It's time to talk about Batwoman.
And, ACTUALLY talk about it.
I have to say, I was incredibly disappointed to see all the hate for the new CW show and trailer. It's one thing to not like the shows - I personally can't stand Arrow and the Flash show makes me hate so many of my favourite comic characters - but the brunt of this hate seems to be aimed at the fact that Batwoman is... drumroll..... A WOMAN. *surprised Pikachu face*
When I read comments that say things like 'We've already GOT a BatMAN why do we need a BatWOMAN this is SJW crap out of control!' I honestly can't tell if these are just trolling neckbeards or people who actually don't know that Batwoman has been a long standing - if mostly under represented - character in the Batman lore.
Other comments focus their vitrol on actress Ruby Rose. They hate that she's so skinny and doesn't look like she's able to fight for her life, or they hate that she's so sexually ambiguous to them or they hate that she had the nerve to represent some sliver of female empowerment. Yeah, it's not like it's 2019 or anything... we women hate having representation in the media, paid employment, the right to vote and other improvements.. ?
I don't really know much about Ruby Rose herself, I think she was a model and I know she was in a few music videos and OITNB but I liked her in John Wick II well enough to think she would do the job just fine here.
Let's also not forget that several male actors seem to get a pass even though they look like the guy who would come off second best in fisticuffs..
Also everyone who stamped 'CRINGE' all over Batwoman's trailer seems to have ignored the fact that all of CW's superhero shows are 90% cringe. It's basically what they do.
Now, aforementioned issues with CW shows aside... I have gone into the first episode with open eyes and an open mind. I absolutely LOVE the new Batwoman - circa 2006 - and her comics are consistently some of the better ones that come out of the DC factory.
Also noteworthy that Kate is the better pale skinned, talented gymnast Jewish lesbian who favours a red and black colour scheme, and as much as I love Harley Quinn, the new versions of her that just stole Kate's schtick and somehow gets all the attention and praise makes me sick. New Harley is a terrible partner to everyone she gets involved with but enough about that over hyped clown. Let's talk about the CW show episode one and Batwoman's 2009-2010 storyline in the Elegy hardcover.
Elegy takes place shortly after the events of 52 and Infinite Crisis but the story itself is very self contained and doesn't really need the prior reading to understand what's happening. The storyline shows what Batwoman's up against, where she came from and how she started her vigilante career. It's not a cookie cutter Bat-family story and the art is just fantastic - very cinematic and well done.
Now, the TV show wasn't as bad as all the trolls say it is but I really wish it had stuck closer to her comic origins. Some changes I understand going from a comic book to a televised format, some things maybe they legally can't copy from the comic, maybe they're making their own version of Batwoman that fits in the CW superhero universe... I don't know, but here are my thoughts.
Comic Batwoman comes from a family of army people. It literally IS her life until the 'don't ask, don't tell' conundrum ruined it for her. She maintained her honour and refused to lie about her sexuality but did her best to make sure her lover didn't get kicked out like she did. Earlier in her life, her mother and twin sister and herself are taken hostage, and only she comes out of it alive. This haunts her throughout the story.
In present day, she loses her way and motivations until a chance encounter with a mugger and Batman gives her a renewed mission in life and a new way to serve her country. She becomes a vigilante and after some time, her father - the only surviving member of her immediate family - becomes aware of it. After she explains why she's doing this, he agrees to help her - organising specialist training, creating a base of operations and helping make a Bat inspired costume. They are in this together - following both Batman's code and their own strong beliefs drilled into them from their academy. Kate presents a socialite front to society - as the cousin of Bruce Wayne - and eventually teams up with her cousin Bette. She eventually faces off against her sister - someone she thought was long dead, but is the new, twisted leader of the cult who have already tried to kill her once before.
TV Batwoman did not break away from the Wayne mythology too much, which I think is one of the worst parts about the show.
Kate and Beth are shown playing in Wayne Enterprises in their youth, as an adult she knows all the passwords on Bruce's computer, the death of Kate's mother and sister come about after a random car crash where Batman appears and fails to secure the car enough that it doesn't fall off a bridge. Then Batman goes missing for years on end. Once she discovers the Batcave, she basically steals his batsuit from a cloned versions of Lucius Fox and writes Bruce a little note about what she's up to.
Kate's father is no longer in the army (or if he was, we don't know about it) and he created his own security company. His relationship with his surviving daughter is strained and it seems like he sent her away for training as a way to keep her out of his security firm even though he knows she wanted to work there? Kate's romance with another cadet continues to play out because said cadet now works at the security firm and has to be saved by the newly appointed Batwoman early on.
I know they want to play up the Bat family angle and maybe the two cousins were a lot closer in this series than they seemed before seeing as how Kate tells us how much Bruce was there for her following the family tragedy but in my opinion, they took a great origin story and mostly turned it into just another Batman tale. I mean, even the slight change from army colonel to security firm boss is a step in the wrong direction. How many other CW shows have a similar set up where it's just this massive operation with a million characters running around the building?
How nice would it have been to have a more humble, small operation with a strong relationship between father and daughter? Hell, any superhero without a messed up family story line is unique!
It's not even like the Kanes have a perfect family, not with their history, but it was organic and a real homegrown, underground hero kinda thing going on. Her take downs, tactics, gadgets and weaponry in the comics are all based on military training, and this makes sense in the comics. I feel like the change to a security firm is just a cheap way to justify the use of their facilities and an excuse to be where the action is.
The next change I can understand a bit more as they're targeting TV watchers and not necessarily hardcore comic nerds, however the Religion of Crime being left out is a bit meh. For a comparison - the comic had a huge lead up and suspense with Batwoman hunting the 13 covens to track down the newly appointed leader, trying to find out why they've tried to kill her. When she comes across Alice - a seemingly docile Wonderland devotee who later shows she's extremely warped and dangerous as well as having as secret - it pays off. She's not what you expect and she's interesting.
In the TV show.... Alice is just.... there? Straight up in our faces, talking smack about Batman, dissing Kate's dad and declaring he'd rather have Sophie and hating on security firms, decking Batwoman while later declaring she wants to reconcile.. plus she hardly talks in Carroll quotes at all. They added some animal masks, didn't think they'd have any shape shifters but that's fine.
It's hard to gauge how much of a threat she is. Is this her own small gang, is she part of a larger Intergang plot? Is she actually a leader of any kind? Has she been in Gotham the whole time just waiting until now to get involved? Is she solely after family vengeance or is she trying to destroy Gotham like Comic Alice?
And, ACTUALLY talk about it.
I have to say, I was incredibly disappointed to see all the hate for the new CW show and trailer. It's one thing to not like the shows - I personally can't stand Arrow and the Flash show makes me hate so many of my favourite comic characters - but the brunt of this hate seems to be aimed at the fact that Batwoman is... drumroll..... A WOMAN. *surprised Pikachu face*
When I read comments that say things like 'We've already GOT a BatMAN why do we need a BatWOMAN this is SJW crap out of control!' I honestly can't tell if these are just trolling neckbeards or people who actually don't know that Batwoman has been a long standing - if mostly under represented - character in the Batman lore.
Other comments focus their vitrol on actress Ruby Rose. They hate that she's so skinny and doesn't look like she's able to fight for her life, or they hate that she's so sexually ambiguous to them or they hate that she had the nerve to represent some sliver of female empowerment. Yeah, it's not like it's 2019 or anything... we women hate having representation in the media, paid employment, the right to vote and other improvements.. ?
I don't really know much about Ruby Rose herself, I think she was a model and I know she was in a few music videos and OITNB but I liked her in John Wick II well enough to think she would do the job just fine here.
Let's also not forget that several male actors seem to get a pass even though they look like the guy who would come off second best in fisticuffs..
Also everyone who stamped 'CRINGE' all over Batwoman's trailer seems to have ignored the fact that all of CW's superhero shows are 90% cringe. It's basically what they do.
Now, aforementioned issues with CW shows aside... I have gone into the first episode with open eyes and an open mind. I absolutely LOVE the new Batwoman - circa 2006 - and her comics are consistently some of the better ones that come out of the DC factory.
Also noteworthy that Kate is the better pale skinned, talented gymnast Jewish lesbian who favours a red and black colour scheme, and as much as I love Harley Quinn, the new versions of her that just stole Kate's schtick and somehow gets all the attention and praise makes me sick. New Harley is a terrible partner to everyone she gets involved with but enough about that over hyped clown. Let's talk about the CW show episode one and Batwoman's 2009-2010 storyline in the Elegy hardcover.
Elegy takes place shortly after the events of 52 and Infinite Crisis but the story itself is very self contained and doesn't really need the prior reading to understand what's happening. The storyline shows what Batwoman's up against, where she came from and how she started her vigilante career. It's not a cookie cutter Bat-family story and the art is just fantastic - very cinematic and well done.
Now, the TV show wasn't as bad as all the trolls say it is but I really wish it had stuck closer to her comic origins. Some changes I understand going from a comic book to a televised format, some things maybe they legally can't copy from the comic, maybe they're making their own version of Batwoman that fits in the CW superhero universe... I don't know, but here are my thoughts.
Comic Batwoman comes from a family of army people. It literally IS her life until the 'don't ask, don't tell' conundrum ruined it for her. She maintained her honour and refused to lie about her sexuality but did her best to make sure her lover didn't get kicked out like she did. Earlier in her life, her mother and twin sister and herself are taken hostage, and only she comes out of it alive. This haunts her throughout the story.
In present day, she loses her way and motivations until a chance encounter with a mugger and Batman gives her a renewed mission in life and a new way to serve her country. She becomes a vigilante and after some time, her father - the only surviving member of her immediate family - becomes aware of it. After she explains why she's doing this, he agrees to help her - organising specialist training, creating a base of operations and helping make a Bat inspired costume. They are in this together - following both Batman's code and their own strong beliefs drilled into them from their academy. Kate presents a socialite front to society - as the cousin of Bruce Wayne - and eventually teams up with her cousin Bette. She eventually faces off against her sister - someone she thought was long dead, but is the new, twisted leader of the cult who have already tried to kill her once before.
TV Batwoman did not break away from the Wayne mythology too much, which I think is one of the worst parts about the show.
Kate and Beth are shown playing in Wayne Enterprises in their youth, as an adult she knows all the passwords on Bruce's computer, the death of Kate's mother and sister come about after a random car crash where Batman appears and fails to secure the car enough that it doesn't fall off a bridge. Then Batman goes missing for years on end. Once she discovers the Batcave, she basically steals his batsuit from a cloned versions of Lucius Fox and writes Bruce a little note about what she's up to.
Kate's father is no longer in the army (or if he was, we don't know about it) and he created his own security company. His relationship with his surviving daughter is strained and it seems like he sent her away for training as a way to keep her out of his security firm even though he knows she wanted to work there? Kate's romance with another cadet continues to play out because said cadet now works at the security firm and has to be saved by the newly appointed Batwoman early on.
I know they want to play up the Bat family angle and maybe the two cousins were a lot closer in this series than they seemed before seeing as how Kate tells us how much Bruce was there for her following the family tragedy but in my opinion, they took a great origin story and mostly turned it into just another Batman tale. I mean, even the slight change from army colonel to security firm boss is a step in the wrong direction. How many other CW shows have a similar set up where it's just this massive operation with a million characters running around the building?
How nice would it have been to have a more humble, small operation with a strong relationship between father and daughter? Hell, any superhero without a messed up family story line is unique!
It's not even like the Kanes have a perfect family, not with their history, but it was organic and a real homegrown, underground hero kinda thing going on. Her take downs, tactics, gadgets and weaponry in the comics are all based on military training, and this makes sense in the comics. I feel like the change to a security firm is just a cheap way to justify the use of their facilities and an excuse to be where the action is.
The next change I can understand a bit more as they're targeting TV watchers and not necessarily hardcore comic nerds, however the Religion of Crime being left out is a bit meh. For a comparison - the comic had a huge lead up and suspense with Batwoman hunting the 13 covens to track down the newly appointed leader, trying to find out why they've tried to kill her. When she comes across Alice - a seemingly docile Wonderland devotee who later shows she's extremely warped and dangerous as well as having as secret - it pays off. She's not what you expect and she's interesting.
In the TV show.... Alice is just.... there? Straight up in our faces, talking smack about Batman, dissing Kate's dad and declaring he'd rather have Sophie and hating on security firms, decking Batwoman while later declaring she wants to reconcile.. plus she hardly talks in Carroll quotes at all. They added some animal masks, didn't think they'd have any shape shifters but that's fine.
It's hard to gauge how much of a threat she is. Is this her own small gang, is she part of a larger Intergang plot? Is she actually a leader of any kind? Has she been in Gotham the whole time just waiting until now to get involved? Is she solely after family vengeance or is she trying to destroy Gotham like Comic Alice?
