The Good

There's been some concern with what Batwoman's fate would be since her series is coming to an end. The big twist was getting turned into a vampire by Nocturna. We saw it happen at the end of issue #34 which was followed by the FUTURES END story set five years in the future. When 35 came around, We didn't get a clear follow up to 34 as the story jumped forward a little (to what will happen in the upcoming BATWOMAN ANNUAL #2). Even recently I had a conversation with someone about Batwoman and I said, "She's a vampire now...I think?"

This turn of events, which is finally fully explored here is an interesting one. Going back and re-reading issues Marc Andreyko wrote since this change is interesting as well. Then there's Kate's sister, Red Alice. I'm still a little on the fence with her new direction but I am definitely intrigued.

I'm a fan of Georges Jeanty's art and have been digging his run here. We get a great mix of talking/arguing scenes along with plenty of action to move the story forward. Guy Major's colors really adds to the vibe of the story and sets the tone as the events unfold.

I really dig that cover as well.

The Bad

You get a feeling that certain things are wrapping up since this is the final issue (besides the annual). It almost feels a little sudden how one part of the story concludes with still another to be resolved. To have a big story development that came up months ago not even concluded here (again, it's in the annual) is a little frustrating. But hopefully the annual will allow for more room to complete the story.

Not affecting the rating on this issue, it's a bummer we won't get to see more of where Batwoman seemed to be headed. I was really fascinated by the idea of her with this extremely odd team.

The Verdict

What's going on with Batwoman? We've seen some changes in the last few issues and we do get some answers in this final issues. It's unfortunate that this is the end, especially since not all plot lines have been resolved. But we will get that closure in the upcoming annual. Georges Jeanty's art and Guy Major's colors have been great. Hopefully we'll see plenty more of Batwoman after Convergence. This last arc showed us we could get different types of stories to add to Batwoman's character.

Sorry, but should there perhaps be a mention of Nocturna raping Kate for several issues being brushed off as "It wasn't rape because you secretly wanted it"?

@saren: Without having read this. Yes. Yes, there probably should.

Wow I'm surprised this book was allowed to come out. After the huge back lash of this story they wrap it up with blaming the victim for rape because she wanted it all along. When has comic book hypnosis ever worked like that?

Both the writer and editor should of been smarter but they weren't and they pushed away there audience by being stubborn.

not bad

4 stars? I haven't read this book for a while, but from what I've heard, it's been really really really bad...like Ann Nocenti levels of bad.

Nocturna is not a man, so it's brushed off, che.

I was just plain confused by all of this. I would have dropped this a few issues ago but it was on my pull list and I wanted to see where'd they take it. Now... The change from what this book originally was to this is just not to my liking. I don't like Alice's sudden cure, don't like what they did with the Nocturna storyline and I don't really like the new team she's got. I'll pick up the annual to finish it off but even if they were continuing it I think I'd drop it.

Whoah there! Things got kinda bad, they never got modern-day-Nocenti bad. There's a difference between bad and utterly incomprehensible ;)

But if I may be serious, while there was undoubtedly a notable drop in quality as Andreyko's run went on, it has a worse reputation than it deserves. Coming in right after the previous creative team very publicly and acrimoniously split with DC earned Andreyko a lot of undeserved flack. The book started hemorrhaging readers even though the new team's opening arc was actually really good. The only problem was that it just wasn't continuing what the last team had done.

Things started to get more dicey after that, because I'm guessing Andreyko or editorial felt there had to be a big shakeup to bring back reader interest. First they introduced vampirism and mind control, but oh man that particular plot just turned out more awkward than anything else. Then they tried to introduce a new team dynamic, but it did more harm than good. There was already plenty going on with Batwoman's supporting cast, and plenty more with Batwoman herself, so suddenly adding in 4 new characters and a new setting was just a very bad idea at this point.

Starting that last arc with an issue that was a purposely confusing departure from what the readers were expecting (in an attempt to make us go "OMG I need to read more to find out how we reached this point!!!") was a risky move, and ultimately it was probably the final nail in the coffin for the series. People wanted some sense of stability and a chance of revisiting the tone of the last run, and we basically got the total opposite of that. The dialogue and pacing were still fine throughout (again, things never got Nocenti levels of bad), but there were just too many story choices that shouldn't have been made.

I guess they really started to loose me with the Mr. Bones storyline. The ending to that was just horrible.

For the record I like what Ann Nocenti writes.

I think it is worth mentioning. I have no idea what they were thinking when writing this recent storyline. It's been very uncomfortable to read, and not handled at all well. In some ways I'm glad this series is about to end. Sad that it came to this though. :/