Story wise, this title seems to be rather strong. An interesting arc is beginning in this issue. Unfortunately, due to me jumping on in issue twelve, I was a bit confused by some of the characters. Nevertheless the main point of the story was written well enough for me to enjoy.

The story starts off with a bang and it moves along nicely, you easily get hooked into the “whodunit?” side of the story. Apart from the main plot there is a nice piece of characterisation being done on the side. The side plot does not feature the heroine at all but helps to flesh out other role-players in the story and does a great job of building the world around her. Overall the storyline was a nicely rounded tale, complete with action and some nice dialogue scenes.

The strongest points that come from the pencils and inks of Cameron Stewart would have to be a) Classic
b) Consistency. Stewart manages something quite rare for mainstream artists, he manages to draw in his own original style and avoid common trends. I guess it was quite a risk to take on someone with Stewarts’ style to do a big-time DC book for the masses, as he quite clearly has an indie feel to his work. You won’t find lens flares and manga influences here, just a classic well defined artist at work. His art made me have an interest in this book, if it hadn’t been for his individual style I probably wouldn’t have given it a look. Many of you might think his work to basic or to “old school” for your liking; I felt much the same way at first but the thing that changed my outlook was his consistency.

The story flows so much better in a comic when drawn by someone who can always render his characters in a similar fashion panel to panel. Cameron has an eye for facial expression and definition. An example of this is how Catwoman’s face can be recognised with or without her mask due to the way her high cheek bones and sleek face have been drawn. His environments are also done nicely. Although simple they seem to eke the right amount of reality to set the scene well. The inks didn’t really stand out to me and thus to my mind did their job.

The colour is flat and void of most shading and texture. This is said as a positive comment and not negative. Any other style of colour would ruin the “old-school” styling of the book. You won’t hear me say this much about colouring, but here it rings true, the less extras the better.

This is a nice break from the other “Bat” books out there. It seems to follow its on style both in art and storyline. On the artistic side it is a pleasant respite from the normal pencil and colouring techniques of the 2000’s. Overall it is a nice read and something different from the everyday superhero book.

Score 7/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan