Batwing #1

Written by Judd Winick
Pencils by Ben Oliver
Colors by Brian Reber

Omi's Note: I don't recommend this comic for children under a particular age. There is a hefty amount of gore and blood. Parents you know your children better than we do. We felt that you should know this before purchasing this book.

Outside of it's Vertigo imprint, I am not really a fan of DC. I am a Marvel and Image guy. To be honest, the last good thing DC put out was the 52 story line. If you have been living under a rock, you know that DC is relaunching several of it's flagship titles as well as reintroducing some lesser known characters in their own titles during the month of September. Some titles such as Animal Man are hits while others like the Justice League are flops. With 52 new titles being introduced in September, DC can't go wrong. Animal Man #1 is already going into reprint as we speak. Another runaway hit is Batwing.

David Zavimbe or Batwing, was created by Grant Morrison sometime in 2010. Bruce Wayne upon returning from his time/interdimensional "death," decides to take Batman into a world wide crime fighting franchise. Zavimbe is Wayne's African incarnation as Batman. The premise sounds shaky. While there might be a little hit and miss with some of Batman incarnations.

The first issue works. While it is difficult to pull off an introduction behind a story arc, Judd Winick does it well. I dug the fact that he reintroduced several African superheroes that will make up part of this story arc. While Zavimbe is an understudy to Bruce Wayne its not a sidekick thing. Zavimbe has skills of his own and is also a police officer. Zavimbe also understands that he has to work both sides to help end the corruption found in the Tinasha, Congo government.

The artwork between Ben Oliver and Brian Reber is sleek and futuristic. You can feel the emotion and the fear between the characters. The paneling allows the story to flow easily. The splash pages are to die for. I really hope that DC keeps these two together for at least 7 to 8 issues. I hear rumors that some of the artists will be changing in the 3rd or 4th issue. Bottom line, Batwing looks like it's the hit that everyone is claiming.