Batwoman #7

Writer: Marguerite Bennett

Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colourist: John Rauch

Letterer: Deron Bennett

This is the first issue that Marguerite Bennet has sole writing credit on, and I felt that sole voice coming across in the dialogue and the plotting. However, I'm still confused as to what the direction of the story is. It very much involves the Many Arms of Death, the organisation Kate dealt with in the first arc, which is also the organisation that is selling monster venom in international black markets. You know, from Night of the Monster Men, that beloved crossover everybody remembers. This seems like a solid threat, but the inclusion of Safiyah in some flashback scenes as well as a character named Beth , who I think might be Kate's long-deceased sister, just muddle the plot even further.

I understand the first portion of the New 52 Batwoman run is beloved, but a creative team shouldn't feel the need to harken back to the tonal style or weird, supernatural and trippy aspects of the story. I want something new. I like how grounded the first few beats of this issue are, until the aforementioned plot muddling.

This issue deals with Kate hunting down certain players in the Many Arms of Death. She dealt with Knife in the first arc, but apparently there are more characters with vague, weapon-like names still out there. Here she is chasing down the Needle, who I immediately knew the identity of, and the premise to this is genuinely cool. Chasing down a faceless enemy in the desert until your plane is shot down is visually interesting and new artist Fernando Blanco does a hell of a job here. Blanco was part of the Detective Comics team, so it's nice to see him move onto his own book, much like Stephen Segovia from Action Comics to Superwoman and Jorge Jimenez from Superman to Super Sons.

Despite my interest in the story's premise, Bennett didn't really delve in as deep as I was hoping she would. Mining Safiyah and her dead sister Beth bores me because I've seen it before. Bennett tells this creepy fox story but it's told in such a vague and nonsense fashion that it didn't register with me.

This issue is better than what we've been getting recently, but there's still a ways to go before this book becomes the book we want it to be. I understand the hesitation to set the story in Gotham, which is why we're location hopping a lot, but this book needs an identity and the messy plot doesn't help. Blanco does a great job with the art, however, and I'm excited to see more of his work.