Anybody that follows me on Twitter
knows of my love for all things Palmiotti and Gray. From discovering
their work on Jonah Hex to their creator owned books to their
Kickstarter projects and most things in between. I've been reading
comics for longer than I care to remember so I have become quite
jaded and crotchety about a lot of the trappings of comicbooks so
their creator owned stuff is often a breath of fresh air. It brings
their craziness level to the max and there's always the feeling that
anything can happen because there are a couple of madmen behind the
wheel (and there's usually an excellent artist in the car with them).
So what appeals to me about their (relatively) new DC book Batwing?
Well allow me to explain myself.
Event books. Crossovers. Complex
continuity. Lack of creative freedom. I could go one. These are the
things that bother me about the books of the big two. Batwing is
mostly free from all the trappings. Palmiotti and Gray's first
issue (Batwing issue 19) was a reboot of sorts, they wrapped up the
story of the original Batwing, David Zavimbe, who was the “Batman
of Africa” and brought in a character that is more connected to
Batman continuity. It is a strange contradiction that they have
brought Batwing to Gotham but have managed to make his book stand
alone. Sure, Batman is in the book and it is part of the whole Batman
Inc. continuity but there is still the sense that this book is doing
it's own thing and you don't need to read any of the other Batbooks
to get it. The new Batwing, Luke Fox, is the son of Lucius Fox, the
designer of a lot of Batman's arsenal. Lucius wants his son to work
for Wayne Enterprises but Luke wants to do his own thing. This is one
of the most interesting things about the book: the potential for it
all to go horribly wrong. If Lucius finds out Luke is Batwing, he
will not be happy and Batman will probably lose one of his biggest
allies.
That is the trick to the success of the
Palmiotti and Gray reboot for me: the book feels more important as
Luke has a personal connection to the Batman mythos but is telling
its own story. You only have to read Batwing. That being said, you
should pick up All-Star Western 21 to catch Batwing's appearance. It
is very cool.
