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unladylike's review
2.0
I was going to give this one star but a few things in the last couple issues kept my interest.
So the Batwing title has, up until now, been all about the Batman of the Congo (and sometimes other countries in Africa). The character, David Zavimbe, was great, and his allies and enemies were compelling and fitting. The biggest conflicting aspect of David Zavimbe that sets him apart from anyone else accepted into the broader Bat Family is that he was forced to be a soldier as a boy, and killed lots and lots of people (which we don't see too graphically but it's alluded to). The impact on his psyche, and that of his friends who were similarly orphaned, tortured, forced into cruel situations for survival, etc., are very real and powerful, serious issues. The fallout, and his fight against the corruption within his police ranks and the complexities of power shifts throughout Africa were key to making Batwing such a good comic.
...
So when I got halfway through the first issue in this book and saw the direction new writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (?) were taking the Batwing mantle, I was rather furious. I can only imagine something like this playing out in the DC offices:
DC Editors: This African Batman thing really isn't selling. We have a theory that people who buy comics just don't care about diversity, and can't relate to a vigilante in a country other than America.
Jimmy Palmiotti: Hey guys, you just need to realize that our readers aren't that intelligent either, and we need to take every comic book back to the days of corny one-liners, lengthy exposition, and villains whose sole purpose is killing and world domination, and to give the artists something cool to draw.
I don't know for sure if that's what happened, but Palmiotti made Zavimbe quit and Batman immediately makes Luke Fox (son of Lucius Fox) the new Batwing. The Congo connection is only by indirect coincidence from there on out, as it would make little sense to have an African American city boy go play superhero in a place he knows nothing about (Luke's specialties are MMA fighting and, of course, designing super futuristic techie things, like 75% of Batman's sidekicks/partners, not political science). At one point, Batman has Luke down to the Bat Cave and tells him, "I want you in Africa." Luke replies, "Why, because I'm the black one?" and Batman just grins and says "Funny." That's it. Literally, Luke is asking a question that deserves to be asked, but Palmiotti doesn't take things seriously, so he dismisses it as quickly as possible, and then throws Batwing into some of the most played-out, cliche, pointless scenarios against inept-but-powerful villains.
So I blame the writer(s) mostly, and the editors or whoever makes these calls, for fucking up a previously great book that Judd Winick was doing. Also, whoever is illustrating this thing now doesn't seem to know how certain rather important things look. Specifically, Luke Fox is an MMA fighter, but when he's shown throwing a powerful punch, he always leans forward and kicks back his opposite leg up in the air, like a yoga pose, or someone who can't fly imitating how Superman flies. I'm not an expert on fighting techniques, but I think I've watched and learned enough to know that balance and keeping your legs grounded is super important, so this leg lift thing looks ridiculous and is just one more reason to hate this comic now.
Aaaaand now I'm going to read Volume 5 because it's the last one and I had to get my library to have them all shipped from other libraries around the country because this book apparently sold so poorly that even Denver Public Library's massive comic collection doesn't have any of them.
So the Batwing title has, up until now, been all about the Batman of the Congo (and sometimes other countries in Africa). The character, David Zavimbe, was great, and his allies and enemies were compelling and fitting. The biggest conflicting aspect of David Zavimbe that sets him apart from anyone else accepted into the broader Bat Family is that he was forced to be a soldier as a boy, and killed lots and lots of people (which we don't see too graphically but it's alluded to). The impact on his psyche, and that of his friends who were similarly orphaned, tortured, forced into cruel situations for survival, etc., are very real and powerful, serious issues. The fallout, and his fight against the corruption within his police ranks and the complexities of power shifts throughout Africa were key to making Batwing such a good comic.
...
So when I got halfway through the first issue in this book and saw the direction new writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (?) were taking the Batwing mantle, I was rather furious. I can only imagine something like this playing out in the DC offices:
DC Editors: This African Batman thing really isn't selling. We have a theory that people who buy comics just don't care about diversity, and can't relate to a vigilante in a country other than America.
Jimmy Palmiotti: Hey guys, you just need to realize that our readers aren't that intelligent either, and we need to take every comic book back to the days of corny one-liners, lengthy exposition, and villains whose sole purpose is killing and world domination, and to give the artists something cool to draw.
I don't know for sure if that's what happened, but Palmiotti made Zavimbe quit and Batman immediately makes Luke Fox (son of Lucius Fox) the new Batwing. The Congo connection is only by indirect coincidence from there on out, as it would make little sense to have an African American city boy go play superhero in a place he knows nothing about (Luke's specialties are MMA fighting and, of course, designing super futuristic techie things, like 75% of Batman's sidekicks/partners, not political science). At one point, Batman has Luke down to the Bat Cave and tells him, "I want you in Africa." Luke replies, "Why, because I'm the black one?" and Batman just grins and says "Funny." That's it. Literally, Luke is asking a question that deserves to be asked, but Palmiotti doesn't take things seriously, so he dismisses it as quickly as possible, and then throws Batwing into some of the most played-out, cliche, pointless scenarios against inept-but-powerful villains.
So I blame the writer(s) mostly, and the editors or whoever makes these calls, for fucking up a previously great book that Judd Winick was doing. Also, whoever is illustrating this thing now doesn't seem to know how certain rather important things look. Specifically, Luke Fox is an MMA fighter, but when he's shown throwing a powerful punch, he always leans forward and kicks back his opposite leg up in the air, like a yoga pose, or someone who can't fly imitating how Superman flies. I'm not an expert on fighting techniques, but I think I've watched and learned enough to know that balance and keeping your legs grounded is super important, so this leg lift thing looks ridiculous and is just one more reason to hate this comic now.
Aaaaand now I'm going to read Volume 5 because it's the last one and I had to get my library to have them all shipped from other libraries around the country because this book apparently sold so poorly that even Denver Public Library's massive comic collection doesn't have any of them.
birdmanseven's review
3.0
The volume in which we swap main characters. Hopefully the writers invest more in Luke Fox than they did in his predecessor. I'll stick it out and see how things go. I do like the concept and setting.
We discussed Batwing this week on Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZviqbBPOo
We discussed Batwing this week on Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZviqbBPOo
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