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| DC Comics |
Marc Andreyko
Georges Jeanty
Karl Story
Guy Major
2015
The Summary
"Clayface: a desperate man driven to madness and monstrosity by a magical artifact that transformed him into a shapeshifting killer.
"Ragman: a guardian of Gotham City whose supernatural suit is woven from a thousand lost souls.
"Etrigan the Demon: a prince of Hell bonded to a human host a millennium ago, desperate to free himself ever sense.
"And Batwoman: a crimefighter whose alter ego, Kate Kane, maybe have just lost the love of her life, only to find passion in the arms of a creature of the night.
"Heroes, villains, something in between--to each of them, the others are a complete unknown. But an ancient evil has returned from beyond the grave: Morgan Le Fey, the mad witch who destroyed King Arthur's Camelot and would do the same to all civilization. It's an evil this fearsome foursome can only stop together--if they don't tear each other apart first..."
The Good
I was intrigued by this volume collection. After the cliffhanger leftover from Batwoman: Webs (Volume 5), I was desperate to get my hands on the next installment of Batwoman's adventures. What would happen between Batwoman and Nocturna? And I couldn't help but be drawn in by the cover. I recognized Clayface and Etrigan, but where were the other two--and what kind of threat did they pose?
I had to find out.
Although The Unknowns feels like it branches away from the familiar artistic style and general feeling crafted by J.H. Williams III and W.H. Blackman, it's still an excellent volume. Marc Andreyko and his team seem to take Batwoman in a different direction, crafting something new and equally appealing.
The artistry is simplified. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it's much more straight-forward. It's filled with all the beautiful detail and art that originally attracted me to Batwoman, but it's easier to distinguish the movement of characters and the direction of panels. It has changed, but it's not a bad change.
Moreover, the story seems to take a different direction. It's still dark on an emotional and visual level, but it simply feels different. Kate's still faced with the same complicated relationships, still faced with the same violence and depravity for which Gotham is known, but she seems to face it with a bit more humor. And her story has a different flavor to it, a subtle shift in her demeanor or a change in the direction of her story that makes it feel different, but easily likable.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I liked the characters--Ragman and Red Alice were probably my favorites, aside from our leading heroine, of course--and I liked the story. Granted, I'm a bit tired of Morgan Le Fey. I've seen enough of her in literature and the DC Universe to know I'm getting a bit sick of her interference; however, I think it was a well-done story and I liked getting to know Etrigan again, as well as some new "heroes."
The Bad
I did not care for the book end chapters of this volume. I didn't need Kate's origin story rehashed in Secret Origin, and I wasn't exactly thrilled with Batwoman: Future's End. The first, I didn't like the repetition; the other, I didn't like the way it ended. It left me wondering if this really was Batwoman's fate in five years, or if it was just a one-shot just-for-fun issue that creators are wont to do.
Honestly, I can't tell.
But I know I probably won't be reading it. It's bad enough that Kate is manipulated by Nocturna; it's worse that they turn her into a vampire. I'm still a little confused on that, honestly, and I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the whole thing. It confuses me, rather than amuses me.
The Ugly
Blood. Gore. Violence.
You know, the usual.
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