Batwoman #1 - DC Comics

BATWOMAN No. 1, May 2026

Whilst there were doubtless a fair few comic book fans who were excited with Greg Rucka returning to a character he hadn’t written for “after almost twenty years”, it is arguably highly unlikely that this particular twenty-two-page periodical will successfully “bring Kate to a new generation of thrill seekers.” Indeed, despite the Eisner Award-Winner desperately hoping that this publication is “new reader friendly”, it is probably a safe bet that if anything “Eschatology” will lose the ongoing solo series fans rather than attract many new ones; “You look much better today. Hopefully the pain has passed.?”

To be honest though, a lot of this story’s accessibility doesn’t really lie in its penmanship, as the “co-creator of the modern Batwoman” definitely provides his audience with an intriguing insight into the costumed crime-fighter’s emotional psyche by placing her deep inside a Greek Sanatorium. There the vigilante has clearly been both mentally and physically traumatised by her recent battle with her identical twin sister Elisabeth, and is understandably struggling to overcome her injuries, as well as the notion of her sibling falling to her death.

Furthermore, Kate Kane’s welfare interview with Doctor Zena Sidaris is neatly interspersed with some pulse-pounding panels packed full of action-packed gun-play, punches and knife-blows. These adrenalin-fuelled flashbacks genuinely make the book much more of a joy to read, as the notion of Batwoman failing to stop Alice from setting off the fire pit and killing millions of innocent people is surprisingly palpable – especially when the central protagonist is stabbed and shot early on in the proceedings.

Disappointingly however, what does debatably interfere with this tale’s success is the pencilling of “visionary artist DaNi”, which despite the illustrator’s reputation doesn’t really work when it comes to the aforementioned sedentary scenes set inside the mental clinic and then later at Eschaton Tower. Admittedly, the Athens-born artist’s drawings during Kate’s desperate struggle against her sister certainly does its job well enough. But the lady’s somewhat sketchy-looking style is something of an acquired taste, and appears to make some pictures rather hard to discern – such as one presumably depicting the Monks of the Stone practicing somewhere along the Mediterranean coastline.

Writer: Greg Rucka, Artist: DaNi, and Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth