Reviews

Mother Panic, Volume 1: Work in Progress by Jody Houser, Tommy Lee Edwards, Shawn Crystal

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geekwayne's review against another edition

3.0

What do you get when you cross the line with Batman? Probably something like 'Mother Panic, Volume 1: Work in Progress' by Jody Houser with art by Tommy Lee Edwards and Shawn Crystal.

By day, Violet Paige is a cranky 'celebutante,' showing up at parties and showing diffidence to everyone. By night, she is Gotham City's newest vigilante, Mother Panic. She seeks revenge for things that happened in her past. When she was a child, her father died in a questionable incident. Her older brother was unable to care for their mother or his little sister. Mother was sent to a strange institution, and sister was sent to a cruel boarding school called Gather House. Her methods are darker than Batman and that puts her into conflict with Batman and Batwoman.

I've read a lot of dark takes on Batman. This one takes the premise of a modern celebrity and how they would handle things. In this case, kind of badly. I get that Violet is messed up, but it's hard to feel anything for her, to be honest. Maybe that will change in later issues. I wasn't as crazy about Tommy Lee Edwards art. When Shawn Crystal took over, I liked his approach a bit better. This collects issues 1-6 or Mother Panic from the DC Young Animal imprint.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

synthzar's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The story was pretty confusing, probably because the pacing was so fast. I really liked the initial art style, the midway switch in art styles was really jarring and made it even more difficult to keep up with the story. The concept sounded great but the execution was poor. It looked like the creators had really bold ideas but couldn’t really follow through.

killerklowns's review against another edition

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3.0

she’s sexy sorry guys

miamollekin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lvh's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

joshgauthier's review against another edition

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4.0

There are some really great elements here. And some notable flaws. The central premise and character are interesting as a kind of alternate look at Batman and the vigilante character. What if Batman had the time and resources to fight crime, but without the same support system or moral code? Delving into an anti-hero of this type in the midst of Gotham City has some great potential and yields some interesting results.

In conjunction with this story, "Mother Panic" is told in a fractured and sometimes jarring art style that takes a little adjusting to. However, once I adjusted, it accentuated the tone and story in a way that really started to work for me.

However, when the artist changed partway through, I found myself upset. The initial style works much better in my opinion and there was some merit lost in the change. Additionally, while the storytelling has some great points, it also has a number of moments when it falters. As a whole, I think this creative team tried to take some risks with the project. I like enough of what is going on here to have a continued interest in the series, but the sum total of volume 1 is rather a mixed result.