Lady Badass
Written by: James Tynion IV
Art by: Christian Duce, Fernando Blanco, Alex Sinclair, John Rauch, Allen Passalaqua and Sal Cipriano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 8, 2017
Last issue showed me two things...Batman is a stubborn asshole and Lady Shiva is one kick ass villain. While I want to keep seeing more of the later, I really hope Batman gets his head out of his ass and stops worrying what to call this threat hitting Gotham and starts worrying how to stop it. Do both happen this issue? Let's find out...
We start the issue in France where Shiva is enjoying some downtime with some coffee and a little Camus when she is approached by Ra's. You have to love Ra's and his total disregard for blending in, but also his straight forward nature. He wants Shiva to call off her war on the League of Assassins and in return, he'll tell her where her daughter is. Her answer leads to more bloodshed, but as we know already, she must have gotten the info about her progeny anyhow.
Back in Gotham, Orphan notices that Team Detective is being watched as they fight the sleeper cell ninjas and slips away to investigate. The Team isn't doing so well until Batman tells Clayface to provide "backup" while Cassandra confronts Shiva on the rooftop,
It's a mother and daughter reunion that ends quick and with Cassandra heading for deaths door until Batman and Kate show up. Again, Shiva proves how badass she is by taking down Batman with ease and only letting him live because it will "hurt more". Like I said, BADASS!!!
After learning that Shiva's assassins took Luke and Azrael, we are reminded that Batman is still a wanted man and that Jacob faced and was defeated by Shiva as well. The issue ends with Jacob telling Kate to run and Cassandra wondering why of all the kick ass assassins in the world, Shiva had to be her mother. I know how she feels...minus the whole kick ass assassin part.
This was a really fast moving issue that sets up Shiva to be even more of a threat and makes me really want the next issue now. What's going to happen to Luke and Azrael? How will Batman deal with Shiva and the GCPD? What will Cassandra do? I want to know everything now!
With a bigger than usual art team on this issue, I will let you know that I was worried going in. Well, it seems that was unnecessary because the issue looked great and had no transition snafus to speak of. I especially liked the way Cassandra looked throughout.
Bits and Pieces:
I am really enjoying this League of Shadows story and if you didn't think that Lady Shiva was a threat before, I guarantee you will after this issue. The art and story were really good and I'm back to wanting the next issue of Detective Comics the minute I finish reading it.
9.0/10
holy crap, shiva is not a joke anymore
ReplyDeleteand people are going to get pissed at batman losing
I'm starting to think Tynion hates Batman.
DeleteYeah no screw this, Tynion is consistently treating Batman like a joke of a martial artist. Firstly, he let's that guy from the colony escape right in front of Batman, then he implies Azrael is somehow better than Batman then he makes him say that Cassandra will beat him and now Lady Shiva manhandles Batman like he's a street thug where in reality, Batman is arguable a better h2h combatant. I'm done with this book, wake me up when Tim comes back.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to wait...when Shiva says she lost to him in the past, she was plying a role and I think Batman is doing that now
DeleteI feel your pain. I used to hate it when Batman writers would make Superman look like a chump in Bat books...but to do it to Bats in his OWN book??? That's a little upsetting. The only thing I can say is, with this kind of set-up you HAVE to believe there will be some kind of epic redemption for Batman and a massive beat down for Shiva in the end. God, I hope so at least.
DeleteYeah, I'm not really feeling much love for Detective Comics right now. It just seems to check off story points in such a predictable manner, while making Batman look both stupid and weak in the process. If I wanted to not enjoy a Batman book, I'd start reading Snyder's stuff again. I haven't really been as into this book since the Monster Men atrocity. I just hope at some time we can get Batman back to being Batman fairly soon; otherwise, this might be my second Rebirth drop.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn worse than Natalie imbruglia... I am excited for this story. Lady Shiva is Kill Bill level "gonna kick your ass".. but I agree with Mike too. Batman has come off looking like a dumbass lately. If he doesn't turn it around soon, detective chimp may very well be the worlds greatest detective after all. However, it was my book of the week non the less right up there with Guy And the Green Lantern Corp!!!! I'm excited to see what else Shiva can do and what will happen next. For my sheer excitement for the next one, I'm leaning more towards Jim. Sorry Mike.... but I hope you enjoy the ice goats this weekend. Nice review as always Jim. Reward yourself with a grilled double down from KFC!!!
ReplyDelete