Batwoman #19 Brings Family Drama and Old History

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead for Batwoman #19, out now on digital formats and available in a few hours in comic book stores.Batwoman

is an interesting title in the context of DC's ambitious New 52 publishing initiative. Approved and outlined before the DC relaunch was announced, there have periodically been bits of continuity or even art that don't sync up perfectly with the world around them. Today's issue was one such story, bringing the Chase family history going back to Cameron Chase's solo book into the tale--and in doing so, creating a story that's a bit baffling if you think too hard about it, but which is on the surface level a rumination on familial responsibility. The shadowy figure we saw at the end of last month's Batwoman wasn't, as we'd expected, the return of Renee Montoya. It turned out to be Cameron Chase's sister Terry, still coping with the loss of their father (at least a decade earlier) in a wildly different way than Chase. While Cameron opts to bring metahumans to justice following the death of her father at the hands of a supervillain named Doctor Trap. Her father, you see, had been inspired by the Mystery Men of the '40s and '50s and, in the days before there was a Justice League, formed a team of costumed adventurers called The Justice Experience. It didn't end well, and the loss of their father at the hands of Doctor Trap had a profound effect on the Chase daughters. Of course, in the context of the New 52, where the Justice Society never existed on this Earth and the first costumed adventurer was Batman, who kept his identity secret until five years ago when Superman emerged...well, as you can see, the timeline gets a little wobbly around the edges. Certainly it can be massaged into the New 52 timeline in some way, even if it's just to say that the deaths of Walter Chase and his friends was part of what convinced people that being a costumed superhero was probably not something to pursue. Still, it seems as though this particular story was plotted out before The New 52 ever took place, right? Well, yeah. Except that reference to Robin's death... Even with a timeline that doesn't particularly make sense, though, it's hard to argue with J.H. Williams III getting to play with the toys from his wonderful run on Chase. At the same time, we get a similar family drama--also involving both sisters and fathers--at play with Batwoman. Different iterations of this drama have been the driving force behind a lot of the comic so far, but this month's really seems to be coming to a head.