Batwing #6

That suit really does make him look fat.

At the end of the last issue, Batwing had traced the signal that caused The Kingdom's old headquarters to explode and was on his way to face Massacre who is also his brother Isaac. Probably. Unless Judd Winick decided too many people guessed the secret reveal so he decided to change it and have it make no fucking sense at all. Just like the writers of Lost did when the whole internet guessed they were in Purgatory.

So instead of finally getting this comic book caught up to the present, it begins like this:

By the time Batwing gets back to the fight with Massacre, the caption will have to read, "Four Months Ago," because Batwing is in Justice League International now!

The scene three years ago shows how David (Batwing!) tried his best to be a police officer but was sickened by the way the men on the force took bribes at every opportunity. He needed to do more. He needed to find these men who so glibly broke the law because they knew the peace officers were easily turned away. Is this the beginning of Batwing? Well, not Batwing exactly. But the person David would become that would cause Batman to see something in him, something good enough to represent the Bat Franchise. He probably went on some kind of one man crusade against a local warlord and brought him down which caught Batman's eye. Maybe that story will be told later. Or maybe that story was already told somewhere pre-52!

Back in the present, back in Giza, Massacre is confronting another probably member of The Kingdom.

Ben Oliver loves not having to draw!

The Kingdom member he is after was known as Steelback, the Man Machine. Myself, I might have gone with Steelgroin, the Macho Machine. Massacre is upset that Steelback's secret identity, Daniel, won't fight him. But then he sees Batwing coming out of the sky and gets a big battle boner. What? You've never heard of those? It's what happens to Sabretooth and Wolverine every time they meet.

Just as Batwing confronts Massacre, hazy lines fill the air and the comic time slips back to one year ago! I think we're going to see David become the man that would become Batwing!

David has been single-handedly stopping all of Blood Tiger's arms deals. Blood Tiger is the local warlord who is finding out that he doesn't have as much control of the country as he thought! But Blood Tiger and the locals aren't the only ones who have been noting David's new hobby.

What's in it for Batman? Blood diamonds for Bruce Wayne?

And then the comic flips back to the present where it finally catches up to where it started! Batwing is now pinned to the pyramid by one of Massacre's machetes as Massacre marches off to the bus to kill Steelback! We've been waiting six issues to see how this turns out! What will Batwing do when he finds out Massacre is his brother!

I bet he kills him and says something about loving his brother and saying something else about how his brother died a long time ago! Is that too cliché even for Winick?

Oh! New plan!

Oh! So Batwing thinks Massacre is the General and not his brother! That means that Batwing will not mind killing him because of everything he did! And he'll strike him down and then the mask will come off and it will be Isaac! And Batwing will scream, "NOOOOOO!" And he'll throw his fists in the air and he'll yell, "WHY?!"

Okay. That's way too cliché even for J.T. Krul. Maybe.

Thinking it's the General, Batwing shoots fire out of his sleeve and onto Massacre.

Still, where did the lighter fluid come from?

Okay, he shoots some kind of flammable liquid onto Massacre. Maybe gasoline. Or Scotch. And after that he successfully produces a fireball from his sleeve to ignite Massacre! But Massacre still wants to finish the job. He slashes open the gas tank on the bus, prepared to use himself as the ignition to create a giant fireball of death that will kill Steelback. That's one obsessed dude!

But Batwing is able to rip a hole in the bus and save everyone on board as Massacre runs off into the desert, blazing away! His identity will not be revealed this day!

Back at Haven (that's Batwing's Batcave!), Batman and Batwing interrogate Steelback. They need to find the other living members of the Kingdom. The others that are left are Razorwire, Staff, and Deity.

RAZORWIRE!?

Steelback claims Massacre will never find Deity because she has gone off into the wild. But Razorwire and Staff have moved to Gotham! So that's what Batwing is doing in Gotham when Vixen is nearly killed in that awful comic called Justice League International!

Steelback is supposed to tell Batwing why Massacre is killing all of the members of The Kingdom on the ride to Gotham. But that won't happen until next issue! It has to do with 50,000 people dying because of something The Kingdom did or did not do. Remember when Thunder Fall was dying? He revealed that much? You should remember! It was important!

Judd Winick seems to have tight control of this story. He's doing a really good job of pacing. This feels like the first issue that didn't have a lot of wasted space, so that's really nice. Some of his other issues were just fluff. Too many panels and pages wasted on comic book action that could have been told visually in half the space. But this issue was much better in that respect.

Batwing has surprised me. It's not telling a story that's going to have a shocking ending when it's all said and done (I don't think! Maybe the final confrontation between David and Isaac will have some real emotion), but it's a good story, well told and well paced (for the most part).

Batwing Issue #6 Rating: +1 Rank.