If you’ve ever wondered how to make a war between Batman and Catwoman boring, I’d suggest reading this week’s BATMAN/CATWOMAN: THE GOTHAM WAR — BATTLE LINES #1. This opening salvo failed to deliver on an interesting societal dilemma meant to set up DC’s next cross-over event after “Knight Terrors” (which ended this week and had it’s own warts).

The event’s prologue, written by Tini Howard and Chip Zdarsky, opens up with an attempt to set the stage by revealing Batman has been…asleep. Yes, Bruce Wayne fell asleep for 8 weeks. Perhaps he was worn out from having to read the Knight Terrors event (in-story they explain the event itself took so much from him) or maybe Howard and Zdarsky just needed to fast forward some time and have an excuse to explain what Catwoman’s been up to this whole time? Either way, it felt like quite a stretch.

During those 8 weeks, Catwoman has given up her past life and created a training program to rehabilitate other criminals. Instead of committing violent crimes, she’s working with them to focus only on stealing from the 1% and distributing the profits. Violent crime is now nearly non-existent in Gotham begging the question of whether Batman is even needed anymore?

She calls for a meeting with the entire Bat Family, including Batman, to discuss the situation and request they leave her alone to continue her work. Ever the champion of the working class, Batman throws a fit which includes him complaining that his rich parents would have been targeted in this new scheme! How dare Selina even think this was a good idea?!? Honestly, his tirade sounds like an attack ad from the GOP against some contrived form of socialism. His own warped view of his value to society makes him unable to even consider the fact that this tradeoff may actually benefit the most amount of people in Gotham.

I also couldn’t get over the fact that this was a revelation to the Bat Family. For a group of people trained by one of the world’s greatest detectives, they didn’t realize what was happening in Gotham under their noses? That made no sense and felt like a lazy plot device to emphasize their reactions and keep the title of the issue & the event itself intact. We see the Bat Family split on whose views are right, with Jason Todd unsurprisingly siding with Catwoman.

Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Benedetto’s art didn’t add anything to the issue for me. Much like Howard & Zdarsky’s story, the design approach felt rushed and messy at times. The character designs during the meeting between Catwoman the Bat Family were particularly off-putting. The color palette from Romulo Fajardo Jr. was probably the best addition to the book as it spanned quite the spectrum from dark reds, purples, and pinks in higher tension scenes to blues, greens, and other muted colors during less critical moments.

Overall, a disagreement between Batman and Catwoman is nothing new but the reason for the current disagreement was an interesting moral quandary that I was excited to see explored. However, it seems like we’re getting opposing views from two caricatures, especially the way Batman is depicted. I’m hopeful this was the symptom of having to introduce this concept during the tail end of Knight Terrors (and in a joint comic no less) and that Zdarsky will be able to right the ship for the caped crusader once the storyline shifts back to his own title.

Rating: 4/10