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Is It Good? Batwoman Annual #1 Review

Comic Books

Is It Good? Batwoman Annual #1 Review

Remember Batwoman #24?

You know, the final issue of J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman’s run that stopped smack dab in the middle of things and handed things over to a new creative team next issue? Guess what? Now we get to find out what happened in the form of this annual, written by current Batwoman writer, Marc Andreyko. It probably won’t be what the exact ending we would have seen under Williams III and Blackman, but hey, let’s see how it ends anyways. Is it good?

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Batwoman Annual #1 (DC Comics)


batwoman-annual-1-cover

It all ends here. The battle between Batwoman and the DEO, Batwoman and Batman, and more. Who will win and who will lose? What price will be paid?

Knowing that a lot of these characters haven’t been seen since Batwoman #24, I was assuming the worst or that things were going to end poorly for everyone. Without saying too much though, what does happen… I’m satisfied with. It’s not the dark ending I was expecting but the outcome is enjoyable and I hope to see some follow up in the future. From what I had heard about the original ending for this arc — things would have gone differently, but as is, this felt like a decent enough ending to the DEO storyline (despite it feeling rushed in a few parts).

batwoman-annual-1-batman-vs-batwoman
He did that to your ribcage even when you blocked the kick. Just imagine what will happen if he connects.

The writing by Andreyko in this issue was fine overall. The dialogue was decent; character moments were strong (especially the scene with Captain Sawyer and Detective Bullock); the story was paced well; and the structure and flow were good, with good balancing and interlacing of all the scenes. Outside of one character who is randomly introduced out of nowhere in order to make the story end a specific way (no build or anything, the guy just appears suddenly), the narrative is fine overall. There’s just not much to discuss here when you are trying to avoid major spoilers.

Happily, Trevor McCarthy comes back to draw the annual and help keep that feel of consistency from the original arc. His work has not dipped in quality at all; he delivers solid looking characters, creative page layouts, decent fight scenes, and memorable imagery. However, he is not the only person drawing the issue, as he is backed up by Moritat and this is where things go a bit south. Moritat is fine artist and I have enjoyed his work over on All-Star Western quite a bit, but his style does not remotely mesh with McCarthy’s style. Almost everything about their work looks different, even the scenery and inking. Sure, they might share the same colorist, but that’s still not enough to work. One of them should have drawn this issue alone or DC should have tried to get someone better to match McCarthy’s style if he couldn’t draw all of the issue.

batwoman-annual-1-blonde-grabbing
Whoa lady! Hands of the merchandise!

Is It Good?

Batwoman Annual #1 is a decent conclusion to the arc that was left unfinished back in October. It may not be what the original writers were intending considering what they hinted at, but what we got was still enjoyable to read. I do hope we do get to see follow up on some of this later on though.

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