Re-Reading Batwoman Part 45
This is the last regular issue of the series. The Second Annual follows, wrapping up of most of the plot. Â Recently it was announced that Batwoman would be joining the newly bi-monthly Detective Comics series where in she and Batman will be training Cassandra Caine, Stephanie Brown and Clayface. The inclusion of Clayface among the students seems like it maybe a reference to The Unknown, but we will have to wait and see.
Most of the issues in this arc have treated the formation of The Unknown and Morgaine Le Fey’s power quest as the A-plot and whatever is going on with Nocturna and her murdered step-daughter as the B-plot, this reverses that ranking. I don’t know how far into production of this issue things were when they discovered that the title had been cancelled, nor where they were when the controversy about the plot with Nocturna arose, but this is surprisingly satisfying in addressing that controversy while starting to wrap things up.
Over the first two pages The Unknown are split up and patrol Gotham for signs of Morgaine Le Fey. Batwoman directs the effort over the radio when she notices police cars outside Alexandra Witherspoon’s apartment. She turns on the news via her smartphone and sees coverage of the murder investigation. The phone is like Chekhov’s gun. It appears in one panel early on only so it can be used off panel later to close the book on Nocturna.
While realizing that Alex is dead, Batwoman has a flashback about threatening her back in issue #37. Considering how uncertain she is supposed to be about that scene, I’m still frustrated by how it was originally presented.  The entirety of this plot depends on how little self-reflection Batwoman allows herself.  I believe that this is consistent with the character as she has been written by all three writing teams, even as this is the most explicit version.
When Batwoman confronts Nocturna, Nocturna calmly thanks her and confirms that Batwoman killed Alex. Nocturna as the creator of this mess is artistically emphasized by a panel framed in a view through the fireplace. Flames take up about a third of the panel while she, wine glass in hand, looks on from her couch. The final panel on the page is of Batwoman’s gloves and belt supposedly covered in Alex’s blood. There is nothing else in the panel, giving an unreal effect.
Nocturna is about to seal her story with a bite when Red Alice shows up to announce that her sister is neither a vampire nor a killer. Nocturna goads Batwoman into attacking her sister.  While under attack, Red Alice reveals that Nocturna is really just an exceptionally powerful hypnotist, or “psycho-empath”.  Despite the magnitude of her abilitiy, it’s still hypnosis, which means Nocturna can’t force Batwoman into doing anything she doesn’t want to do, specifically kill anyone. It also means that on one level, she really has wanted to get into this messed up relationship with Nocturna.  This is where Marc Andreyko gets to have the characters explicitly say for the reader that it wasn’t rape.Â
It is probably too little too late for some and definitely unconvincing for others. In my reviews, I’ve tried to draw attention to how many times Batwoman avoids introspection. This is the payoff for all of those moments. Distressing as this is, it does explian Kate’s feelings about relationships. Kate really wants to be in a relationship. This can be traced through to Greg Rucka’s writing of the character where she gets dumped over breakfast by an unknown woman and starts her relationship with Maggie immediately after misidentifying a woman as her ex-girlfriend Renée. Rucka intended this to be a contrast to Batman. Batman doesn’t want to be in a romantic relationship, which is why his two most enduring love interests (Catwoman and Talia Al Ghul) are career criminals. He can’t trust them, so his inclination to disengage is always being reinforced. Batwoman wants a functional romantic relationship. She gets that with Maggie, who is undeniably good for her. When Kate messes up that, she moves on to Natalia, who is undeniably bad for her. This is partially to punish herself. It also provides the opportunity to literally punch at her problems, something she wished she could have done when she was with Maggie. The scene wraps up with the revelation that Red Alice recorded Nocturna’s confession and sent it to the police.
There is a short scene of comfort drawn between the two sisters. It is drawn mostly in close ups of the two emphasizing how open and understanding they are of each other. They are interrupted by Ragman who updates them on the hunt for Morgaine Le Fey and her army. During the few pages of the issue not wrapping up the Batwoman/Nocturna plot, Le Fey and her swamp-born army decide to build a New Avalon on the moon. They break into a Wayne Tech/ STAR Labs facility to get the technology for their journey. On seeing them arrive, a guard starts to say “Holy-” and Morgaine Le Fey interrupts with “There’s nothing holy here.” It doesn’t have the same punch or multiple meanings as the “My God, Beth”/ “There is no such thing.” exchange in “Elegy”, but it nods in that direction.
This read-through really emphasizes how Andreyko was acknowledging the grandiosity of that earlier story as well as JH Williams III and Haden Blackman’s three arc opening story, while sustaining a knowing sense of camp. There are multiple winks at the reader about how ridiculous everything is. The story seems to enjoy piling things up where the others emphasized growing stakes. Each writer also has a different Kate/Batwoman balance presentation. “Elegy”/ “Go” gives Kate an imperfect, but well balanced life before revealing that it’s based on a lie. “Hydrology”/ “ To Drown the World” / “World’s Finest” starts with a new attempt at balance before letting the Batwoman life completely overtake Kate’s story. “The Unknown” is about using work to distract from personal failings. I can’t say that they fit together (each feels like it is was cut off before a conclusion) but they do have an interesting synergy when viewed together. They each use lots of the same elements, but always mix up something different. The issue ends with Ragman leading The Unknown to a rocket describing how they have to head “Really, Really high above Gotham.” This leads back to “Mystery in Space” followed by the finale.
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