Comic Book Review: Batwoman #1

In this comic review of Batwoman #1, Kate Kane, Batwoman, faces the fanatical Religion of Crime in Greece.

BATWOMAN #1
Written by GREG RUCKA
Art and Main Cover: DANI
Variant Cover: JORGE CORONA, STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU, JOSHUA “SWAY” SWABY, STJEPAN ŠEJIĆ
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 3/18/26

This review contains spoilers

In Petalon, Greece, on an island facility, Dr. Zena Sidaris speaks with Kate Kane, described by her caregivers as “defeated.” Bearing significant signs of injury, Kate sheds a tear and remembers her last meeting with her twin sister, Beth, also called Alice of the Religion of Crime, who supposedly died when they were both twelve. Kate yells that nothing matters, and we see her fighting in flashback the members of the Religion, who quote their prophecy that indicates she will die to bring about Anti-Life and the age of Darkseid. Batwoman pleads with Alice, who has moments where Beth seems to surface, not to kill millions. Shooting the detonation device with her grapnel gun, Batwoman climbs out of the cavern they are fighting in and breaks the device, under heavy fire from Alice. On a cliff, Alice declares that Kate or Beth must perish, and then the twins both apparently plummet from the cliff.

In the facility, Kate weeps, and repeats Beth’s question: “How do you fight the devil when the devil is real?” She repeats that no one has a choice.

Elsewhere, in Eschaton Tower, the leadership of the Religion of Crime observes Kate, saying that as the mirror of her dead sister “Alice,” Kate must be converted and then sacrificed to Darkseid. As they plot, Batwoman interrupts them with a laser-projected Batwoman signal on their window, saying from her rooftop, “Come and get me, @%$#.”

Analysis

After about 16 years, Greg Rucka returns to the character he defined in the powerful story Elegy (recently collected in the excellent Compact Comics edition). While other writers, including JH Williams III, Hayden Blackman, Marguerite Bennet, James Tynion IV, and more have told stories with Kate that have resonated, exploring her battles against supernatural threats, old exes, and (annoyingly) the Batfamily itself far too often, always building on the foundation that Rucka laid in Elegy, the core question that Elegy raised about Kate – why was her mother killed and her sister twisted into the horrifying Alice by the Religion of Crime – was never even touched. Alice herself was found and somewhat rehabilitated, but Rucka, clearly not a fan of most, if not all that has been done to Kate in the intervening decade and a half, has decided to effectively reset most of the relevant pieces (Alice, Religion of Crime) to focus on that central question once again.

The resulting story is heavy on the vibes of foreboding and despair. Greek artist DaNi, the partial inspiration for the book’s setting, puts her trademark almost hallucinogenic style, heavy on the silhouettes and carefully chosen seemingly simple shapes, to excellent use. Colorist Matt Hollingsworth beautifully highlights DaNi’s linework with carefully chosen, limited palette colors, hearkening back to Rucka’s early 2000s Detective Comics run with Steve Leiber, Rick Burchett, Shawn Martinborough, and other artists which created a beautiful limited color neo-noir look – but this time, more exotic, threatening and vibrant colors peep through, adding dashes of menace and power. While very different from the extremely unique look that JH Williams and colorist Dave Stewart created for Kate in Elegy, there’s a bit of similarity to the bold shapes used by superstar artist Jock in the short Batwoman story “Cutter” also found in the Elegy Compact Comics edition.

While Rucka reveals very little concretely about Batwoman’s real state of mind (probably to achieve the surprise reveal of the final page, where a supposedly defeated Kate shines her brilliant laser-red Batwoman signal right at her enemies), and lets the brief visuals of the villains speak more than his dialogue does, there’s an overall sense of threat, despair, madness, menace, and foreboding. The title of this first arc, “Eschatology” – the study of the end of all things – and of course Eschaton Tower, the hideout of our villains – underlines these effectively conveyed vibes. The focus on the Religion of Crime makes me hopeful that one of my biggest frustrations with Elegy – the lack of coherency to the villains’ motivation – will be addressed at last. Whether it is or not, though, one thing is sure: Rucka and DaNi are here to hit the emotions hard.

DaNi’s main cover features Kate as Batwoman atop a rooftop, surrounded by negative image bats, white against the blackness – highlighting the surreal, silhouette and limited color effect of the book beautifully. Stjepan Sejic’s cover features Batwoman taking off (or putting on?) her mask in a Batcave, with Batwoman symbols on the Batcomputer behind her. Artgerm’s variant (also available as a foil virgin variant) features a much less heavily rendered version of his trademark painted style, focusing on the black, white, and red color scheme in a very striking pose for Batwoman. Jorge Corona’s Next Level variant features Batwoman against a pale blue background in a pose somewhat reminiscent of the famous black and red cover of Batman Year One by Mazzucchelli. The 1 in 25 incentive cover by Joshua Swaby shows Batwoman plummeting down a narrow white space, looking over her shoulder – very dynamic, especially in her extremely long red wig. A Jams Fortress Comics Megacon retailer/convention exclusive variant by Ariel Diaz also features a very heavily rendered painting style image of Batwoman, strong ties to her JH Williams appearances, but with the new current design, against a red-lit skyscraper cityscape.

Final Thoughts

Rucka and DaNi produce a deeply moody, foreboding issue with Batwoman #1 that’s a bit light on explicit plot and character revelation, but heavy on the vibes.

Ian Miller

A latecomer to comics - I started reading Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Birds of Prey, Hush, and War Games in college. Over a decade and a half later, I'm still inspired by Batman, and especially the Bat-Family (Stephanie Brown!) I started out listening to BTO, then Stella drew me to TBUCP, I volunteered to write reviews, and the rest is history! Love recording the podcast, especially with my amazing cohosts. Also a huge fan of Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and many more books!