Batwing #21

The Good

This issue picks up right where the previous one ended, with Batwing battling the brutally vicious Lion-Mane. Without spoiling much, the battle between Batwing and Lion-Mane is basically a rehashing of the old comic book cliché, brain vs brawn.

We know Luke is an intellectually gifted young man, or at least we assume him to be, because of his educational background and the fact that he's the son of Lucius Fox. Lion-Mane on the other hand, from his other comic appearances, we know is a brutally powerful foe that likes to use his brawn to bombard his opponents with a series of vicious attacks.

During Luke’s encounter with Lion-Mane, his intellectual prowess is on full display. He consistently finds away to wiggle out of the paws of Lion-Mane and dodge his powerful blows. Luke fights and moves exactly how you would expect a Bat family character to fight. He uses some fun gadgets, throws some projectiles, tosses a few hay-makers, flexes his agility, and uses banter to throw off his opponent. But ultimately, he uses his smarts to out think Lion-Mane in a fun action packed battle, nicely illustrated by Eduardo Pansica and Julio Ferreira.

The writing wasn't that great over all but, during the battle with Lion-Mane there were some really fun and great action dialogue. We got a nice insight to Luke’s personality. There were a few instances, throughout the entire issue, were I had a good laugh at Luke’s banter. The scene with his love interest was written really well too.

The Bad

Although Eduardo Pansica and Julio Ferreira did an awesome job on the battle sequence, they kinda began to tank as the book proceeded. They didn't tank all the way but, the art became more and more inconsistent as you neared the end of the book. There were some weird facial expressions and Luke, for some reason, was drawn wearing the exact same clothes that he was illustrated wearing in the flash backs of the previous issue. Call it nitpicking if you want, but he is the son of a multimillionaire. I would like to think, that he could afford to buy some more clothes and/or that he would be drawn wearing different attire. There were sometimes when the art looked good and others… not so much. But overall the art was OK.

Like I aforementioned, the writing overall wasn't great. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray delivered some great action dialogue and banter but, there were a few instances where I became confused as to what was happening or who said what. There was one particular scene where Luke and his sister, Tam, were having a conversation and someone said something off panel. But when I looked to the next panel to see who was talking, it wasn't clear as to who had said it. This was a reoccurring problem that I had with the issue. In one panel Luke would have a conversation with someone and in the next; it would read as if he was having a completely different conversation with that same person. This made the book feel rushed, again. The previous issue had the same feeling but, I looked pasted it because it was the first full issue of a new creative team.

The Verdict

This is our second full issue of Batwing with Lucas Fox as the titular character and man is it a roller coaster. Inconsistencies on the art and some weird dialogue between the characters prevented this issue from being great. What starts out as a really fun and action packed book, becomes dull and kinda boring by its end. Palmoitti and Gray deliver some fun banter and character development but overall, the book feels rushed. The book ends with several cliffhangers, so hopefully, Palmoitti and Gray take their time with the upcoming issues to tie those up. What we ultimately get here, is some OK writing and nice action.

3.5/5 or 7/10