The Batman of Africa Soars in BATWING #1 by Judd Winick

Fans of Grant Morrison's Batman Inc. series will be pleased to note that seeds from the globetrotting spectacular will blossom in Fall's reboot. We give you Batwing #1, starring the Batman of Africa. DC points out that this is the first black character to don the cowl (per se) within continuity. 
 


The series is written by Judd Winick with art by Ben Oliver. This is Winick's second announced reboot series for September. He's also scripting Catwoman #1. For more details, hit IGN.

A really pleasant surprise, this one. Not only are we seeing a black character join the Bat family, but we're also seeing a shift out of Gotham to the character's birthplace on another continent entirely. It's a fresh new character and we've yet to meet his full roster of rogues. Winick seems like an ideal choice to head up this international story in a landscape far removed from Gotham, but rife with complex politics and cultures. As the "Batman of Africa" I'm not sure how big a jurisdiction Batwing has, but how cool would it be to see the Bat signal in the skies over the Serengeti? Over the pyramids? 

Make sure to check out our Definitive Guide to the DC Reboot to keep track of all the new titles.

Comments

  1. It’s hot in Africa, so I imagine there will be a lot of batwings. Heyooooooooo!

  2. Who’s African Batman that gets all the chicks?

  3. If DC wants diversity so much, well, gee, they have a perfectly good half-Asian character just lying around unused…

  4. Batwing has an awesome design, and I’d love to read more of him, but Winick hasn’t thrilled me since Marvel. I dunno. Nice that he has his own book though. 

  5. We’re then assuming that the Batman Inc. continuity is intact?

  6. This is just getting crazier and crazier.  Winick is one of my favorite writers so this should be interesting.

  7. @WilliamKScurry

    According to a quote from Grant Morrison on DC’s blog, there will be a “shocking season finale” then it’ll come back at #1 some time in 2012.

    So that’s a pretty definitive maybe. 

  8. So Africa is one country like Argentina, France, or Japan.  Is that a Flashpoint thing?

  9. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    @PozrDu  I believe his home country is Kenya. 

  10. I like the idea of a high tech suit-Batman Beyond style

    But you could easily title this 90’s Costume and noone would question it.

  11. No offense to “Batman of Africa”, but does DC really believe this will sell more issues than a Tim Drake focused book like Red Robin?  Red Robin may not sell exceptionally well, but how many issues do they really expect to sell of this?

  12. Maybe Lavender and Aqua inspires fear in the hearts of criminals in Kenya- who knows.

  13. I’m glad to see that one of the Batman Inc crew getting his own book, but what I wouldve REALLY liked to see would be an anthology book where we get a different adventure from a different country’s Batman every month. Now that would be awesome

  14. I like Ben Oliver a lot. That is all.

  15. @stuclach  The answer obviously is yes.

  16. @stuclach  They are also trying to present a more diverse line of characters.

  17. @BornIn1142  Conor Hawke?

    @ericmci  His suit was inspired by a pair of Jordan VIIIs

  18. isanyone else starting to wonder that this reboot was used as the centre stage for bat relaunches in prep for the new flick?

  19. @conallgil  What about the Superman movie?

    Speaking of diversity….

    I really wish they would bring Ryan Choi back.

    I loved that series and killing your main asian superhero is kind of a bonehead move.

    I am going to say it, I hate Ray Palmer, he sucks. He should be moved on to a Hank Pym role like Avengers Academy.

  20. @conallgil  No.

  21. Let me guess. He dies at the end of issue one.

  22. @ResurrectionFlan  I’m afraid they should prepare to be disappointed. 

    @conor  As well they should be.  I hope it works, but I’d rather keep Tim AND diversify.

  23. Cool!  I’ll definitely going to scope this one out.

  24. I’ll probably pass on this, Nightwing, and Red Hood.  They all sound a little interesting and have solid artists but I can only read so many Batman books at once.

  25. I’m actually not a huge Bat-fan, but I might have to buy this.
     

  26. Who cares about this guy!?!
    Sad fact is his title will be cancelled out before 24 issues.

    Just give us Tim Drake!

  27. @conor  but you gotta see my point here out of the umpteen relaunch announcements majority of them are bat centric but that may just be my inner conspiracy theorist coming out

  28. @conallgil  It’s your inner conspiracy theorist coming out. Many comic book fans seem to have one.

  29. @conor  hold on though out of 26 announced titles 11 are bat centric give or take one for birds of prey also I dont mean be argumentative in case thats how I’m coming off

  30. @conallgil  Yes, but what does any of that have to do with the movie that comes out next summer?

  31. one sec let me reconvine with my bong……well I suppose they arent going to launch all of them at once but as publishers tend to do 4-6 months prior to a films launch will over saturate the market with books pretaining to the character soon to be depicted on screen.

    do remeber around november when there was a post on the site saying that perhaps thor was the next deadpool with I think 11 books in november devoted to him I just think it’s the same kind of constant press machine because if someones reading a batman book and see an add for DKR would they not be more inclined to see the film then

    or vice versa with movie goers not that I’m against new readers just found that area of the relaunch fishy is all

  32. @conallgil  No one is saying that they aren’t going to put out a lot of Batman books to coincide with the movie release over a year from now, but let’s circle back to your original point:

    “is anyone else starting to wonder that this reboot was used as the centre stage for bat relaunches in prep for the new flick?”

    DC doesn’t need to reboot their entire line and completely change the way they do business to position Batman comics for a movie release.

  33. @conor  fair enough guess thats why you’re the journalist and I’m, the crackpot conspiracy theorist but you know I’m a reader and even though there was that nigling little doubt I’m still going to try it all anyway cheers for letting me rob you your time

  34. If it wasn’t Winick writing it I’d certainly give this a shot. Nice to see DC keep their word on bringing diversity in their line.

  35. Doesn’t this book seem just slightly inherently racist? From what I remember in Batman, Inc., we’ve got a Batman of Japan (Mr. Unknown), England (Knight & Squire), Argentina (El Gaucho), France (Nightrunner), Hong Kong (Batgirl/Blackbat), Australia (Dark Ranger), Sweden (Wingman), and I’m not entirely sure but I think it was Ireland (The Hood). All of which are countries with the exception of Hong Kong (and England depending on how you look at it.) And then the one black guy gets all of Africa? I guess the “Batman of Africa” has more of a ring to it than “Batman of Egypt” or “Batman of Kenya” but he could’ve been Egypt’s Batman and then been the “Batman of the Nile.” I dunno. Just seems odd to me to introduce the character as the lone representative of an entire continent.

  36. @LucasEwalt  He’s already been introduced in Batman Incorporated #5.

  37. @LucasEwalt  Isn’t Batman Batman of all North America until about 6 months ago?

  38. He was also Batman of the Known Universe before that as well.

  39. Who is calling him ‘Batman of Africa’ though? That line isn’t attributed to DC above. Batman Inc 5 certainly didn’t refer to him as anything so crass. (also, The Hood is British, I thought) (also also: The Wingman isn’t who you think he is!)

  40. How do we know he’s not just the Batman of Uganda? Africa is pretty big.

  41. he looks like Awesome-X

  42. I’d actually like to see a Nightrunner book over this one. Parkour in France?!? That’d be AWESOME! But maybe he’s too touchy a subject for some comic fans (and FOX News apparently). He is *gasp* Muslim after all 😛

  43. So is this guys the Jim Rhodes of the batman universe? Not that color has anything to do with Batman. This looks like Iron Man 2.0

  44. We’re then assuming that the Batman Inc. continuity is intact?”

    Once again, DC never actually said it was wiping ANY continuity… only a re-launch of titles.  Batwing is just another piece of proof, along w/ Damian Wayne as Robin, that all the girly comic bloggers over reacted quite badly to the news. 

  45. @JesseCuster  When Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, Jason Todd was Robin just as he was before Crisis. They didn’t go back to Dick Grayson after Crisis. Rebooting has never meant wiping all continuity away. It’s a complex forumla.

  46. What about black lightning? He should be brought back as a member of Bat-books.

  47. Yeah, cause if there is something more crass and offensive than ‘Batman of Africa’, it is a black character called ‘Black Lightning’. I know, let’s rename Katana ‘Yellow Peril’ while we’re at it. 

  48. Well, crass and offensive or not, he was actually a pretty solid character. The Dectective Comics stories from the 80’s with him are really good reads. And Grant Morrison did a pretty good job of him in Final Crisis. I’m actually surprised he isn’t in any books.

  49. At this point, every character that has survived has had some good books. That’s just statistics. 

    Seriously now: If you were going to redesign your line-up to increase diversity and appeal to more demographics, would YOU include one called Black Lightning? 

  50. This is exactly what I was hoping would come out of the Batman Inc premise. Settings which A) move beyond North America and B) have specific real world reasons why a ‘vigilante’ type hero should exist at all . A super hero who must regularly move between ‘classic’ super villain battling and the numerous economic, tribal, and religious conflicts occuring in real life should make for some intense story arcs.

  51. @ResurrectionFlan  Well, yes, but he wasn’t billed as such. Technically he was the Batman of the World until about 6 months ago.

  52. Isn’t Nightrunner black. Making him the first black/of-African-decent character to don the cowl. And based on the cover art that showed Batwing being attacked by the AH-64 Apache he must be Egyptian since the only other primary user of this helicopter is the US and Israel. I kid. If this is DCs attempt to get a more diverse crowd Fail! from the black guy in the room. You want a more diverse audience, flesh out John Stewart, incorporate adult Static into Justice League books, how about give “OMG-what-planet-in-the-multiverse” Final Crisis Black Superman an ongoing.   

  53. Who cares about that character? Honestly, we want Red Robin, not some batman wannabe in Africa!

    I’ll definitely pass on this!

  54. I think I’ll pass on this. At this point it is getting a little sad with all the Batmen that are running around. Basically anyone can be Batman, much like anyone can be a lantern. This character reminds me of Shadowhawk from the Image universe. Why have this character have their own book? It will not and could not possibley succeed, who cares about crime in Africa? I can’t possibly see who the target audience is. The costume is a bit much too. Not something that strikes fear at first glance. This one needs to go away. Forever.

  55. Who cares about crime in Gotham? It is a made up place.

  56. I care about crime in Africa. I will buy this book. I am curious where they will take the character.

    I’m also Spartacus.

  57. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    @Cormac  To answer your earlier question, DC’s press release on the Source Blog cites him as “Batman of Africa” in the headline. That’s evidently where it started. 

    Also, what Tom and Prax said. Do people care about crime in Africa? Not nearly enough. 

  58. @PraxJarvin  No! I am Spartacus!