Comic Info
Comic Name: Batwing
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Marcus To/Ryan Winn/Dustin Nguyen/Derek Fridolfs/Le Beau Underwood/Richard Zajac
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2013
Batwing #8
Reprints Batwing #0, 7-12 (May 2012-November 2012). Batwing is searching for the killer of members of the African superhero team called the Kingdom, but finds himself pulled into a conflict in Gotham involving the Court of Owls. The kidnapping of a scientist leads Batwing and his allies in search of clues as to why…and conflict with Lord Battle.
Written by Judd Winick, Batwing Volume 2: In the Shadows of the Ancients is the second volume in the New 52 series following Batwing Volume 1: The Lost Kingdom. Batwing #9 (July 2012) was also included in Batman: Night of the Owls.
Batwing was an interesting New 52 addition in that he was truly “new”. The character had premiered in Batman, Inc. (briefly) but was generally unexplored. The first volume of the series was very Africa heavy since the character was based there, but this volume sees him with more interaction with the DC Universe out of North America which is commonly followed in comics.
Batwing #12
As a whole, the story isn’t very coherent. The collection has a couple of parts with the search for the Kingdom’s killer, Night of the Owls, the Lord Battle storyline, and an origin story. That is a lot to cover in minimal number of issues. In a sense it feels a little like an older style comic book which is more issue driven (and that is good), but for reading as a collection, it doesn’t have much flow.
The art also varies greatly throughout the collection. Some of it is very good and stylized, but other art is very average. It always worries me when a comic book has a ton of artists or writers because that generally means it isn’t a priority in the publisher’s line or that no one wants to illustrate it (and you get average illustrations). I kind of feel that Batwing had that distinction.
Batwing is unfortunately not the best series, but it does have its fun moments. It is nice to have a series that isn’t bogged down by a lot of history but with a character with enough background that it makes sense to have crossovers with the mainstream heroes. I wish that the series had utilized a few more “big” villains for its start, and Batman a little less. Batwing 2: In the Shadows of the Ancients is followed by Batwing 3: Enemy of the State.
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