Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The New 52 Review: BATWING #1

BATWING #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Judd Winick
ARTIST: Ben Oliver
COLORIST: Brian Reber
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
32pp, Color, $2.99

Batwing is the Batman of Africa. Created by Grant Morrison and designed by Chris Burnham, the character first appeared in Batman Incorporated. As part of DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero line, Batwing is officially a title character.

Batwing #1 (“The Cradle of Civilization”) follows David Zamvimbi A.K.A. Batwing, an officer with the Tinasha Police Department. Zamvimbi is investigating a series of brutal murders connected to the drug trade in Tinasha. At the same time, Batwing meets his match in a machete-wielding, masked villain called Massacre who kills at will.

I saw preview art for Batwing by series artist Ben Oliver that was released during Comic-Con International, and it looked glorious in black and white. Now, as presented in the actual comic book, Oliver’s art has been defaced by Brian Reber’s horrid coloring, which looks like a slush of watercolors and color markers. This ghastly coloring job only emphasizes how vague the background details are; in fact, Oliver draws little and sometimes nothing in the background.

Judd Winick’s feeble storytelling matches the vague art. Hiring a Black man or woman or African to write this comic book wouldn’t kill DC… or would it? An African-American or African would bring a fresh perspective to this book, which really needs one. Under Winick, Batwing, even if it mildly entertains, will probably end up being just more Bat-guano.

C

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
ACTION COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/action-comics-1.html
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html
HAWK AND DOVE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/hawk-dove-1.html
STORMWATCH #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/stormwatch-1.html

No comments:

Post a Comment