Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. #2 is published by DC Comics under their Young Animal imprint. It is written by Jody Houser with art by Ibrahim Moustafa.
Mother Panic is constantly moving up in my list of favorite superheroes. Jody Houser is such a talented writer and every issues I just fall more in love with Violet Page. She is not Batman and she is not trying to be his replacement. Truthfully, she doesn’t really care about the people of this Gotham, she just wants to get her mother back…from Arkham Asylum. Despite warning from everyone she has met with, she is not about to leave her mother in that place. I do wonder if she is planning on fixing Gotham once she does though…but first thing’s first, I suppose.
As we learned in issue #1, in this new version of Gotham created by Gala, Batman is gone. Gala is in power and is running Gotham in just the way you’d expect a tyrannical dictator would. Pitching this new Gotham as “improved” with its modernization and lowered crime rate – a crime rate which is lowered because anyone who opposes her is killed by he new GCPD without mercy or hesitation. After her meet-up with the Joker, Violet sets out to get information from two other familiar faces: Catwoman and Poison Ivy. I’m not going to lie, I know Jody Houser gave the blatantly obvious line of “look what the cats dragged in” but I didn’t actually understand who she was until I saw the mask. But then I was incredibly excited. And then I read the line again and realized how slow I am. But the excitement remained! Despite the tragedy that has befallen Poison Ivy, she has turned Robinson Park into a safe haven for children and animals, as well as a death bed for any of those working for Gala. She may not be what she once was (you’ll see what I mean), but the strength of her character has not wavered.
While Violet is searching through the forest for answers, Gala is making her latest works of “art”. It’s a very clever idea – setting up a super villain for the new GCPD to swiftly fly in and defeat in order to show Gotham citizens their “compassion” (and power). I do wonder if that guy knew he was going to get killed. Probably not. Because then it wouldn’t be art to her, I’m sure. I also have to say, I do like her as a villain, but I can’t help but see and hear Meryl Streep’s character from The Devil Wears Prada every time I see her. The character I really want to see more of next issue though, is Rosie a.k.a. Fennec Fox. Her name is so cute and she’s…so deadly. And sneaky. And snarky. I just want to high five her.
Jody Houser is doing an amazing job of bringing in familiar DC hero and villain faces without letting them steal the spotlight. Well, I mean, the Joker will always steal some spotlight, that’s part of his appeal. But aside from him, we see them and we know who they are, but they are not detrimental. They do their part and then Violet moves on from them.
I really appreciate the established distance here. We are reminded that she is in the same world, but these are not her villains nor her teammates. As I said, we do get some extra focus on the Joker, in particular, at the short story at the end, which I absolutely loved. The Joker can be very hard to write properly. I feel that in recent series, he has become darker and less, well, fun. I mean, the Joker kills people, but he also has a way making the reader laugh. Which is terrible, but that’s the point. That’s part of the joke. And Jody Houser made me laugh.
One complaint I had about the original Mother Panic run was the ever changing artist line-up. I would get used to a style only to have it abruptly change in a way that didn’t feel right. Then I’d get used to that style in time for it to change again. This time, I hope it’s different, especiall because I loved Ibrahim Moustafa’s work on Savage Things and so far he has been nothing short of fabulous on Mother Panic: Gotham AD. I feel like these two are a great combination. Please don’t start switching everyone around again, DC. For the love of God just let us enjoy the comics as they are before playing artist/writer shuffle.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
I feel like Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. has started to hit it’s stride. And that final short story really gave it an extra special something. So make sure you pick up a copy from your local comic store!
Happy reading!
