BATWOMAN

So, Batwoman was a shitty character that was created in the 50's, then clumsily reinvented a few years ago and forgotten about. Last year, proving the adage that there are no small roles, only small actors, the creative team of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III got ahold of her and made something awesome. Their run won a grip of awards and landed the book on the New York Times bestseller list earlier this summer. I finally got around to picking up the hardcover collecting their first 7 issues (below, left) and it's really good. Check this:

Oh, man. The book is in amazing color by Dave Stewart, but the above black and white images are J.H. Williams' original art (sans word balloons). You can click on all the above for a larger image (you have to see Williams' art up close), but if you go to his Flickr page you can see huge versions - I'm talking 6000 pixels (also, a bit of his process). Gorgeous. As well, the story is pretty compelling, delving into her childhood and her expulsion from the military due to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The comic book industry is like, 90% superhero books, and 90% of those are unreadable. This is a gem. Buy it or take it out from the library.

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