I finally picked a good time to get off my ass to cover what is traditionally called The Batman Family. It’s debatable when the term was exactly coined, various Internet sites can’t seem to give a definitive answer and since this is my site, I’ll go with the first time I heard the term…the Seventies. Back then DC Comics published a comic that focused on Robin & Batgirl’s adventures around Washington while they were going to college. I’m probably wrong on what it was about, I was a little kid and probably more into Marvel.
The term remains popular and unique because there isn’t any Superman Family anymore (blame John Byrne) and Marvel has “families” by default through its team books, aka X-something. For Batman, the current titles under this umbrella would be Nightwing, Batwoman, Batgirl, Catwoman, Red Hood & the Outlaws, Batwing and Birds of Prey. In a couple months Batman, Inc. will be joining as it replaces one of the first six books being axed after the 52 Reboot. Out of the seven available, I chose to just buy four for various reasons I will explain below. The other three didn’t appeal to me due to the writers, the characters and/or how some key element was “re-imagined.”
Catwoman: I’m going to start off in the order of ascending quality and at the bottom is Batman’s old foe/love interest. Thanks to Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, Catwoman continues to be stuck in the anti-hero rut. Making her an outright villain borders on impossible nowadays yet I hold out some hope there will be a clever writer who will succeed. Until that day arrives, Judd Winick has the job and he is my least favorite author at DC. Why? Winick’s run on The Outsiders sucked. All the heroes practically did was argue and hump. When Justice League (1986) focused on the inter-team bickering, DeMatties and Giffen took a humorous angle: to them the Justice League was a private club. Winick just made another version of MTV’s crappy The Real World or a superhero frat sans booze. It was no coincidence regarding my former reference; Winick starred in the reality series in the Nineties. Somehow the appearances boosted his career more undeservedly than Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra combined.
Obviously, I don’t care for the writer so why do I buy Catwoman? Somara expressed some initial interest and I scored it to encourage her to join me in my DC plunge. I’m awaiting her assessment before deciding if we’ll continue but Winick will always be on thin ice with me.
Right now Catwoman lacks a larger story line beyond Selina messing with various organized criminal elements of Gotham City, ripping off dirty cops and screwing Batman. Maybe DC can convince a better author to take over soon or have the courage to cancel this to make room in round three. Then Catwoman will jump to Birds of Prey to stay in the limelight.
Batgirl: Barbara Gordon returns! After 20-plus years in a wheelchair as Oracle, DC used the reboot opportunity to bring her back. Her paralysis still happened (the Joker shot her in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and it was made canon) but she recovered over a period of three years. My guess would be surgery and physical therapy. The downside, Batgirl sometimes worries or second-guesses herself, fearing she’ll be permanently paralyzed if she isn’t careful. This concern gets expressed by her key ally Batman.
I’m guilty of subscribing for two reasons:
- Batgirl has a writer I respect and applaud, Gail Simone. Not since Kim Yale has there been a female, superhero comic book author who has impressed me…since they are (unfairly) few and far between! I wish DC and Marvel would defer to women writers as often as possible with books starring female leads, otherwise, they frequently act like weird men. It’s the same reason why I don’t allow players in my D&D campaigns to be other genders; guy gamers are 100 times worse than Mark Gruenwald ever was.
- I developed a crush on the character through Yvonne Craig playing her TV while I was a kid (I graduated to Mrs. Peel on The Avengers). The actress played Batgirl so well, I think comic artists tend to her in the costume as their foundation.
Batgirl’s inaugural adventure is a straightforward battle to stop some villain seeking revenge on people who avoided horrible accidents/deaths while his family died in a car fire. Now Batgirl is dealing with her estranged mother coming back to Gotham City while fighting another revenge-driven killer.
It’s not Simone’s best work I will readily admit yet I think Batgirl will find her footing within the year. Besides, I’m curious about how the writer will make this character different from the other family members; Gotham has no shortage of people running around in batsuits, beating up mobsters.
Nightwing: His latest issue opened with fighting a goofy villain wearing an exo-suit (think Ripley in Aliens) in Austin! How often does the DC Universe visit my adopted home?! Never from my recollection. James Bond did in a novel and the Chuy’s in Round Rock has the excerpt posted.
Overall, the storytelling quality is on par with Batgirl so the character gets a positional boost due to my childhood bias; I was a bigger fan of Robin (Dick Grayson) than Batman and he was my favorite Mego doll (or action figure). Robin had a colorful outfit compared to my Spider-Man, Tarzan and Captain America, what wasn’t there to like!
Back to the nitty gritty concerning Nightwing…
With the reboot, Bruce Wayne is back as Batman and Dick Grayson can go back to being his own persona again. For those out of the loop, Bruce was believed to be dead and Dick wore the batsuit to keep Gotham’s criminal element scared. I guess mobsters never noticed how Batman shrank a few inches; these days Dick Grayson is 5′ 9″, Bruce is 6′ 2″ (or is he 6′ 1″?). Anyway, Nightwing has returned and he’s yet another vigilante running around GC kicking criminal ass instead of leading a team of bickering-humping aliens, cyborgs and meta-humans (see Judd Winick’s awful run of The Outsiders). This is short lived when Haly’s Circus comes to town. Dick is always happy to see his parents’ former employer and “family.” He drops by, reminisces and does some imperfect trapeze moves on purpose, gotta’ protect his secret identity. Then the circus owner Mr. Haly is murdered by Saiko, a professional assassin Nightwing tangled with earlier. Before the investigation moves any further, Dick discovers that Mr. Haly willed the circus to him much to the other performers’ consternation. Since Bruce made him independently wealthy years ago, he decides to go on tour with Haly’s circus to prove the opposition wrong. Dick thinks this will draw Saiko out too. Unfortunately, the hero has become emotionally involved with a woman he had a crush on before his parents were murdered.
Much like Batgirl, there isn’t anything happening to get excited about. It’s rather routine superhero stuff. Nightwing popping up in Austin gave it a little more mileage for me. Too bad the artist made downtown resemble San Antonio’s Riverwalk in a few panels.
Batwoman: This title has been the strongest of the quartet in terms of storytelling and artwork. The novelty over her being a lesbian is old news for me plus I don’t find it terribly relevant. Betty Kane’s sexual persuasion does give her a plausible backstory until the days of DADT become “ancient” history like inter-racial marriages or divorce did a generation ago.
Of all members of the Batman Family, Batwoman is the most compromised and probably the weakest link in Batman’s loose organization. Betty’s father remains an active member of the US military so shady covert groups are trying to prove the connection between them (they have a hunch). Through Batwoman they figure they can discover Batman’s identity and neutralize the Dark Knight.
Meanwhile, Batwoman’s opening conflict is more of a supernatural foe which is a slight departure; most opponents are rarely metas. What made it work was the art. DC went with somebody who doesn’t follow the style the previous books have. For me it has a slight Mucha/Adam Hughes look and amplifies the horror element to the Weeping Woman who is drowning children in Gotham’s Hispanic neighborhood. I am puzzled over Betty’s skin being porcelain while everybody is darker. Hopefully it isn’t some kind of stereotype thing as her glaring back tattoo is…I could see Batman chewing Batwoman out on this, never have identifying marks on your body for enemies to remember. Still, of all the Batman Family titles, I recommend this the most due to it being the most adult-oriented, which means it’s for more intelligent readers, not pervs.
Next up with DC, the more Horrific-themed titles in the reboot.
