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BATWOMAN #5

“Hydrology,” the first arc of the critically acclaimed new BATWOMAN series, reaches its powerful conclusion!

After the horrors Batwoman has faced, she has a final showdown with The Weeping Woman – a specter with the power to dredge up Kate’s deepest pain. Can she finally forgive herself so she can dispel this evil?

And how will she respond when Chase and the DEO tighten their grip, forcing Kate to make an impossible decision?

Written by J.H. WILLIAMS III and W. HADEN BLACKMAN
Art and cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
Variant cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 6.3%

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Comments

  1. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    January 9, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    I have just reread the fist four issue. I have no idea what is going on with Weeping Woman.

    That been said, the relationships in this book are whats keeping me coming back. Kate and Maggie, Kate and Bette, Kate and her father, are all very detailed and complex.

    I’m interested to see where the DEO story is going, which will probably be a longer arc, once Weeping Woman is long gone.

    The art is great, but I am really looking forward to Amy Reeder next month.

    • Avatar photo Parri">Parri (@pazzatron) says:
      January 9, 2012 at 8:14 pm

      I’m with you, buddy. Every month I pick this book up thinking ‘Now what the hell happened last month’ and put it down thinking ‘daaaaym!’.

      Like you say, the character development is where it’s at with this one.
      The art’s alright n all.

    • Avatar photo Maty. says:
      January 10, 2012 at 9:35 pm

      When this was first announced, I was hoping the writers would take an even stronger horror approach to the storytelling. I get that Kate’s gay, hates her dad, has issues with Flamebird (Plebe), however, the conflict has been a little thin, admittedly. That said, it’s very much something I look forward to reading each month, albeit, mostly for Williams’ gorgeous layouts.

  2. Avatar photo zlbenson says:
    January 9, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    It makes me bummed to think I won’t get Williams art for a few months, but I am also very interested to see how Amy Reeder does.

    I think the Weeping Woman has paralled Batwoman in slight ways – with the Weeping Woman distraught over the death of her children and Batwoman having her own difficulties with the death of her sister. I think her character is supposed to help tie in the elements of death, sadness, drowning, etc.

    • Avatar photo kennyg says:
      January 15, 2012 at 2:46 pm

      I loved the parallels between them – that was a degree of story sophistication I did not expect in this title. Really well done, and the art just reinforced this.

  3. Avatar photo AmirCat says:
    January 9, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    I wish Alice had stayed dead, but oh well …

  4. Avatar photo SleepingMan says:
    January 9, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    I think the biggest problem with this arc is that the Weeping Woman is a very under-developped villain and it would have made more sense to focus more on the D.E.O biggest at this point I don’t know what the Weeping Woman’s point in the story is.

  5. Avatar photo misterckent says:
    January 9, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    I love this book. Weeping Woman or not. I love Batwoman’s connections to the occult. Let’s keep it at least a little creepy in here.

  6. Avatar photo jonny says:
    January 9, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    Jesus! That cover… I could make love to it.

  7. Avatar photo Dudes Macdougal says:
    January 11, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    If only the story was as good as the art.

  8. WookieLoveMachine says:
    January 11, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    Pick of the week. I love this book.

  9. Avatar photo Cameron Wolff says:
    January 11, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Man, when I went to my local shop, they didn’t have this issue for some reason! I must have it!

  10. Avatar photo adrianrigter says:
    January 11, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    i felt the story wrapped up just a little too quick, with no real transition from last issue to this one. the back half of the book was great though, Kate’s new Status Quo & the whole Medusa thang should be very interesting:)

  11. Avatar photo zlbenson says:
    January 11, 2012 at 11:02 pm

    looks like Chase and Bones are going to regular guests in this book and that makes me very happy. This book in general makes me happy.

  12. Avatar photo zlbenson says:
    January 11, 2012 at 11:09 pm

    Oh and the end of this made me very happy that I bought the Chase collection last week, a little more familiarity with the DEO is going to be nice.

  13. Avatar photo TurdSandwich says:
    January 11, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    I think Kate working for the DEO is great news, and the consequences of turning down Batman Inc. could be interesting. I agree, this book makes me happy too. I thought this was a really good first arc; as far as rounding the cast, and having the Kate stuff be as interesting as the Batwoman crimfighting was what really did it for me….The JHWIII art also got me to read each one twice at least.

  14. edward says:
    January 12, 2012 at 1:40 am

    I like how Kate had to meditate to figure out how to beat the villain…. which turned to be throwing a zippo at a petrol can.

    hmmm, I’ve got it! Start a fire. it’s so crazy it just might work

    • Avatar photo zlbenson says:
      January 12, 2012 at 10:47 am

      Kinda was goofy at first to me too. Then I choose to think of it less literally and more metaphorically. Cleanse by fire and all that. She’s haunted by a ghost in both Beth and the Weeping Woman. That was my take anyways.

      The Weeping Woman plot line has always felt like a symptom of her guilt over Beth, too many parallels. And now that she is past that (guilt) – her story as a hero partially in the palm of the DEO’s hand, possibly at odds with Batman, should be interesting. Also interested to see how she handles what happened to Flamebird.

    • edward says:
      January 12, 2012 at 5:08 pm

      yeah, i agree. the problem is if it’s a metaphor it’s pretty obvious and lame too

    • Avatar photo zlbenson says:
      January 13, 2012 at 10:07 am

      Ah, well you can’t please everyone all the time.

    • Avatar photo kennyg says:
      January 15, 2012 at 2:50 pm

      I thought it was fine. First, how do you fight a ghost? What do you do to stop one? You can’t punch it, kick it, throw a batarang into it. What are you going to do? And sometimes the most simplest solution is not the most obvious. She had to make a connection between evaporation and using it as a weapon against a ghost. I thought it was well done.

    • edward says:
      January 15, 2012 at 3:56 pm

      You know fire isn’t a metaphysical thing. If you can’t punch a ghost it stands to reason that you can’t burn it

    • Avatar photo BionicDave says:
      January 22, 2012 at 1:53 pm

      Kate wasn’t trying to burn the ghost, she was trying to burn the dock house – the site where the ghost’s children died and the ghost herself. Made sense to me. (Well, as much sense as a ghost story can make.)

  15. Avatar photo Lebahn says:
    January 13, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    The art on this book is simply….ohhhhhh! Orgasmic…

  16. Avatar photo GaviinNansoong says:
    January 14, 2012 at 10:41 am

    love the layouts, especially the double pages. great to not have to suffer so many ad-pages mid story. why can’t all the books take this policy of putting the majority of the ads at the back.

    I will happily pay an extra buck for a book with no ads. come on DC enough already.

  17. flapjaxx says:
    January 19, 2012 at 9:10 pm

    This book is incredible.

  18. Avatar photo BionicDave says:
    January 22, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    I sat down yesterday and re-read BATWOMAN #1-4, then read this last issue #5. And you know what? This title kicks ass. I’d been worried since Rucka left the character, but JHW3 is the real deal – providing some of the most beautiful art in the business, along with a writing style that is engaging, creative, and consistent. Big praise goes out to co-writer W. Haden Blackman as well; this team is definitely worth whatever DC is paying them (and then some).

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