Batwoman #1

I was really excited for Batwoman solely due to images I had seen of J.H.Williams' artwork on Detective Comics. I wasn't disappointed. I have to admit, however, I got a little confused. It could be because I am completely new to secondary DC characters and this book seems to be a continuation as opposed to a reboot. Another reason could be the layouts. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful. The problem I had was with the amount of 2-page spreads and different art styles and media being used on each single page. The first half of the book is easier to understand than the second, due to the lack of intermingled flashbacks and such. Once the backstory started being explained, I just lost my way.

I honestly can't tell if it was written well, because most of what I saw after the flashbacking started was non-sequential, albeit beautiful, artwork.

Since this is such an art-heavy book, let's look at a particularly gorgeous spread by the talented Mr. Williams. this happened near the beginning of the book, in the 2-pagers that weren't quite as confusing.

The motion that is captured in this sequence is exquisite. That's what really pulled me into the art. It's as if every shard of glass was mapped out and would fit perfectly as puzzle pieces into the broken window. As an artist myself, it's very clear to me just how much skill this artist brings to the table. I'm onboard for at least the first story arc, for the art alone, although I have heard that the art duties will be shared since co-writing and providing the art on such a detailed book would be too heavy a workload for Mr.(or Ms. I suppose) Williams to meet deadlines. It's understandable.

I give Batwoman #1 two ghostly pale, alternative heroines up and one scratching my head with a batarang in confusion to the side.