Dean Poling
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — A few years ago, DC Comics got rid of its mainstay characters: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman for a year. Well, kinda. DC had these characters’ storylines skip ahead a year from one issue to the next, so the characters were absent from the DC Universe for a year without ever missing an issue of their titles here in the real world. Meanwhile, DC published an interesting concept in a title called “52.” With an issue a week, for 52 weeks in a year, DC looked at the world without its Big Three characters. “52” was an opportunity to shine a spotlight on some lesser DC characters as well as a chance to introduce new characters. Batwoman attracted the most attention of these new characters. This was not Batgirl, but a new character entirely, an openly gay character in the DC Universe. Batwoman operated out of Batman’s Gotham City. When he returned, she stayed. “Batwoman: Elegy: Deluxe Edition” collects these post-“52” adventures in a beautiful hard-cover package. With the creative team of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III, this is one edition where the story and art deserve the prestige format. Instead of Alfred, Batwoman is helped by her retired military father and bankrolled by her apparently clueless, rich stepmother. Her training comes from the military but she discovers her Bat-mission when her belief in being true to one’s self gets her kicked out of the military for not abiding by the don’t ask-don’t tell policy. Like Batman, she gets her own twisted, clown-faced nemesis in this storyline with Alice, a crime queen who fashions herself a grown-up version of the Lewis Carroll character in “Alice in Wonderland.” Rucka develops a much richer connection between Batwoman and Alice than merely antagonists on the opposite side of the law. “Batwoman: Elegy” is a compelling graphic novel. “Batwoman” takes the fairly standard ideal of Batman and makes something new of it. She owes much to the Dark Knight, but she’s a creature who earns her own cape and cowl.
