After Massacre drove a blade through his chest, Batwing has taken two weeks to recover. Still wounded, he's decided to get out and hunt down the man responsible, but is he jumping the gun a little?
The Good
Once again, artist Ben Oliver delivers a gorgeous issue. Yes, there are some blank, very vague backgrounds in the comic, but it's obvious that Oliver spends a lot of time with the facial expressions of the characters, and the details of their faces. Personally, I would rather an artist with a strict deadline take greater care with the details of the book's characters, and spend less time on the background of the panel, but I know some people disagree. I think the decision not to ink the book only compliments the art and only helps draw attention to colorist Brian Reber's skill. The colors are matte and very complimentary to the pencils. Like the first issue, the pacing here is very good and the story is very easy to follow. The story is also very fluid, and picks up where the first issue left off. Overall, the story is okay, and while I do have a few issues with this issue, I did like it enough to want to keep reading.
The Bad
So I guess this is where I file the complaints, right? First off, the fact that there are several bloody decapitated bodies, people spitting blood after being brutally stabbed and bloody arms ripped from their sockets and are flying across a panel in a "T" rated comic is a little bit excessive. This is an incredibly violent comic book -- it may be more violent than the first issue in the series. Not only is the imagery very bloody and gory, but the dialogue is extremely violent too. In fact, it's excessively so. One scene which I felt was unnecessarily violent was when David (Batwing) uses a dart on Matu who was insisting he stay, rest and recover. Was it necessary to tranquilize the butler? I don't know...
Some scenes felt a little bit predictable, too. I felt like I knew what was going to happen before it happened. There is something to be said about having a solid formula that works when you write a superhero comic, but this felt too much so.
I also hope that this issue would clue us in (at least a little bit) into why Massacre is, well, going on a massacre.
The Verdict
New readers should pick up the first issue in the series before they venture into this one as it might be slightly confusing. I know a lot of people have no problem with violence in their books, and neither do I, but I did feel this one to be incredibly mature and that the content was pushing the envelope too far for what it was rated. That said, I still like Batwing and I think he is an interesting character and will probably read issue #3.