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BATWING #1

Africa, a land of beauty – and of great horror. A land of creation and conflict. It is in desperate need of a defender, and from the ranks of Batman Incorporated comes a soldier to carry on the legacy of The Dark Knight in the most tumultuous region on Earth.

Meet Batwing, the Batman of Africa!

Written by JUDD WINICK
Art and cover by BEN OLIVER

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.2%
655
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.6
 
Users who pulled this comic:
 

Comments

  1. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    September 6, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    I have little to no hope for this, but giving it a shot just because I’m trying out all the new 52.

  2. Avatar photo keith7198 says:
    September 6, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    Giving this one a shot as well. The art looks fantastic. Winick is hit and miss so it may not stay on my pullist for long.

  3. Avatar photo heylook says:
    September 6, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    ^^

    I think that with the correct writer, this could be a fantastic comic. I think that it might start out really strong, but then go downhill. I want it to be good though – so I’ll support it until it’s not.

  4. Avatar photo Wrkn4life says:
    September 6, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    I think they picked the wrong bat character to give a book to but also I am not working for DC so my say in it is bull. Judd is a great writer and all but this is not looking like a keeper in my pull list

  5. Avatar photo chadwhitley says:
    September 6, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    Wow. That’s about 100 more pulls than I thought this title would get. Good luck to Winick and crew; I hope the book does well, but I just don’t know if it can go the distance. It’s off to a fine start here at iFanboy, though.

  6. Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
    September 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    I think Winick is pretty good right now, as long he doesn’t get too preachy. And I think Oliver’s art is very cool, though for some reason it seemed to inspire a lot of hate on the Flashpoint Hal J series.

  7. Avatar photo moodydoom says:
    September 6, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    i hope this title fails on the premise alone.

    i can’t get my head around the Batman of Africa as a premise. Africa is a big ass continent! How do you grow a story and a character in such a massive place! it’s completely unrealistic. imagine if it was batman of north america instead of batman of gotham.

    Also, c’mon, you have an american writer on this title, really? i can understand him researching one or two african countries and delivering something meaningful, but this…. All i can foresee is batman fighting ‘exotic’ enemies in front of a switching backdrop (pyramids, landmarks, bushveld, volcanoes etc. and to me that makes for some fresh manure.)

    • Avatar photo AmirCat says:
      September 6, 2011 at 3:03 pm

      I’m a recent Winnick convert. I think he’ll be able to pull it off. Think of Bat-Wing a mini Batman Inc. Just like Batman who goes around the world, Bat-Wing can travel all over Africa. Winick was great in his Power Girl series about doing research on other cultures. You don’t have to be from a country to write about it. Some of the best writers of American Comics were not from America (Moore, Morrison, etc … etc …)

    • Avatar photo glunders says:
      September 6, 2011 at 4:35 pm

      God willing your expectations don’t make it to the page, though I could easily see it happening.

      Still, I think you’re out of line about an American writer writing an African character. Grant Morrison’s tackled incredibly diverse, foreign territory respectfully (and, best of all, with flair and innovation) and he’s Scottish. No need for brash judgements on the basis of ethnicity.

    • Avatar photo moodydoom says:
      September 6, 2011 at 5:36 pm

      i have no problem with a writer from one culture writing about other cultures. I do have a problem with lumping over 47 countries together and labeling them one thing – ‘Africa’ – and then writing a Batman book set in this ‘world’.

      I hope i’m proved wrong and I hope it’s just a subjective thing. (i’m from an african country and it grinds me when people treat it as if it’s all one giant neighbourhood).

      time will tell.

      …still, that cover looks lame as hell.

    • Avatar photo glunders says:
      September 6, 2011 at 5:41 pm

      Oh, don’t get me wrong — I think Judd Winick’s made a complete ass of himself in interviews when it comes to this exact topic, but I was just irked by how you first articulated your point. I’m with you otherwise.

    • Avatar photo diebenny says:
      September 6, 2011 at 5:47 pm

      You just wish he’d picked one place (country, city, ect. ect.), and if he has, then you wished it was reflected in the solicits instead of the solicits using the term “Africa,” which means it could really be anywhere on the continent?

      I think that is a valid argument, I’m just getting it all straight. I don’t know if this is necessarily Judd’s fault though, or if blame would fall somewhere else along the chain.

      I think it’s cool you care. I personally don’t, but I can see why someone would.

    • Avatar photo glunders says:
      September 6, 2011 at 5:54 pm

      It’s definitely Judd’s fault. He’s referred to Africa as a country on a number of different occasions.

    • Avatar photo yyzKyle says:
      September 6, 2011 at 6:06 pm

      Maybe they should have done; Batman of Sub-Saharan Africa… more believable?

    • Avatar photo glunders says:
      September 6, 2011 at 6:33 pm

      That’s a joke, yes?

    • Avatar photo Smasher says:
      September 7, 2011 at 9:14 am

      I’m giving this a pull for all the points made here on this tread.

      Essentially I want to see if Winick can develop Batwing and his setting in an interesting, yet culturally reasonable way.

    • Avatar photo yyzKyle says:
      September 7, 2011 at 10:26 pm

      yes

  8. Avatar photo ctrosejr says:
    September 6, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    I think this title will be a cult favorite (a la Steph Brown’s Batgirl) or even possibly a sleeper hit (like JL:GL). The art is gorgeous! The themes look to be dark and provocative. And, Winick has been on a bit of a roll lately. I wouldn’t be surprised to even see it as the iFanboy’s POTW in the near future. (It won’t be this week. Action / Animal Man seem to have the inside track for that.)

  9. Avatar photo RolandofGilead says:
    September 6, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    I think of all the 52 preview art, this book may pull off a nice suprise. Looks really good.

  10. Avatar photo kennyg says:
    September 6, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    When I heard about this book, I thought “There’s $3.00 I can keep!” But once I saw the art, I thought I’d give it a chance. I generally like Winnick’s work (agree he can get preachy on occasion). He’s apparently done a lot of research for this, so I’m giving it a shot.

  11. Avatar photo adrianrigter says:
    September 6, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    getting for the amazing art, and the idea of Africa’s legacy heroes…Winick has me worried though, the first vilain’s name is Massacre? really? what’s next, he’s going to team up with The Ethnic Cleaser & his sidekick Child Soldier? JW gets a pass on issue one because of Generation Lost.

    • Avatar photo boomergirl says:
      September 7, 2011 at 11:57 pm

      I’m excited about the idea of there being other heroes in Africa. It would make sense that there would be considering the size of Africa and how up until recently, there was hardly any time spent on the continent. As for the villain’s name, aren’t they typically supposed to be straight forward? It’s no different than the names actual war lords, dictators, and drug kings give themselves. You can tell there was a lot of research going into this and I’m sure that will come out even more as the story progresses.

  12. kcekada says:
    September 6, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    Giving it a shot. The character reminds me of an old Batman story in which kids at a campfire discussed what they thought Batman looked like. One kid figured he was black — and always thought a black Batman was kinda cool. The art is promising. Don’t know that I’ll be into the African setting though for a Batmanish character.

  13. Avatar photo Urthona says:
    September 6, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    Between moodydoom and the rebellion, poor ole Khadafi is never gonna get to rule Africa.

  14. Avatar photo Limitless says:
    September 6, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    I had no interest in it until I saw the interview with Winick, but from what he was saying, I decided to give it a gander.

  15. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    September 7, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    This book has a serious uphill battle ahead of it. People seem to be ready and rearing for it to be a disaster. Personally, I’m really pulling for this title. Despite the solicitations poorly phrased geography, the idea of a Batman in Africa is very interesting to me, and Winick rarely disappoints. Please be good, book!

    • Avatar photo kennyg says:
      September 7, 2011 at 3:22 pm

      My LCS sold out of Batwing. Now, I don’t know how many they ordered – could have been 10. But the guy working the register had not noticed and was generally surprised it sold out. There were plenty of the other first- and second-tier DC #1 books, but Batwing was the only one to sell out as of 1:30 Central (store opened at 11:00).

      I didn’t get one before they sold out. 🙁

  16. Avatar photo koryrosh says:
    September 7, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    I enjoyed the book…but has anyone else noticed that all three of the bat books released today were REALLY grotesque? A lot of slicing and dicing of body parts…

  17. Avatar photo glunders says:
    September 7, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    This wasn’t bad. Certainly better than I expected. Of the #1s that I’ve gotten to so far (I have them all, but time is a different story), this one did feel a bit more indebted to an existing concept; without Batman, there’s no Batwing, and it might’ve been nice to see the character stand on his own two legs a bit more. Still, I’ll be pulling it next month to see where it goes.

  18. Avatar photo Limitless says:
    September 8, 2011 at 1:03 am

    I’m glad I decided to give this a shot. The arts great, the lead in has me, and I’m sold on the concept.

  19. Avatar photo SteenAR says:
    September 8, 2011 at 3:21 am

    I was really surprised by this one. Great story and even better art. Can’t wait to see where it goes.

  20. Avatar photo jmhillyer says:
    September 8, 2011 at 5:33 am

    Wow. A Judd Winick book I enjoyed.

    In fact, the whole thing was quite a pleasant surprise — especially the artwork. Batwing himself feels a little one-dimensional, but it’s hard to be too critical of that when the series is just twenty pages old. I really dig the costume though.

    But…Batman of Africa? A little unfair. Bruce gets a large city, David gets an enormous continent? Centralizing him in a large, corrupt city within an African country (fictional or otherwise) and calling him an African Batman instead of the Batman of The Entire Goddamn African Continent might have been a bit smarter.

    • Avatar photo kennyg says:
      September 8, 2011 at 11:05 pm

      Bruce Wayne has been all over the USA, and the world, as Batman. Gotham is his city, but he doesn’t stop at the city limits. I don’t have a problem with the Africa thing.

  21. IroncladMerc says:
    September 8, 2011 at 6:37 am

    This book was quite a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I think they should have set it in Capetown or a city like that, but then I guess it would be too similar to Batman having it in a big city, so they went with District 9 type slums.

  22. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    September 8, 2011 at 9:05 am

    This was not bad at all, but maybe not enough to keep me coming back. Interesting cliffhanger, though, and I quite liked the way in which David was subtly trying to encourage the other officers to actually investigate the murders. That little bit of intrigue, mixed with the terrifying results, really helped to establish the differences between the Batmen. Not a fan of the art, though. That really dragged it down for me.

  23. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    September 8, 2011 at 9:47 am

    This was alright I guess. Not good enough to keep in my pull list though.

  24. Avatar photo KeMo says:
    September 8, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Booorring! I’m let down for the first time with Judd Winick. This book was boring. I won’t be adding this title to my hold box either.

  25. Avatar photo cosmo says:
    September 8, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    I was pleasantly surprised by this title. When it was originally announced, I did not expect much from it, but will now be along for at least the initial arc. I agree with some of the reservations regarding “Batman of Africa”, but the sense that I got from this issue was that Batwing would be pretty much focused on one city ala Bruce. Besides, if he’s on the police force, how often can he sneak off to the opposite side of the continent when no one is looking? Plus, the reference to other African heroes, even if in retirement, helps as well. I also liked the detail of him leaving the evidence behind for a fellow office to find — solves the whole “lawful evidence” problem.

    I was mixed on the art. Some of it was distracting, particularly in dialogue scenes, but there were some very nice panels as well . . .

  26. Avatar photo Gary4362 says:
    September 8, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    I loved this book! It’s my pick of the week. Comic fans need to get over themselves and give this book an honest shot. It would be great to see this title and Mr. Terrific blow people away with their quality. I’m crossing fingers and everything else for this one.

  27. Avatar photo kennyg says:
    September 8, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    I thought this was really good. It piqued my interest and left me wanting more. I like the characters and the art was great. Not sure if this was photo referenced, computer created stuff or what, but I’d like to know what the art process is. 4/5, I’ll be back next month.

  28. Avatar photo mithrandir says:
    September 10, 2011 at 12:13 am

    I had no interest in this book initially but it really surprised me. I think of all the #1’s this week this was the biggest surprise.

  29. Avatar photo ComicGeek1975 says:
    September 10, 2011 at 10:13 am

    Kinda in the middle on this one. It was good, I’m in for number 2, but it’s going to have to come together quickly to keep me around

  30. Avatar photo Urthona says:
    September 11, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    I’m with Cosmo and Kenny, this was really good. I think the costume/armor looked great. And the cliffhanger, how does our hero get out of this?!? POTW.

  31. Avatar photo FishyBoy says:
    September 12, 2011 at 11:28 am

    This was good. I was pleasantly surprised. Plus, the art was amazing. I’ll be buying this one again.

  32. Avatar photo Flash923 says:
    September 13, 2011 at 8:19 am

    I will try a second issue due the ending!!

    Just sayin’

    K

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