Batwoman: Elegy


From the classy introduction by Rachel Maddow to the voluminous bonus features that end this book, it never ceases to amaze. I collected the Detective Comics issues as they came out, and I never could decide which I liked more - Rucka's story, pitting a more realistic and tragically complex Batwoman against a villian who is so twisted and dark - or is it Williams's psychadelic, uber-detailed, gorgeous artwork? The answer is actually simple: we're so lucky that they worked on this project together.
This collection will take you through Batwoman meeting a major villian in the form of Alice, the new High Priestess for the Religion of Crime, an organization Batwoman seeks to destroy since their previous leader tried to kill her (see52, Vol. 4). She discovers that maybe Alice is a little less crazy that she'd originally thought.
and, of course, Batwoman's "origin" story - what made her want to fight crime, vigilante-style? We learn Kate Kane's chilhood tragedy, personal drive, and unimpeachible integrity. And most of all, we learn that she is most certainly not simply a "female Batman." She definitely has her own style.
Included as bonus material are five beautifully drawn alternate covers, showing us other artists takes on Batwoman. The one by Alex Ross is amazing. Also we get to see a few story boards for important scenes, and early character sheets for Kate that show us her personal style, and a very informative rough of the batwoman costume, with handwritten notes on changes made to it since her debut in 52.
Overall, this book is so worth owning, even if you collected the monthly issues. If I could have made only one entertainment purchase for myself all year, it would have been this book.

1 comment:

ThE JaDaVErSE said...

I discover that one recently, it's a cool damn graphic novel!