Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. #3 Review and **SPOILERS**

Family the in Death A

Written By: Jody Houser
Interiors Drawn By: Ibrahim Moustafa
Interiors Colored By: Jordan Boyd
Back-Up Drawn By: Paulina Ganucheau
Lettered By: John Workman
Cover By: Tommy Lee Edwards
Edited By: Molly Mahan
Executive Editor: Mark Doyle
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: May 23, 2018

So, this is the first issue of Mother Panic since the announcement that the Young Animal line is being cancell... er, ending with their sixth issues, as it was always intended.

And suddenly all of the urgency is taken out of my sails.  Are we in for truncated stories... or will the creators be able to bring their series' to a satisfying end?

Guess we're going to be finding out!



Welcome to Arkham Institute, Violet... hope you survive the yadda yadda.

Just about the entirety of this latest issue of Mother Panic takes place inside the new-look Arkham... and as tired as I am of Arkham as a story-setting, this worked quite well.  Since New Gotham is sort of "run" out of the Institute, it stands to reason that much of the action should occur here.  Plus, it facilitates our Harley Quinn cameo.

Violet has a reunion... of sorts with her mother, and I gotta say... it was far more touching than it had any right to be.  It was with this meeting that Violet realized how "special" her "real" mother is/was... and fully understands why their last conversation went the way it did.

This takes up much of the first half of the book... and to be honest, if this was all we got this time around... I'd have been cool with it.   This sort of feels like a moment we've been building toward... not just for the past few issues of the Gotham A.D. volume, but since the first time we met these characters.  It's finally beginning to feel as though Violet is a hero.  She's still not exactly the most likable sort, but I'm getting more and more comfortable considering her one of the "good guys".

The second half of the book really kicks the second half of this volume into overdrive.  We get our token Joker appearance, only to bear witness to an inverted take on "A Death in the Family", complete with an appearance from Jason Todd!

In all the time we've known Mother Panic, she's worked in three-part arcs.  This time around, we do get a bit of an ending... however, one that is far more open-ended than we might be accustomed to (I won't spoil the cliffhanger, but it's definitely worth seeing).  This isn't a bad thing, especially considering that we already know this series will be wrapping up this Summer.

Bits & Pieces:

It feels as though Mother Panic is finally coming into her own... just as the rug is getting nyoinked out from under her.  A very good issue... enjoy it while it lasts!

8.5/10