Review: Batwoman Vol. 6- The Unknowns

Quick Summary

Pros: Some of the action here is fun in a ridiculous sort of fashion.

Cons: Characters are depicted poorly. Some scenes are too ridiculous, to the point where they break suspension of disbelief. Other scenes have obvious mistakes that prevent them from making sense. Sexual assault is significantly mishandled. The artwork is unappealing in a number of places and has a chaotic consistency.

Overall: This is a bad comic book and a terrible end to a series that used to be so good. An unappealing story, poorly written characters, and a few significant flaws on top of everything else turn this into a collection that is honestly hard to read. Fans looking for a good comic, especially those who care about the progress made in past Batwoman volumes, should not go anywhere near this book.

Story

The first four volumes of the Batwoman New 52 series are some of the best comics in the entire New 52. The final volume, Batwoman Vol. 6: The Unknowns, by Marc Andreyko, is one of the worst.

This collection has a lackluster story that is filled with some scenes that are nearly unbelievable and other scenes that make no sense at all. Alongside this is a poorly characterized main cast, whose actions, at their best, feel out of place and, at their worst, actively undo some of the great character development from the past. Then, as a final nail in the coffin, the volume tackles sexual assault in a manner that is simply disgusting to see. There are a few brief moments where this collection grabs some entertainment but these moments come nowhere close to making up for the rest of this book. There really is little more to say other than the fact that this is one of the worst single volumes in the New 52.

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The positives in The Unknowns are minor. The volume’s incredibly out-there opening scene grabbed my attention and made me wonder where the story could possibly be heading. There are also other moments of over-the-top action and unbelievable heroics that are entertaining in short stretches.

However, these few positives are tremendously outweighed by the volume’s negatives, first among which is the terrible characterization. Batwoman spends this collection as a victim of her circumstances, instead of the strong character she has become since this series began. Beth suddenly becomes a hero, something that didn’t seem possible just one volume ago and something that seems unlike any sane member of her family would ever agree to, especially considering what she has gone through. Even Etrigan is portrayed as someone willing to help mankind, instead of the demon that he is. Anyone who has been even remotely following the characters in this book will be disappointed to see how they are written here.

There are also places where the writing pushes the absolute limits on suspension of disbelief. In this volume, a bunch of characters are able to launch a rocket with no training at all and they are able to handle being in space with little trouble. Later on, characters are shown teleporting without explanation and having conversations that make no sense at all. 

Other scenes go beyond pushing suspension of disbelief and enter territory that is completely illogical. Once scene has the heroes freely maneuvering themselves within a rocket as it plunges back through Earth’s atmosphere, an act that should pin them to their seats due to the tremendous g-forces. Another scene has Beth triumphantly announce that she has recorded Nocturna’s confession of murder, despite Nocturna revealing Batwoman’s secret identity in her confession and the fact that Beth is shown multiple times without any sort of camera in her hands. These problems and more make it feel like this narrative was not held up to any sort of serious scrutiny before being released.

Despite all of this, the place in which The Unknowns most grievously errors in its gross depiction of sexual assault. In this collection, an entire subplot is developed that deals with Batwoman being hypnotized and seduced into a relationship by Nocturna. Batwoman is clearly having her mind manipulated, as she knows this woman is a killer and is having massive gaps in her memory during their time together. However, despite all of this, Nocturna goes on to claim that she never made Batwoman do anything she didn’t want to do and that their sexual relationship was all Batwoman’s idea. To make matters worse, nothing in the narration or dialogue seems to dispute this obviously flawed conjecture. It is a disgusting justification for something that is clearly rape. I am absolutely shocked any of this made its way into print and found its inclusion in this narrative horrifying.

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Art

The artwork in The Unknowns is generally negative and widely inconsistent. The volume has problems with structuring in some places and has problems accurately depicting what is taking place in the story in others. Then, as one chapter flows into the next, quality is all over the place. The level of detail is high in one chapter, low in another, and then back to high again, creating a disjointed visual consistency. This is most noticeable in the characters, as, at various point, Kate Kane goes from looking like a normal adult to looking like a teenager.

There are some good visuals in this book, like a chapter from Trevor McCarthy and another one from Georges Jeanty. However, the negatives here are so prevalent that they completely overshadow any artistic positives.

Continuity

Batwoman Vol. 6: The Unknowns continues the story from Batwoman Vol. 5: Webs (Review).

The Batwoman series ends with this volume. Batwoman’s story mostly continues in Detective Comics Vol. 1: The Rise of the Batmen (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• This volume’s opening chapter makes a number of references to the events of Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III (Review).
• At various points, Etrigan’s history with the Demon Knights is shown/referenced. He began his journey with them in Demon Knights Vol. 1: Seven Against the Dark (Review) and ended it in Demon Knights Vol. 3: The Gathering Storm (Review).
• Morgaine le Fey fought Etrigan back in Demon Knights #11-12, collected in Demon Knights Vol. 2: The Avalon Trap (Review).
• The final chapter, in this collection, is a tie-in to the events of Futures End (Review) (Reading Order).