Detective Comics #854

My most anticipated of the new Batman books. LOOK AT THAT COVER!

2 Rucka-written books in one book!  I'm EXCITED!!!  It's about time they did something with Batwoman.

Agreed THIS is the bat book I've been waiting for.  I think it's Josh's pick and i can see him making this the POW.

The Batman books are stellar right now: Batman and Robin, Batman, Red Robin, Streets of Gotham; and I highly doubt that this will dissapoint.

I wasn't going to pick this up at first, but look at it!!!  I must!!  Plus we get The Question backups!  Good stuff.

I've never liked (or disliked) the character, but I've gotta check out at least the first issue because of the artwork.

i am trying this based on JH Williams art alone...  i'm only mildly interested in Batwoman and The Question...  Rucka doesn't do much for me...  i'm afraid the entire package won't be worth $4, but i'm willing to give it a shot...

Maybe...

I wonder if anyone would buy one of these books for the co-feature alone.

Glad I don't have to worry about that. But if I were to do such a thing it would be for Rucka writing the Question.

yep. i'm way more excited for this than Batman and robin. WAY MORE

Why Batwoman?

Why not a Question Detective comic at 2.99?

Rucka and JHW 3 on the Question would be wicked awesome!

Why not?

Excellent creators on this title, gonna give this a try.

@edward-WAY WAY MORE?

Excited for this. I think this book will feature the most crossover between co-feature and lead story. Like Elongated Man in the Flash days. Can't wait.

@drake: let's not go crazy

Oh, man, I hadn't realized it was a co-feature with the Question. Now I have to get it.

Rucka's return to Detective Comics! I'm soooooo excited about this. Between this and Robinson back writing DC comics its like I'm fifteen again. :)

I didn't know Rucka was writing the back-up! Awesome balls of fire just shot out of asshole!

I really like the idea of co-features, the Manhunter one in Streets of Gotham was pretty nice. I'm excited for the direction of Detective with Batwoman in the lead.

@wade: who's?

So is the main Batwoman story going to be shorter in pages because of the addition of the co-feature? Or is the main story going to be a normal number of pages with the question title added onto that?

@gamboa1047 - The impression I got from JM DeMatteis (he talked about his Doom Patrol/Metal Men book on Word Balloon a while back) was that the co-features will be equal in length, like 15 pages each.

@gamboa1047 - 2nd Question and answer on this page. http://comics.ign.com/articles/994/994084p3.html 

@gamboa1047 As far as I can tell, based off of Streets of Gotham, you're getting a normal 22 page main story and an 8 page co-feature. It could be different for the Rucka book, or for DeMatties, but that's how the other co-feature books has been.

I was a bit unclear. In an interview with IGN, Rucka addresses the issue of the two stories and their respective page counts. If you check out the 2nd Question and answer on this page: http://comics.ign.com/articles/994/994084p3.html.

I've been waiting for this since 52 ended!  It's about time, DC!

I'm not even super excited about this.  I never read 52 so I could careless about Batwoman and I have no idea who the Question is!  It seems like it is just on my pull list because it says Detective on it and it's all supposed to be part of the whole new status quo in the Bat-books.

I guess I'll just have to check it out after I read Gotham City Sirens twice?  I'm gonna read it before I jump ship and read ASM or Xmen 4ever though!

Booster Gold was 20 pages and Blue Beetle was 10...

Co-featurs is the best reason to pay an extra dollar I've seen so far.  I am uninvolved with Batwoman.  The Question, however?  Yeah, I'm here for that. 

Yes.

This the my most anticipated book of the entire year. For all those on the fence, I urge you to check this out. When is the last time Greg Rucka has disappointed you? How about JH Williams or Cully Hamner? I couldn't imagine being a Bat fan and not checking this out. 

Can't wait, obviously. Really glad to see a high number of pulls on this as well, even though there's no Batman.

:D

The art in this book is just amazing and I'm sure Greg Rucka has a great story in store for us. I can't wait for this book.

 I'm loving the co features, It's great for a new reader like me to get to read some of these characters.

 Well done DC. 

24 pages of Batwoman and 8 of The Question...

the JH Williams art is awesome...  story is ok...  nothing about the co-feature interested me...
i'd probably continue if it was just Batwoman at $2.99, but as it is i will have to pass... 

This was fantastic. 

Can't wait to pick this up tonight...

Awesome Art!! w0w, just great to look at and the story is good. I dont know much about the new bat woman. But w0w this is a pretty looking book!

This is the first book I've read drawn by J.H. Williams III and I am blown away! That was the Bees Knees! What else has he drawn? Cuz I want more.  I could've bought the variant cover for $5.99 but I think the regular one is perfect.

he did a 3 issue arc of Batman with Grant Morrison...  Alan Moore's Promethea...  the bookend issues of Seven Soldiers... 

Awesome, awesome issue. That two page Spread of Batwoman in action? Brilliant. 5/5 POTW. The Question back-up wasn't the greatest, it seems suspciouslly similar to one of the Mahunter storylines from a year or so ago, but hey, I'm in.

On a somewhat related note: I'm taking a Gender & Education class to finish off my masters and wrote a paper on Manga depicting women in strong positive light. I think I'm going to bring this issue in as a fun example for my presentation. Here's a long running comic book (one of the) and it's featuring not only two women as the feature stories, but both are lesbians, one Jewish and one Latino. This is really interesting stuff to examine about today's comics industry.

Ok.  Somebody needs to help me figure out what the hell is going on in this issue.  I understand it at face value, but have no previous knowledge.  What do I need to read to get up to speed on Kane's story?  Please just provide the arc, or whatever, that explains what the hell happened to her before that has her father so concerned...

@Vadamowens Realistically? 52 & The Question: Five Lessons of Blood. 

I'm not gonna read all of 52.  Does anyone remember the exact issues?  I'll check out 'The Question".  Thanks

@vadamowens I'm mean, it's been two years, but if I'm not mistaken Batwoman didn't show up until about issue 13-20. And then made some sporadic appearances between then. She became more important at the end of the book. 

I would have to agree the art style on this issue is better then Gotham City Sirens.  However, I like Dini's work on Sirens a bit more mainly because you do need to have some context (52) to really understand whats going on in this issue.

@praxjarvin Sweet. You've been very helpful. Thanks!

@vadamowens Glad to be of help! I lied a bit, Batwoman first appears in 52 #11. Here's a good check list: http://offpanel.net/batwoman/

Wow art and design on this is SICK

I came away from this with the exact same thought as Batman & Robin: "Damn... that sure was pretty."
This time even more so.

Wow.

Full review coming soon, but needless to say...5/5.

I liked it. I'm not a fan of the Batman world unless done like this was. I like the Kate character, she's into music and stuff...

Beautiful and boring.

The "second feature" was just plain boring.

I want my 4$ back or give it all to J.H. cause he kicked ass like always. I love him, but not enough to keep buying this... thing?????

I passed on this I think I have seen enough of Greg Rucka writing yet another strong female character.  The artwork does look out of this world and may force me to pick it up Friday or next Wednesday

@0and18: I'm curious - do you get tired of people writing strong male characters?

@0and18 That sounds delightfully chauvinistic

Should I pick this up if a) I haven't read any Detective comics or Batman whatsoever, b) I basically just he died somehow  and c) that'd be my first DC title, with the exception of the two-part "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" and Alex Ross' Justice ?!?!

Because the art just looks fantastic. Everything looks great in there.

@tittom I honestly think any comic lover would like this book.  It's just all around fun.

@tittom: I'm not versed in Batman and I enjoyed this a great deal. It stands on it's own.

@Conor and Vada:  I didn't think the comment sounded real sexist, didn't mean for it to be.  What i bugs me about Rucka is it seems every book he is on has this same cookie cutter type of "strong female character" that is lifted from one of his book's and dumped into the next book.  Amanda Waller from checkmate wasn't one of his female clone leads.  She wasn't white, young and sexy.  I loved her, and that book,  she was an awesome and different and super strong female character.  O and Conor I hate strong male characters but am also a Sadomasochist so i buy lots of Superhero books.

Kate needs to get some sun!

 Seriously, though, this book is gorgeous. I've never been able to stick around very long on Bat books for some reason, but I'll be making an effort with this one.

Wow! I had high hopes for this book & it lived up to them & more. The art blew my face off, it's unbelievable! Rucka killed it, too -- as per usual. 5/5 for me.

Ok, thanks guys!

@0and18
Amanda Waller wasn't the main character of Checkmate, though. Fact is, the character on the cover generally has to be appealing. Cuts both ways, male and female; not many mainstream readers would be interested in a book with a guy whose gut is showing why spandex is such a hard look to pull off. So if pretty ladies is a necessary evil (one that I'm not gonna complain about) why not also make said ladies strong characters?
Personally, even if he was making clone/strong female leads (which he's not, there are similarities between Question and Batwoman because they have a past together, but um... Question is only 2/3 of your "white, young and sexy" equation, seeing as how she's Dominican (yes, I had to look it up) also, she tends to lean more "attractive" than "sexy"... there's a difference). The more the better, no?

This touches on something that happened to me a few days ago. I was talking to a friend (well, "dude I grew up with who I don't frankly like" kinda friend) He's been reading comics longer than me, but I've read more recent stuff. We were talking about something DC related and Wonder Woman came up when he mentioned that he hated her (which he does a lot of characters). I questioned why. Basically what it came down to was that she was made more powerful in some of the newer material he'd read, saying 'they' made her as powerful as Superman (I dunno which books or when this was, I think he might just mean in general). I, ever the inquisitor, asked what was wrong with that. He scoffed. I knew to drop the conversation and wallow in my sense of smug, intellectual superiority.
With more strong female characters (not necessarily in terms of physical power) idiotfriend would have grown into a comics world where it's not implausible that a female character could match his beloved Superman (he likes Supes for all the wrong reasons, I'd surmise) in an arm wrestling contest.

@capl:  Naw she was a main character you cannot tell me she didn't have a huge sweeping effect on that run of Checkmate.  For the question i can counter days and days of Queen and Country and the Whiteout books but that isn't the point.  I didn't read the book and it is a first issue she could be vastly different then I think, she is gay and has red hair so that is way out of the general percentage of people.  I do plan on picking it up and maybe I will be all wrong.

Just the vibe I get from the general description of the book.  I never much liked the character of Superman for the same cookie cutter reason.  That is why i like, same guy writing here, Rucka's Superman run where we see a new Superman insight. 

If anyone was the main character of CHECKMATE, it was Mr. Terrific. Definitely not Waller, she was almost the antagonist.

The whole reason Greg Rucka focuses on strong female leads - and he told us this in our interview with him at Emrald City Con last year - is for the very reason captbastard stated: There just aren't enough of them in comics. And it's a good thing that he's trying to change that.

Hey I said I was going to buy it and read it!  Maybe I will love it.  Who says an antagonist cannot be a lead character. Also it was a team book and Mr. Terrific was spotlighted a great deal.   I should have never said "Strong female lead"  I was more leery of seeing the same female lead type.  And in all honest maybe the heart of my venom was i really like  Cassandra Cain and wish she was in this and that she could never have learned to speak and read.  All aside

Also Conor that is interesting about the Rucka interview I will check that out this weekend, between  thinking of ways to retract suffrage and gloating that that Hillary Clinton lost.

@Conor it was definitely Mr. Terrific's vehicle for the most part. And of course that of Sasha Boredouex. However, the best part of Checkmate was the truly international feeling to the book. Waller was there, essentially, so that there was some conflict within the organization. Like when they make Magneto an X-Man every 10 years.

@0and18 I understand your point about wanting Cassandra Cain in the book. I never much liked the character, but understand her appeal. However, DC more or less backed themselves into a corner with this. They promised a Batwoman series two years ago when She first appeared. This was just the logical time. And they put her in a "generic" title book, so that if she disappears in 6 months (unlikely) it's not weird. As well, as I stated above, it's pretty ballsy of DC to put two women in its longest running title.

Maybe the best single book this year?!?!!!

@Dietz82 - I might have to agree with that.

Can someone explain what "Elegy Agitato" means?

@ 0and18
Hmm, I forgot about the creator owned work (Whiteout and Queen and Country), so I'm willing to see your point about how often Rucka writes (buzzword!) strong female leads, but I'm not going to condemn him for it.
I didn't actually read Checkmate, so, in all honesty, I couldn't comment on Waller's status as being a main character or otherwise, but the fact is I did say "lead", not "main". I'm sure she was a core part of the book, but was she featured doing dynamic poses on the cover? I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
Totally joking here, but "i really like Cassandra Cain and wish ... that she could never have learned to speak and read." is so not the best phrasing considering some commenters (myself not included) called your initial comment chauvenistic (I also agree in that I felt it added a bit more to her character). Beyond that, Cain may make an appearance in the future; who knows? (Although they do seem to be introducing a new Batgirl, so maybe I'm way off on that one.)

I sincerely hope you don't feel like you're being attacked or ganged up on, I for one just feel like it's a poigniant topic to discuss and can totally see what you're saying; poor phrasing perhaps? What you were saying wasn't that you dislike female lead roles but that you've seen Rucka do it often enough that it's become his MO, and you didn't feel the need to explore further what you'd previously assumed to be treading already charted territory?

@capt:

No don't feel like I am being attacked or anything.  This is why i like Ifanboy most discussion it is alomst always civil.  I really didn't want to come off as that "guy" who  wants all cheesecake and refuses to read any comic with woman or girl in the title.  I liked Cassie Cain because she read body language as communication and she her background was so strange, along with the  much different sidekick realtionship she had with Batman and the Bat family.  Yikes I did say because she cannot speak or read huh?  Digging that hole deep.  Well on my way in about in hour to the LCBS to pcik this up. 

this was very remiscint of Rucka's first big new gotham issue of detective (reprinted in Batman: Evolution)

I liked this book, but I don't think it'll be long before I drop it.  Batwoman is like the Lobo of this decade: every cheesy character gimmick wrapped into one.

@Slockhart: What's cheesy about her? We hardly know her at all, I'm not sure we can judge anything yet. Comparing her to Lobo...? Wow.

Eh... I liked the Batwoman pages, just not the Kate pages.  So far she comes off as the token fake-feeling edgy chick that gets forced into so many movies and TV shows lately.  Sure, it's more of a prediction at this point, and I may eat my words soon, but so far my thoughts are "I can only buy a book for the art for so long."

And yes, I'll admit, the Lobo comment was a little harsh.

Read it and liked it. This is officially the only Bat-book I want to keep up with.

I know this is SO DAMN late but this was AMAZING. JH Williams is incredible. I am totally stoked on this.