It’s hard to get invested in Batwing right now because I know that in the next couple months the series is getting new writers, a new artist, and there’s going to be a completely different Batwing with an all new mission in life. I have been enjoying Fabian and Fabrizio’s take on the character but it doesn’t seem like they’ve been given a fair chance. The first issue Fabian put out was solid but since then it’s felt more and more hurried.
Issue #18 in particular feels like it was heavily edited with many scenes only lasting 1-2 pages each as we rush to a finale that can set up the incoming creative team’s bold new direction. Some major things are happening in David’s world but it’s all so truncated that the events aren’t resonating the way that they should. He’s losing allies, his job, changing his armor, and I think he might just be changing his stance on the no-kill rule but it all happening too fast. It makes for a pretty exciting read but it doesn’t stick with me. The quick pace is also causing the artwork to suffer with some images being more crude than they perhaps should have been and a few pages needing a couple extra panels to make transitions between scenes flow better and action scenes to be more easily understood.
It doesn’t feel like I’m being told a story anymore. Instead it’s like I’m getting drastic plot developments lobbed at my head every other page. So really I think that anyone interested in this book should kind of be in a holding pattern at the moment waiting for things to settle down. I know that the incoming creative team has repeated that what’s to come isn’t a reboot… but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck– it’s a duck. There’s some really interesting things happening in Batwing right now and the story being told should be good. It has all the right ingredients after all, but it’s like we’ve skipped a few steps in the preparation and taken it out of the oven too soon.
So basically, if you’ve been reading Batwing from the beginning you should get this because some important things happen. If you haven’t, then skip it and wait for the new creative team.
SCORE: 6.5/10
