Batwoman: Elegy

NO SPOILERS REVIEW!!I just do not have words to describe this comic novel. I may need too much words to put forth my review about this book.. but then I do not want to spoil anything for the readers. So let me try....StoryAmazingly written and I am not surprised one bit getting such a brilliant story telling coming from none other than Greg Rucka and perfectly carried in the illustration by J.H. Williams III. More on the art later below.The story is completely captivating. It just absorbs the reader in for it has a huge number of WOW moments and of course the highly looked upon origin of Batwoman. No Batwoman is nothing like any others in the Bat family and definitely not an ordinary vigilante. She has perfect reasons and motives to serve as the Gotham's new protector.Rucka's attention to details is remarkable. There is an explanation to what the colors of her suit means, when, how and where does all her tech come from, whats the material her suit is made of, etc. Kate Kane is depicted so beautifully with her life swinging between her emotions, stress, career and issues relating to her sexuality that I gained instant respect and attachment to the character. Greg Rucka has not only presented certain things about our society but also passed on a fully modern moral take on it. I am very very happy that I picked this book up & I recommend this book to everybody out there, not just comic readers but also who never have ready any comic till date! This book is HUGE I tell you!!!Keep in mind that initially this story has some spinning that you may not fully get but read on and the revelations will take you by surprise I tell you!And oh by the way - This has one of the best Batman appearances ever - IMO.ArtI am spellbound by the painted art form of illustration used in this book. I have very rarely seen this kind of art (except for Batwoman New 52) where the panels are simply afloat and do not confine to any particular shape. There are pages where the entire spread is showing you some parts of the past while some small nearly bat shaped floating panels show events occurring in present - How cool is that! I do not have to tell you much as you might probably have already googled the images.Plus - There is a very cool introduction by in the beginning of the book by a non comic industry figure & super cool Batwoman/ Kate Kane art concepts at the last few pages followed by lovely variant cover gallery at the end!!Simply eye popping and I do not want to say more - just go and grab this book!!!!This book truly deserves 5 stars!!

After watching a video by one of my favorite youtubers discussing comics and this book, I had to buy it. I have always loved Kate Kane since started Batwoman 52 about a year ago, and was very excited to purchase this graphic novel. My expectations were very high, yet this book still managed to exceed them!Williams and Rucka are both extremely talented gentlemen. As the introduction points out, they really do convince you that these characters are real. You almost can't believe Kate isn't an actual human being, and you can really imagine meeting her in real life. I also was very (if not more) impressed with the artwork. The compositions are simply stunning, and completely original. I absolutely love how the scenes with Kate as Batwoman are illustrated with lots of detail and fluidity. It really has an eery watercolor effect, with great linework and color. This completely contrasts the scenes where Kate is either out on the town or in her home. Much more graphic, but still delightful. The costumes in this series are also amazing. Both Kate and her foe have some stunning outfits, and are very unique.Since I had already read Batwoman 52, I knew how everything that was going to go down. A lot of this book was her origin and was very interesting. And although I already knew what was going to happen, it still managed to make me cry. Don't think it won't be exciting or interesting just because you already know her origin, Williams and Rucka really pull you in and keep it very exciting.Kate Kane is definitely my comic book hero, and is truly an inspiration. If you are just getting into Batwoman or comics, this is a great place to start. Of course you may be disappointed when no other series can compare!What a shame Batwoman 52 is about to come to an end, this really is as good as it gets people, and I am very sad to see such a creative and talented team leave, but I do understand completely.I highly recommend this book to Kate Kane, DC and comic book fans everywhere!Enjoy!

Decided to dive into the DC Comics New 52 and in preparation for Batwoman #1, I decided to pick up this book as a recommendation to getting the full story on this relatively new character to the DC world. This comic renewed my faith in comic books as both great stories and great pieces of art! Greg Rucka crafts a great story here but the artist JH Williams III presents it to you. You get to know this character here in more ways than just a quick reference. Batwoman is given the desire to serve her fellow man as her motivation. She is given the demographic of a Jewish lesbian soldier with a solid family background which is something we don't see much in our universe of white dominated or scarred superheroes. Sure she lost her mother and twin sister as at a young age, but she isn't damaged here. She rises above and serves only to be disappointed by trust issues in her life. But Rucka and Williams make her a bold woman who just keeps going like a shark, surviving because its her instinct and not her desire to escape something. This is the 21st Century woman superhero. Panels of note for me were: 1) how they presented the apartment Batwoman's alter ego lived in, 2) a beautiful full page spread showing the fight on the plane between Batwoman and Alice, 3) a transition panel where Batwoman and Alice are shown on the phone to each other, 4) a touching series where Batwoman as a child and her twin sister realize they are moving because of military orders and their life will change and they swear to always be there for each other. If you want to take a chance on the DC Comics reboot, take a chance on Batwoman #1 and get this one to bring you up to speed, you won't be sorry. A great twist for any new reader wanting to test the graphic novel/comic book scene.

Disegni assolutamente SPETTACOLARI.

Elegy es una obra maestra.El arte tan detallado de Williams, en conjunto con la historia de Rucka, expresan a la perfección la esencia de Batwoman.Este ejemplar no puede faltar en la colección de todo amante de los cómics.

Es un cómic fantástico, batwoman es brutal su origen es me atrevo a decir mucho más interesante que el del propio Batman, la historia está muy bien estructurada dando lugar a la intriga y el final es un plot twist que te rompe queriendo saber más y el dibujo es exquisito.

"Elegy" can be considered a standalone book, so you don't need to know anything about Batwoman prior to this. I love this book and don't want to repeat the praise given by other reviewers, apart from again mentioning the gorgeous jaw-dropping artwork.*** Some notes about DC editorial control in Batwoman's storylines ***Other reviewers complain that the story has too many fantasy and supernatural elements, instead of a more realistic street-based plot. This story was not originally intended for publication in DC's flagship Detective Comics, where it eventually ended up, but was apparently meant to be a horror-style arc in either "Gotham Central" or "52", with the same editorial policy of "grimdark" storyline as for Gail Simone's New 52 run on Batgirl. This story was meant to carry on from the Religion of Crime arc in "52" where Batwoman was first introduced helping Renee Montoya. Greg Rucka wrote the Religion of Crime and Elegy arcs to appear as a single run in "Gotham Central", instead of how it ended up i.e. spread through four different comics as four short disjointed stories. So it looks to a new reader as if Batwoman keeps getting written with the same old Religion of Crime and related horror-fantasy storylines over and over again.Maybe a fortunate accident was that there were repeated delays by DC in allowing "Elegy" to go to print in "52", so JH Williams suggested to put this story in "Detective Comics" #854 to #863 in 2009 to fill in the gap created by Batman dying in the "Final Crisis" crossover storyline, and there were no Batman stories running for a bit. This luckily gave "Elegy" a much bigger readership than it would have had if it had been run in "Gotham Central" or "52". Batwoman therefore had a really strong start in "Elegy", but this groundwork was never exploited by DC in further developing Kate into the legend that she obviously should be.Grant Morrison loved "Elegy" so much that he wrote Batwoman into "Batman and Robin" #7 to #9 in 2010. She dominates these issues and is shown to be possibly a superior crimefighter than Batman (who is Dick Grayson at this point).Batwoman eventually got her own title comic but I don't think that any of the collected issues are worth reading unless you like supernatural plots, lesbian vampires etc. Eventually the creative team walked out in 2014 and the comic fizzled out soon after. I really hope that a good writer picks up Batwoman in the next round of DC's regular reboots, especially now since Batgirl has been rebooted by Babs Tarr et al. (see The Batgirl of Burnside 2014 run), to be much more lighthearted, so that Batwoman and Batgirl are no longer competing for gritty storylines.

Une très belle histoire de Rucka magistralement mis en dessin par Willimans III : découpage parfait de l'histoire et grande inventivité dans l'agencement des cases d'un style Art Nouveau. C'est doute le meilleur de Batwoman... et peut-être, un petit chef d'œuvre de DC Comics.