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unladylike's review
2.0
I had some hopes early on in this final volume of the Batwing series that it might end well, but it quickly devolved into a series of fights that I cared nothing about, while not answering the important questions I kept having. Like, why does the main monster Luke keeps fighting look just like an updated design for Bane? How are we supposed to believe that, in addition to whatever caverns and complex sewer systems, there's a VAST underground city of "refugees" beneath Gotham? Besides the logistical impossibilities (wouldn't Gotham collapse into a hole so big beneath its own weight?), this is a world where Superman exists and can see through and across the whole planet. He's surely been to Gotham City, which is not far from Metropolis. If all these ridiculously gimmicky gangs and factions were going buck wild underground, Superman would see it and tell Batman. They never address this, or why Batman loses touch with Batwing's comms while he's in the underground city. Maybe there's a high lead content throughout allllll of the bedrock of Gotham?
There are a few redeeming moments to be found in these comics, like the scene late in the series where Luke takes his youngest sister to see a (woman of color) astro-physicist give a lecture. But I swear, a few issues prior, when Tiffany had been kidnapped, they said she was 8 years old. When Luke drives her downtown, she's sitting in the back in a carseat looking like a toddler. When she speaks up at the lecture to answer a complex question about humanity's maturity level, she says she's six and a half. I'm just shaking my head that this creative team apparently can't keep track of the age of this kid, and has no idea how big she'd be (I guarantee she wouldn't fit in a baby's carseat.).
At least once I caught Jimmy Palmiotti using the same exact purple prose TWICE in the same issue, and not as a motif, but just as in he must've had this line in his head, written it in the script, then finished the script the next day and had Luke say the same dramatic thing about being drunk on the thud of his fists and how he's only running on adrenaline and it can't last. He says that twice with just a few pages between the instances. Palmiotti isn't the *worst* comic writer or artist, but he's pretty crap, and this series could have been fantastic all the way through if it had kept the original characters and tone. As it is, Batwing just looks like a disposable caricature of any other given Batman stories, with villains and hero arcs that are all style and no substance.
There are a few redeeming moments to be found in these comics, like the scene late in the series where Luke takes his youngest sister to see a (woman of color) astro-physicist give a lecture. But I swear, a few issues prior, when Tiffany had been kidnapped, they said she was 8 years old. When Luke drives her downtown, she's sitting in the back in a carseat looking like a toddler. When she speaks up at the lecture to answer a complex question about humanity's maturity level, she says she's six and a half. I'm just shaking my head that this creative team apparently can't keep track of the age of this kid, and has no idea how big she'd be (I guarantee she wouldn't fit in a baby's carseat.).
At least once I caught Jimmy Palmiotti using the same exact purple prose TWICE in the same issue, and not as a motif, but just as in he must've had this line in his head, written it in the script, then finished the script the next day and had Luke say the same dramatic thing about being drunk on the thud of his fists and how he's only running on adrenaline and it can't last. He says that twice with just a few pages between the instances. Palmiotti isn't the *worst* comic writer or artist, but he's pretty crap, and this series could have been fantastic all the way through if it had kept the original characters and tone. As it is, Batwing just looks like a disposable caricature of any other given Batman stories, with villains and hero arcs that are all style and no substance.
mash1138's review
4.0
This is a WEIRD book. The stories and characters are bizarre: a whole underground Gotham, mutated weirdo villains, vicious goat creatures (you heard me), and unresolved plot lines. However, for all this hot mess, I REALLY like Luke Fox and the Fox family dynamics. His story sadly feels incomplete, so I hope to read more Batwing adventures in the future.
lukeisthename34's review
4.0
Gosh. Really good at times, then really bad at others. A ton of storylines just dropped, a time-jump, I think? Plus you had this series start out with a great African hero and then he just leaves for seemingly no reason and is replaced with an American, who is a great character too, but now that's over I guess? Disappointing.
birdmanseven's review
2.0
Moving the setting from Africa was a big mistake. Ultimately we were too early in the "course correction" to see if this would have worked. I hope the character returns in a better book.
Find more on this in Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48xyGRiJjro&list=PLKuqjNEr0e3yLLG0RFwHef8QBVXxeOaJ5&index=20
Find more on this in Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48xyGRiJjro&list=PLKuqjNEr0e3yLLG0RFwHef8QBVXxeOaJ5&index=20
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