Rucka, Greg, and J.H. Williams III - Elegy

[oyceter]

In which I make my yearly foray into superhero comics, usually Batverse.

I heard about this arc as an origin story for a new version of Batwoman, in which Kate Kane is discharged from the Marines for refusing to say she's not gay. In Elegy, we get her flashback origin story, in which she dons the cape and mantle as a new way to serve and protect, along with the story of how she encounters the new leader of the Religion of Crime.

The art is gorgeous: I especially love the bright reds and deep blacks when Kate is Batwoman. There are some small takes on the superhero outfit that may or may not be new—I don't read very many of them—and I especially loved the wig. I also like how the color palette shifts to warm, golden tones when Kate is out of costume. Although her body shape is the usual female superhero curvy when she's in the Batwoman uniform, all hourglass waist and round hips and large breasts, when she's out of costume, she looks much blockier, with broad shoulders that she tends to emphasize with suit jackets and the like.

I felt as though her sexual orientation was organic to the story; the emphasis is actually more on her Marine background and how "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" influences her to get on the superhero path. Also, teeny cameo of Lt. Dan Choi!

I rolled my eyes a little at the backstory for the villain, but people who like superhero comic tropes may enjoy it. It's definitely no different from all the Angsty Backstories I so adore in manga.

I also love Kate's relationship with her father, though I wish a little that her story wasn't one more to add to the Dead or Missing Mother pile.

Overall, a good, fast read, but I'm still sticking with my "only reading superhero comics via giant compilations" resolution.

ETA: Non-spoiler text Batverse spoilers in the comments! (Please feel free to spoil me since I am never caught up and probably never will be.)

Comments

[salinea]

One of the series that recently convinced to interest myself to comics. Sooooooooooo pretty. *_*

[oyceter]

It is super pretty!! How have you found the foray into comics? I always want to try, and sometimes do (last summer it was catching up on Catwoman), but then I try to catch up on canon via Wiki and my brain leaks out of my ears.

[salinea]

So far so good (i regularly post on my journal about it, btw) as usual, the Sturgeon's Law is in full effect so there's always some hit and some misses. I don't mind most of the silly aspects too much though I've read more relatively gritty / down to earth stuff than outrageously over the top stuff though.

Catwoman's run by Brubaker is also among the things I've read - and one of the my favourite (at least the first 25 issues before the art style shift).

I don't try catching up canon on wiki, because, yeaaaaah brain leaking effect. I just get myself recced stuff by a set of friends/acquaintances on a forum and on my journal (plus occasionnal spontaneous foray caused by things seen on scans_daily ^^)

[oyceter]

Oh cool, I will check out the posts, thanks!

I think I read Selina's Big Heist, which has similar art to the Brubaker run, but I should check out War Games...

[salinea]

War Games? No, no you shouldn't check that I think XD It's not supposed to be good.

[oyceter]

Haha, ok, never mind that then ;). (As you can tell, I really do only drop into superhero comics once a year for a few days or so.)

[jesuswasbatman]

Yeah, War Games is the one that was so infamous in its abuse of all the female characters (as in both "tortured to death in a sexualised way on panel by a character who got away with it scot free" and "turned into a moral monster just to be DARQUE") that they had to retcon everything in it only a couple of years later.

[oyceter]

Okay, EW, definitely avoiding that!

[jesuswasbatman]

Although some good did come out of it, as it was the astonishing misogyny of that particular storyline that directly provoked the founding of the Girl Wonder online feminist superhero comics fan collective, as well as contributing to the general feminist upsurge in superhero comics online fandom.

[crossedwires]

That was one of the few DC books I have read! <3

[oyceter]

Hee, me too!!

[jinian]

Ooh, I should check this out. My DC reading is mostly centered on Renee Montoya, but this is a worthy addition to the lesbian interest file!

[oyceter]

Ooooo what should I read on Renee Montoya? I really like her! (Also, she has a brief cameo in this one!)

[jesuswasbatman]

She's broadly been a Rucka-written character in the comicsverse: first Gotham Central, which is a gritty cop show in the DC universe, primarily about Gotham's non-super cops and what it's like for them to have to deal with supervillains and get overshadowed by vigilantes. Then after she becomes the Question there have been three collections so far: Five Books of Blood, Final Crisis: Revelations (warning, part of a megacrossover, so some elements of the plot may need some online research to understand what's going on), and most recently Pipeline, which collects a serial story that was published as a second story in the issues of Detective Comics that contained the Rucka Batwoman story in this book.

I like all Rucka's comics that I've read so far.

[jesuswasbatman]

Also Final Crisis: Revelations has some art of Renee that I personally considered more than a bit demeaning: a non-powered vigilante character should not be running around wearing nothing whatsoever between her hip line and somewhere about a millimetre below her breasts.

[jinian]

Revelations was just plain weird.

[oyceter]

Argh, even Renee Montoya is now a vigilante?! (I don't actually care about superhero comics spoilers, since I never follow them.) I think I'll check out Gotham Central first, unless one of the Question ones have a lot of backstory?

[jesuswasbatman]

Sorry, I thought that was established in "Elegy"?

[oyceter]

Aha, it probably was! I am SO BAD at Batverse continuity. Seriously, though, I am fine with spoilers for this universe since it makes my head spin to keep up with any of it.

[jesuswasbatman]

The three Montoya-as-Question books I mentioned are pretty continuity-heavy but mostly in a self-contained way - you won't need very much other DC stuff, but they definitely need to be read in the order mentioned.

[oyceter]

Cool, thanks for the info!

[jinian]

Sorry, yes. She has her reasons, though. Gotham Central and then 52 (in which she meets the Question; lots of plot threads you won't care much about, though) will get you there. (Otherwise I endorse the suggestions above.)

[salinea]

Gotham Central is still the very best of all comics I've read so far; I can't rec it enough.

I didn't find 52 very good (and it causes much brain leakage to me) but it does feature Renée's metamorphose into the new Question and for that I have to give it credit.

Five Books of Blood is pretty good. Final crisis Revelation is decent enough (I didn't read anything else of the crossover and wasn't too confused); Pipeline (aka the backup from Elegy when it was running on Tec) is also pretty good.