Batwing #1

[brerrabbit]

David Zavimbe the REAL Batwing first issue.

Comments

[kurenai_tenka]

Maaan I loved this (Winnick/Oliver, dream team for me).

I was so disappointed when they treated Dave like he was interchangeable and just swapped him out with Luke.

[redmagpie]

This is no judgement on quality as I haven't read the series but it is kind of wild to look back on this and think about how DC launched the African Batman series with a British/American creative team. Like can you imagine them doing it now?
Again- no idea on how this handled Africa or race or anything. I mean having one guy for all of Africa seems like poor planning from Bruce but I guess it takes a while to franchise.

[arilou_skiff]

To be fair, wasn't it basically one Bat per continent?

[jgeils]

Somebody has to fight that guy in Antarctica doing a Joker/Mr.Freeze mashup cosplay.

[beyondthefringe]

Well, you have about 12 for Gotham. Then you got Batmen for Australia, England, France, Argentina, Africa, Japan, Native American tribes, Italy...

So clearly, franchising is a slow process at best. I'm sure that had he been able to, Bruce would have done a better job of spreading out the Bats.

[icon_uk]

I think the dramatic moment of the bat flying through Bruce Wayne's study window might have been a little diluted if Bruce had immediately shouted! "That's it, I shall become... a FRANCHISE!"

[scorntx]

Pretty sure there was a Marvel parody of Bats that went with that exact premise...

[silverhammerman]

I was about to say the same thing about the creative team. No judgment or anything, but it's weird, especially when the book has lines "myths are something we do very well in Africa" and seemingly is trying to emphasize that being a superhero in the Democratic Republic of Congo works differently. I'm sure Winick and Oliver gave this their all, but if there was ever a time to pointedly look beyond the usual suspects, this was it.

[redmagpie]

Yeah, that line stuck out to me too.
Is there much in this series that plays into the setting? Like the car chase at the start is interesting because it seems to be rural but we still have him like jumping on the car (from a glider rather than a rooftop) and then the corrupt cops could be anywhere. Someone mentioned that he was a child soldier in the comments.
Sorry- really don't know much about how this played out.

[silverhammerman]

This really was one of the more out there titles to come out of the New 52, especially bizarre because it spun out of Batman Inc at a time when DC as a whole was downplaying that concept over in the main Batman titles. I vaguely recall being interested in this at some point but then never following through because the first issue has a bad guy named "Massacre" show up and cut a bunch of dudes' heads off, and I really only consider that a positive indicator of quality when it's a particular kind of book. Still, the idea of actually following through on the Batman Inc premise and trying something potentially unique can't be faulted for ambition.

I couldn't begin to properly critique this with any authority (though I would be fascinated to read someone else's critique of the series), but it seems like a shame that evidently neither the character nor the execution ever clicked with readers. David Zavimbe's replacement, Luke Fox, has had similar issues, but between the two of them I can't help thinking that Zavimbe has a lot more going for him conceptually. You get all that big, classic superhero stuff about the big characters inspiring new heroes, a former child soldier, a cop, the radically different context of the DRC, there's a lot there. Then again, maybe that's part of why DC eventually ditched Zavimbe, it's hard to imagine a phoned in, business as usual, non-challenging version of this book.

[locuatico]

Looking back at the Nu52 at launch, I feel like a number of titles got the greenlight because they had to fill 52 spots exactly and they were running low, rather than the books being necessarily that interesting.
This is not a dig at quality, more as an observation: It's easier for you to pitch your series if the higher-ups are getting desperate for content.

I do think this book was probably a remnant for the original plans in the batman line before the Nu52 happened. They needed to fill a slot and this book was the one who got lucky.

I can't say anything about this book's quality, because the only issue I read was a tie-in to the court of owls that was included in my trade. But I do think it was a terrible title to launch in the Nu52 line.
it's whole premise felt at odds with the whole "Reboot to get new readers" DC was pushing for at the time, it was related to a storyline that was barely referenced in the Batman books and it came out at a time when we were suffering Batman Oversaturation.

[blueprintstyles]

I loved this run, I say this as a person of colour. I loved the focus on unheard of African heroes and villains, no 'guest star" household names to steal the limelight. I wish it lasted longer and was mentioned more. I bought the entire Batwing run and I always hoped David would come back to give Luke some advice.