As good of a comic as this was, the cover’s caption is overselling it a bit: “Allied with Thunder Fall…in what could be their Final Battle!” Yep, a bit much. I imagine the average comic-Joe reading that cover would have 3 points to make #1 Who is Batwing? #2 Who is Thunder Fall? #3 Isn’t this just the 3rd issue…pretty sure they’re gonna be okay.
My enjoyment of this book took a dip last month, but I’m back on board after issue #3 which, once again, is impeccably drawn and colored Ben Oliver and Brian Reber. Thankfully, Judd Winick kept up with his artists this time around and delivered an interesting story like we saw in issue #1 that actually progressed the plot and gave us some back story on our hero, David Zavimbe. Heck, we even learn a little more about the African Superfriends known as “The Kingdom” in this issue making this one a pretty integral chapter in Batwing’s story. So if you’re at all interested in this Batman Incorporated representative, this is a must-read. Especially for the book’s opening pages. Great stuff, that.
We also get a nice fight scene here, as advertised, but I’m getting a little annoyed at how Batwing handles Massacre. It’s like watching a horror movie where they knock out the psychopath and then run away leaving you to scream at your television “He’s going to get back up again! Take him out now!!! At least tie him up or something!!!” But Massacre is an alright villain so far. He’s that tank variety of villain that we don’t see too often in these parts. He’s more interesting than Detective Comic’s “Dollmaker” and so far he makes more sense than Batgirl’s “Mirror”.
Like I said, there’s some cool things here that I don’t want to delve into too much. I will say that if you skipped issue #2 then you didn’t miss anything. Basically everything that happened in #2 gets summed up nicely in David’s inner monologue. So in case you liked issue #1 and skipped #2, now is a good time to come back to this comic. They even brought up how David drugged his buddy Matu! Turns out Matu wakes up and he’s fine with it. Really? You’re breaking your back trying to save this guy’s life for weeks and all you said was “Man, just stay in bed a couple more days, you’re still bleeding internally.” And he shot you with a dart gun. Still, Matu calls up like a battered wife and says “I was in the wrong. I’m forever in your service.”
It’s also the 1st issue that hasn’t needed a cameo from Batman and I’m happy to say that David and company are able to hold this story on their own. Lastly, I’m gonna end this short review with a couple of spoilerific questions that would be fun to speculate on so if you haven’t read the book yet don’t read what I say next:
SPOILERS
Do you guys think that Massacre is David’s brother? And what do you think it was that The Kingdom did that deserves Massacre’s wrath?
SCORE: 7.5/10
