Catwoman has a new plan to clean up the streets, unfortunately for her, Batman just doesn’t agree. Your Major Spoilers review of Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Battle Lines #1 from DC Comics awaits!

BATMAN/CATWOMAN: THE GOTHAM WAR – BATTLE LINES #1

Writers: Tini Howard and Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Bendetto
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Editors: Ben Abernathy and Jessica Chen
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: August 29th, 2023

Previously in Batman/Catwoman: Bruce has been through the wringer. Between the last big multiversal crisis and the events of Knight Terrors, Batman has been beaten down and out of commission. In his absence, Selina Kyle has enacted a plan to fix the crime in Gotham.

A BETTER CLASS OF CRIMINAL

Batman/Catwoman #1 opens with a henchman arriving home, beaten and tired. As he tries to sleep a cat arrives with a message for him. Elsewhere Batman has slipped into a coma, during which he has an encounter with his repressed personality Batman Zur-En-Arrh. He awakes from his week-long slumber and immediately hits the streets. He comes across a pair of goons pulling off a jewel heist. He intervenes but they’re able to get away. At a training facility, Catwoman and a team she’s broken out of jail are busy training all the hired goons in Gotham how to be better burglars, when they’re alerted that Batman is back. Selina calls for a meeting with Batman and the rest of Gotham’s vigilantes. At the meeting, she explains that Batman’s approach to fighting crime hasn’t worked and has only bred a more psychotic and violent cycle of crime, whereas her approach is to give the criminals of the city a set of rules to follow and direct them towards the ultra-wealthy rather than blue-collar people. Batman vehemently disagrees with this and leaves the meeting, leaving the rest of the Bat-Family to ponder the merits of Selina’s plans. Back on the streets, Batman wrestles with the idea of his mission and begins to notice that the streets do seem quieter in his absence. Elsewhere, one of Selina’s trainees is attempting a theft, when things go south.

BATMAN, MORE LIKE BAT-JERK

There was a time when Batman stories that played with the idea of Bruce’s obsession with justice and being Batman were interesting and fertile ground for stories. But, now that well seems to have dried up and this comic could very well be the heavy stone placed over that well. There is so little nuance in this issue, Catwoman comes off as self-righteous and Batman comes off as a spoiled brat and kind of like a parody of himself. The rest of the cast feels one-dimensional and has practically no impact on the plot. This is a shame too, because there are some interesting ideas that are brought up here on the peripherals. Things like the wealth gap, justice reform, and Batman’s apparent blind eye toward white-collar crime, but they’re all then covered up by some silly overreaction. The mandate set in this comic seems to be “Batman and Catwoman have to fight” no matter how silly and idiotic those characters have to be to make that happen. It’s not all bad though. There is something both intriguing and heartwarming about the way they show the familiarity between the goons and the Bat-Family, as if they have a deeper connection with these people rather than criminal and vigilante.

IT’S IN THE EYES

The art in this is a 50/50 sort of thing. It’s colored wonderfully. There’s a nice balance between color and blacks that gives all the characters a pop and it really sets the mood. Also, the panel layout is cinematic, and when paired with the dialog they give this book a lot of dramatic moments. Where things fall apart though is in the faces, in particular the eyes. Either there are no pupils or no irises, which makes half the characters look blind and the other half look like they were pulled out of an old Disney cartoon. This leads to all of the expressions feeling off and the characters looking like they’re in a daze all the time.

BOTTOM LINE: THE SHAKIEST OF FOUNDATIONS

If this issue is meant to be the beginning of a longer story arc that pits Batman and Catwoman against each other, I’m okay checking out until this arc is over. There’s a strong effort to add complexity to not only the character of Batman, but also Gotham City as a whole, but those efforts fail to really land. There’s meat here for sure, but a lot of these avenues have been explored in other titles better. 2 out of 5 stars.

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