Title: Elegy Pt1
Written by: Greg Rucka
Art by: J.H. Williams III, Cully Hammer
Cover by: J.H. Williams III
Variant Cover: J.G. Jones
Release Date: June 24th, 2009
Price: $3.99

Official DC Comics Synopsis:
"Elegy" part 1 of 4! A new era in the history of DETECTIVE COMICS begins as Batwoman is unleashed on Gotham City! Marked by the blood-red bat, Kate Kane is a soldier fighting her own private war – one that began years ago and haunts her every waking moment. With a script by Greg Rucka and breath-taking art by JH Williams III, you've never seen anything like this!

Featuring the debut of a new co-feature starring The Question written by Rucka! Odds against you? Alone and nowhere to turn? Willing to fight, but you don't know how? When you're searching everywhere for an answer, sometimes all you need to do is ask the right Question. Renee Montoya again dons the faceless mask to help those in need, all the while searching for her own answers in this new adventure with art by Cully Hamner (BLUE BEETLE).

REVIEW BY: Bob Tilley

Absolutely outstanding!!! I've been eagerly awaiting this issue and I wasn't disappointed. If there is one thing Greg Rucka can do well its pace a story and give you enough to be happy with and not to over saturate the character or plot, but just holds back making you want to know more. I'll get to the artwork at the end as I can't wait to rave about J.H. Williams.

The issue starts off with Batwoman chasing down a crook (or informative), called Rush. What I love about this scene was the seduction Batwoman uses to get the answer from him instead of beating to crap out of him straight away. After he spill the beans, we move into yet another great moment between Batwoman and Batman, whose been watching in the shadows. Here we learn that the "Religion of Crime" have increased some of their activity over the last year and are gathering together very soon to meet a new leader... what I loved about this scene is that Batman knows Batwoman is already operating in Gotham (see below in a mo), and after she correctted him on the number of crime covens, you can see his level of respect is there and says to her "This one's yours. I'll be watching if you need help". This builds on the relationship Batwoman and Nightwing had during "52" back in 2006. Also Batman quickly says to Batwoman before he swings off "Do something about the hair. One pull and the fights over for you".

Now the issue takes its u turn here and we start to get down to the character driven element of Kate Kane. She meets up with her partner Anna, (looking very Gothic I might add), but the tension is already there between the two and Anna seemingly ends the relationship telling Kate she needs to grow up.

Now some of Kate Kane's background is touched upon when we see her back at her house with her father she refers to as General. Now he is sat at the computer going over a transcript Batwoman has done during the night so he's up to speed what is happening. WOW!!! She's working with her dad and he knows she a crime fighting vigilante. He asks her who she was talking to as her GPS shows she stop at one point, this elevates the level the operation is at. Kate tells him Batman, again showing the level of trust in the relationship.

During this scene with her dad, Kate is in some discomfort and they talk about her stab wound she received in "52", and it a miracle she's still alive. Kate doesn't hold back telling how much it still hurts and how helpless she felt during the whole ordeal so again another great character building moment.

Now we move onto a real cool moment in the issue... Batwoman's Batcave (sort of), and her dad gives her a new experimental gun (top secret stuff), so we know he's either still in the forces or still has a lot of contacts. Kate suits up and continues her hunt for the "Religion of Crime" as this is the night they are due to meet up.

Greg Rucka doesn't waste anytime with introducing the new leader of the Religion of Crime who is calling her self Alice. This looks like there might be some references to Alice in Wonderland maybe, but one interesting element is that Alice refers to Batwoman as "Your Majesty", which again continues the Religion of Crimes interest in Batwoman with the Crime Bible. Here the issue ends with Batwoman pulling the gun on Alice...

J.H. Williams art is amazing... I can't fault it, after talking with him (click here to listen to the podcast), I love the color and how rich the reds look against Kate's pale complexion. The issue is filled with eight double page splash panels all magnificently laid out out to capture some of Batwoman's movement and action scenes. I particularly liked the scene between Batwoman and Batman.

The new feature in this issue is with The Question, and we continue to see Renee Montoya's adventures. This time she's started looking for a missing girl and comes across what might be a ring of slave trafficking. The art by Cully Hamner is very fitting for this kind of crime nior story telling and I love that Greg Rucka has continued to write Renee Montoya as The Question since "52" and Final Crisis Revelation. He seems to have an affinity for this character and has always done her justice and has made her one of my favorite characters to follow in the DCU.