Review: Batwoman Vol. 5- Webs

Quick Summary

Pros: Batman’s contribution here is fun. The artwork looks good in a few places.

Cons: The opening chapter ruins exciting plot threads from the previous volume. The “Webs” story arc is mediocre. The volume’s closing story is disappointing. Kate and Maggie’s relationship is written poorly. The artwork devolves as the collection progresses. 

Overall: It is truly disappointing to see a series fall from grace this quickly. The majority of the stories collected here are mediocre and fail to even come close to the quality of previous volumes. Some of the stories also manage to ruin plot threads or character development set up in the past, making them even more frustrating. It would be hard to recommend this book to a new reader and even harder to recommend it to someone invested in the narrative of this series, ultimately making it impossible to recommend this book to anyone.

Story

Batwoman Vol. 5: Webs is infamous for a number of reasons, many of which directly derive from actions occurring outside of the comic. At the time this comic was originally published, decisions handed down from DC’s editorial offices caused J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, the writers responsible for four fantastic volumes of Batwoman, to quit. This volume collects the stories that took place immediately after their departure.

It is this creative disruption that causes the troubles in this volume. The opening stories here are lackluster at their best and, at their worst, deliver a tremendously unsatisfying conclusion to the previous story arc. The rest of the volume is either dismally mediocre or downright bad. Unfortunately, this is not the Batwoman volume most fans were hoping for.

(spoilers start here)

The opening chapter in Webs wraps up the plot points that were mostly introduced in the previous volume. This leads to a moderately entertaining team-up between Batman and Batwoman in order to take down Bones and free Batwoman from the DEO’s interference.

However, outside of a moderately entertaining team-up, this chapter is a big disappointment. It hurriedly explains the strange connection between Bones and the Kane family by revealing that it was all a big misunderstanding and that the two actually have nothing in common. It also reveals that Batwoman did not have a backup plan besides unmasking Batman, which was hinted at previously. There is a chance that these solutions could have worked but the way they are presented here feels rushed and disappointing. Meanwhile, Killer Croc’s story is completely abandoned (which was apparently one of the issues caused by editorial).

From here, the volume goes on to tell a short story about one of Kate Kane’s early attempts at vigilante justice and a larger story arc, “Webs”, about Batwoman’s fight against an art thief. Both of these stories are so generic they elicit almost no excitement. The “Webs” arc, in particular, is troubled as the villain’s true identity is telegraphed from the very start, the mystery of the stolen paintings is uninteresting, and the action is lackluster.

Unfortunately, as generic as these two stories end up being, Webs gets worse as it enters its final story arc, one focused on a mysterious vampire named Nocturna. This arc has two minor villains that are so generic they actively weigh down the narrative. Nocturna’s ridiculously erratic actions further weigh it down and make this read more unpleasant than most.

Despite all of this, the most significant negative feature in Webs comes from the botched relationship between Kate and Maggie. The beginning of their end comes from a misunderstanding, which is a lazy way to end a seemingly strong relationship. Then it goes through a weird place where Kate goes from doing all she can to keep them together to giving up in order to make Maggie’s life easier. DC’s ban on characters marrying appears to have been the major cause for Williams and Blackman’s departure and is part of why this volume is as bad as it is.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Webs fairs better than the story but still ends up being a disappointment. Trevor McCarthy starts the collection out with some solid artwork and some uniquely structured pages, maintaining some of the visual consistency from the previous volume. Then, the most significant visual positives come from a few pages drawn by Francis Manapul, which deliver a stunning take on some of the events from Batwoman’s past.

However, the visual negatives in this volume are more noticeable than the positives. Moritat’s work on the opening chapters looks alright but its playful nature fails to capture the serious tone of the story. From here, the visual quality of the book goes down more and more with each chapter. The level of detail significantly drops and there are significant places where the action feels static. By the end of this book, the Batwoman series has gone from one of the most visually impressive of DC’s offerings to somewhere below average.

Continuity

Batwoman Vol. 5: Webs continues the story from Batwoman Vol. 4:  This Blood is Thick (Review).

The story here is continued in Batwoman Vol. 6: The Unknowns (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Batwoman #25 is a tie-in to the events of Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year – Dark City (Review).