I wasn’t too blown away by writer Greg Rucka’s first story arc on Detective Comics (the one that stars Batwoman, that is).

Well, let me qualify that statement: I liked Rucka’s plot and script on the comic’s second feature, starring The Question, but I wasn’t in love with the Batwoman side of the book.
As far as I was concerned, the draw on Detective was J.H. Williams’ scrumptious art — probably the best in the industry right now — not Rucka’s confusing story line. In the last two issues, however, the writing on Batwoman has finally started to match the quality of the art.

In the latest editions of the series — No. 858 and 859 — Rucka has started to roll out the secret origin of Katherine Kane, and it’s an incredibly engrossing read. The book’s first arc was all about delving into the supernatural trappings of the Crime Bible and a whole slew of animal/human hybrid villains. Batwoman’s origin, on the other hand, deals with realistic issues of human loss, sexuality, discrimination, honor, politics and more — in other words, tangible things that I’m able to relate to and connect with.

Oh and the art’s still pretty, too. In fact, Williams shows some different twists on his style for this multi-issue tale. (And yes The Question backup still rocks.) Buy it.