plain. The citadel looked very majestic but then there were a lot of panels with nothing but Batwing, or Bruce Wayne or just people. I think the lack of backgrounds hurt the book a little bit.


 Writing:

   Judd Winnick gives his A game in this book as we are introduced to a brand new character. Batwing is very multi-faceted and it makes him such a compelling and different character than from  Batman that it makes you want to watch him more. He knows he has blood on his hands. He knows there is a lot of corruption and down right gruesome things that occur in Tinasha every day.

  Officer  Okuru and Matu make solid first impressions. Both characters are likable and give strong connections to our main hero. Matu's past is shrouded in mystery which leaves a lot to open with him. And the interesting dynamic between David and Okuru make their interactions interesting.

  The story is a strong start for Batwing. My only problem is how the story ends in Gotham. While I give the writer points to help set up Night of Owl's crossover issue (issue #9) after this story, it just seemed like the Bat Family  didn't trust Batwing to handle the situation. While it is nice that they helped each other, this is supposed to be David's first  foray and I saw Batman in 4 out of the first 8 issues. That's half. Sales strategy or not, not a great first impression on our hero. Otherwise, Winick wrote a very effective and wonderful character that I hope we see thrive in the years to come.


Final Verdict:

   Batwing's first outing was full of adventure, mystery, philosophical debates and gave us a taste of the world of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and it great city, Tinasha. Though, I feel we didn't see enough of Tinasha and there was too much Batman in these first 8 issues, the story and characters were really great. You read these books and feel invested on David and his crusade. A strong first outing for the Batman of Africa, Batwing.


I give this story a 3.5 out of 5. While the problems are a fair size, the storyline and art will keep you interested. Kudos to the creative team.