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Nov 15, 2017 Issue #62 - Julien Baker By Jeremy Nisen

Reading Batwoman is a bit of a frustrating experience, mostly because this mix of interesting ideas and gorgeous art leaves a lot of the potential on the cutting room floor. This is a collection that decidedly does not benefit from being a collection: first, the inclusion of the scatter-shot, time-jumping Batwoman: Rebirth issue, while fine on its own for what it was, does not serve the larger story. And the final chapter, which sets up the next storyline, is a far enough departure from what came before that rather than leave the reader wanting more, simply heightens the confusion and disjointed feel.

However—the content between these first and last chapters has what you should expect from the talented writing team of James Tynion IV and Marguerite Bennett: a dip into Kate Kane’s origins that furthers the current plot, emotionally resonant encounters with bad guys and allies, mysterious villains and plots that are intriguing, even if unanswered, and stakes that are personal to Batwoman.

This is the disadvantage of print collections—there is definitely enough good stuff here to save the volume, enough beautiful art by Steve Epting (and one stunning chapter done by Stephanie Hans, which works due to a change in character POV), and pretty good Bat-action. A slimmer, tighter volume containing just issues 1-5 of the proper Batwoman series would have been better, but we can still recommend this, especially to Bat-fans. (www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 6/10