There are other aspects to her origin that I don't want to spoil. The origin of Batwoman is an intriguing one, getting ejected from West Point for being gay and meandering through life until a chance encounter with Batman sent her down the superhero path. In this volume, the story of Kate Kane becoming Batwoman is revealed, along with a battle with the new leader of the Religion of Crime and a serial mutilator known as The Cutter. I don't know what made me pick this up but I'm glad I did. Up until now, my only exposure to Batwoman was in 52 when she went up against the Church of Crime and got stabbed through the heart. Also the villain Alice and who she is, is so sad and yeah makes you root for Kate even more and I love how she gets a sidekick in Flamebird too, I freaking love the origins of that character too and going into new 52, it should be a great read!īatwoman by Greg Rucka and JH Williams collects the Batwoman stories from Detective Comics #854-863. One of the best modern superhero origins plus the art of JHW is so good, omg every page is a poster and I just love it. We get to see the origins of Kate Kane and the tragic things in her life that made her this way and I love the lesbian angle here and how it informs her character and how she won't apologize for it and then meeting Renee and ultimately Batman and getting inspired by him to take up the cowl and cape and the tragic thing with her sister was sad and also in the present fighting against Religion of crime and those fabled monsters were amazing and just makes you love that character and that short story showing how she and Batman rescue hostages was so awesome and gives a contrast between the two cousins really well! After seeing Batman in action, she's once again inspired on how to help people. All she's wanted to do is protect people by serving her country like her father and is lost for a long time once she's separated from the military. She's asked to follow the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy but refuses to lie because that is also part of the Army creed. Kate is the top cadet in her class at West Point when she's brought up on charges for being gay. The latter part of the story tells of Batwoman's origin and I have to say it's one of the better ones in modern comics. She's nuts and only speaks in dialogue from Lewis Carroll books.

Spinning out of 52, the Religion of Crime is back with a new leader, Alice. I could just sit and look at these pages again and again without even reading the story.

Williams has an incredible sense of design and makes each panel a work of art. I liked it quite a bit even if it doesn't really expand Batwoman's story. It's a standalone story told in parallel with Batman and Batwoman both searching for missing women. Expands on Batwoman: Elegy by giving us an additional 3 issues drawn by Jock that apparently haven't been collected before.

Batwoman by Greg Rucka