Pitch a Direction: Batwoman

[Timothy Hunter]

One of these threads again!

Pitch a direction for Kate Kane that will hopefully branch into a new era of prosperity for the character. Include ideal creative teams if you like!

[Caivu]

Before anything, the dangling story threads from Batwoman #18 need to be tied up. Use a miniseries for that, or a maxiseries to be thorough. Or just a piece of fanfiction, like I'm doing.

Aside from that, I want to see a storyline that picks up from Kyle Abbot's death in the New 52 series and examines the fallout of what happened afterward. Abbot was the leader of the True Believers, a heretical, breakaway sect of the Religion of Crime that did not view the death of Batwoman as necessary to fulfill prophecy. Obviously, his death would have resulted in a power vacuum.

So what happened afterward? Who became the new leader? What if it was someone who doesn't view Batwoman in as good a light? After all, the True Believers' alliance with Batwoman resulted in many of their rank, including their leader, being killed in the battle against Medusa. Perhaps this new leader is military-trained, even a former member of the Army (or, to be cute, the Navy).

All this would be balanced with Kate's rekindled (and successful) relationship with Renee. Renee's subplot would be her increasing interest in vigilantism, possibly remembering her time as the Question. We know that she's already kinda doing this due to her appearance in RH:O.

Beth's recovery would also progress. Julia would continue to be a supporting character.

[Arctic Cyclist]

Lauren Beukes wrote a single Sensation Comics, but she's not someone I would peg for Wonder Woman. Given that her specialties are urban decay, bleeding edge technology, supernatural, horror, crime, violence against women and children, and noir elements (after all, she's a South African reporter, and those are what she deals with all day), she be mind blowing for any Batfamily character in general and Batwoman in particular. Especially with Renee and Julia as supporting cast. Hand her the back issues, shut up, sit down, and let her introduce us to our new nightmares.

Let her have both Damian and Kate, because Pyg is really Damian's villain, throw in Beth and Jacob and we get a the darkest family centric horror series DC has ever put out.

Seriously. If you've read Broken Monsters, The Shining Girls, or Zoo City you'll understand why I crave her on a Bat title. It's been ages since there's been a writer capable of taking us that far down into the dark on twisty unpredictable journey, and certainly none without terrible gender politics. This woman has literally seen the worst of humanity, lived in places that are the worst incarnations of Gotham, and understands the people who rise above the dark to prove humanity is worth saving. She's the ideal Bat writer, although I doubt they could lure her in.

Other dream writer? Megan Abbott. She writes decadent female relationships, dark, twisted noir novels, and has won multiple awards for her mystery novels. I'm not at all sure any of her female protagonists are as straight as they think they are, or if she's just acknowledging that women tend to form tighter bonds then men. The Silencer would have been much more interesting if written by her, less "I want to be normal with my husband and child because...just because" and more "Talia's sweat smells like cinnamon, she moves like heated mercury, her voice is honey, and I like having sex with my husband god damn it, but she picked me, made me who I am, trusted me and I must kill her because I like having sex with my husband and Talia has the most wicked smile." It'd be immensely enjoyable to get a lesbian characters written for the female gaze like that, which Ms Abbott is a master of. (And yes, I am well aware of the fact that Ms Abbott writes women's interactions realistically, and that most women are much more likely to talk about other women than they are men, and fixate on the body parts they most admire.)

[Kurisu]

Lauren Beukes wrote a single Sensation Comics, but she's not someone I would peg for Wonder Woman. Given that her specialties are urban decay, bleeding edge technology, supernatural, horror, crime, violence against women and children, and noir elements (after all, she's a South African reporter, and those are what she deals with all day), she be mind blowing for any Batfamily character in general and Batwoman in particular. Especially with Renee and Julia as supporting cast. Hand her the back issues, shut up, sit down, and let her introduce us to our new nightmares.

Let her have both Damian and Kate, because Pyg is really Damian's villain, throw in Beth and Jacob and we get a the darkest family centric horror series DC has ever put out.

Ooh, I love Beukes! What a great, out of the box suggestion. She’d be such a great fit for Kate’s world! Between DC seemingly going back to stricter, editorial driven stories, and the way Marvel treated Chelsea Cain, I can’t imagine why any prose writers - women especially - would want to make the jump to corporate comics now.

Also need to check out Megan Abbot apparently.

[Timothy Hunter]

So what I would do with the Kate Kane character is have her out of the cowl for a few years and during that time unwillingly be a part of a new Checkmate recently merged with Spyral with her aunt Kathy Kane. Considering there are typically the black chess pieces and the white chess pieces associated with the Checkmate concept, I would open up a new RED segment of the Checkmate organization dedicated to eradicating magic from the DC Universe.

[Factor]

I liked when her book focused on the supernatural side. It gave her her own niche inside the Batfamily. A lot of the other characters don't have that.

[Caivu]

So what I would do with the Kate Kane character is have her out of the cowl for a few years and during that time unwillingly be a part of a new Checkmate recently merged with Spyral with her aunt Kathy Kane. Considering there are typically the black chess pieces and the white chess pieces associated with the Checkmate concept, I would open up a new RED segment of the Checkmate organization dedicated to eradicating magic from the DC Universe.

Sounds kinda like her time with the DEO, and she hated them. I can't picture a reasonable way this would happen because of that.

I liked when her book focused on the supernatural side. It gave her her own niche inside the Batfamily. A lot of the other characters don't have that.

She still has that, and she has another niche anyway: counterterrorism.

[Timothy Hunter]

Sounds kinda like her time with the DEO, and she hated them. I can't picture a reasonable way this would happen because of that.



.

Ah, that must have occured during W. Haden Blackman's run on Batwoman. Sorry, I have not read that run.

[Jackalope89]

Her in the supernatural/terrorism side in her own book, with Julia Pennyworth being her "Alfred"/information gatherer. Aiding her would be Bette.

What's more, I would like to see her have a team up or two. Perhaps with someone like Jason, as the two have rarely interacted. Plus, Jason would be a good person to consult with, having knowledge of how criminal organizations work from the inside.

[Ascended]

She still has that, and she has another niche anyway: counterterrorism.

That's what I'd do. The supernatural stuff can still be in play but, like with Bruce, I dont see it as a primary factor in Kate's narrative. The religion of crime is steeped in mysticism and they've got strong ties to Batwoman but that's just one aspect of her mythos.

Me, I'd build on the Colony stuff. Batwoman working as a counter-terrorism agent with a small army of specialized soldiers modeled on Batman is a pretty sweet concept. I didn't care much for how the Colony was used in Detective; they were far deeply into "bad guy" territory and another rogue paramilitary group breaking from the government is painfully well trod ground. And what it did to Kate's father wasn't beneficial either. But conceptually I think the Colony was an intriguing idea and I'd like to take that as a basic foundation and then spin them and Kate off into new adventures. Perhaps the Colony would be a division of Argus or the DEO.

Hunting Kobra across Khandaq, trying to stop the terrorists while avoiding Black Adam's notice. Going after secret HIVE bases hidden throughout Markovia. There's a ton of stuff you could do, exploring counter-terrorism in the DCU with Batwoman, her dad, and her dad's bat army.

I definitely agree that the stuff with Abbot should be wrapped up. And Kate's ties to the religion of crime could be fleshed out further. And Beth's future needs to be established (no redemption; she's too good a foe for a heel turn). And Renee definitely needs to be the love interest (Question preferred but not necessary). But counter-terrorism is the niche I'd put Kate in "full time." The idea of combining military tactics with Bat theatrics and capability is scary as hell, it fits Kate really well, and it's a different kind of "vigilante" than we usually see.

Bette.....if I had my way I'd have Bette break from Kate and begin training under Nightwing. I want Nightwing and Flamebird to be a thing again (but definitely not romantically; those days are long, long gone!).

[Caivu]

Me, I'd build on the Colony stuff.

Bit late; they've been dissolved.

I didn't care much for how the Colony was used in Detective; they were far deeply into "bad guy" territory and another rogue paramilitary group breaking from the government is painfully well trod ground.

They weren't actually bad guys (and also not paramilitary). The worst thing they ever even attempted was a result of the Knights forcing their hand.

Perhaps the Colony would be a division of Argus or the DEO.

Oh man, if they're affiliated with the DEO, there's no reasonable way Kate is ever working with them. Good thing we know they're not; they're a division of the Army. Moot point anyway, since they don't exist anymore.

And Kate's ties to the religion of crime could be fleshed out further.

How?

And Beth's future needs to be established (no redemption; she's too good a foe for a heel turn).

But... she's already had that heel turn. She was only a villain for 4 issues, which is, like, a fifth of her total appearances.

[Ascended]

Bit late; they've been dissolved.

Easy enough to bring them back.

They weren't actually bad guys (and also not paramilitary). The worst thing they ever even attempted was a result of the Knights forcing their hand.

Still closer to "villain" than I'd have liked.

Oh man, if they're affiliated with the DEO, there's no reasonable way Kate is ever working with them.

DEO wouldn't be my first choice either, but I really dislike having tons of random acronyms running around. I prefer to collect agencies and agents under a small handful of umbrellas. Army works just fine (I had forgotten who they answered to).

How?

We know damn little about what the cult is up to these days. I'd like to see it explored and fleshed out. And as far as I can recall right now, their main interest in Kate concerned a prophesy that has been proven untrue. Since then it's been all Kate hunting them down or civil wars within their ranks or whatever the hell. I'd like to see deeper connections. Maybe they're there and I'm just forgetting; been ages since I read any of Kate's issues.

But... she's already had that heel turn. She was only a villain for 4 issues, which is, like, a fifth of her total appearances.

Oh yeah.....well, she's still damn interesting.

[Caivu]

Easy enough to bring them back.

Not without it being horribly convoluted and introducing a bunch of story problems.

[dropkickjake]

Not without it being horribly convoluted and introducing a bunch of story problems.

I've noticed that you take to these types of threads with a far more concrete view of continuity than Ascended does. Your posts answer the question "What can we do based on where things are now," while his (and some others) post answering the question "what is the best way to use this character conceptually?" Critiquing an answer to the later based on the former is going to cause confusion.

[Caivu]

I've noticed that you take to these types of threads with a far more concrete view of continuity than Ascended does. Your posts answer the question "What can we do based on where things are now," while his (and some others) post answering the question "what is the best way to use this character conceptually?" Critiquing an answer to the later based on the former is going to cause confusion.

I just don't see any point in conceptual discussions like this, for any character, that ignore continuity for what is supposed to be the same version of that character. If it's about an AU version of a character, fine. But that's not what I take these sorts of threads to be about; I do read them as asking that first question, because that's the default, and none of these threads have specified AUs.