InsaneJournal

We last left our hero finding her best lead full of, well, lead. Lucky for her that isn't the end of the trail.

You know, if this were any other mask, they'd just chase down the gunman, and it only just occurs to me that she doesn't and how it isn't out of place for her not to. This is The Question, after all, a detective first and a crimefighter second. To have this happen helps the plot thicken, the investigation to become deeper. Also, it seems like a familiar film noir trope: killer comes in, kills contact while the detective is in earshot, leaves before anything can be done about it. I can think of at least The Big Sleep featuring a scene like that off the top of my head, but I'm sure there're more.

Either way, it's an excuse for more Tot, which is always welcome.

She's still new to this setup, Tot. I'm sure Vic had countless opportunities to rummage through your bookshelf for the explicit purpose of identifying any quote you might pull out, but Renee hasn't known you as long. I'm also a little amused that Renee's guess is a little more obscure than Tot's answer, so maybe he was going easy on her to start out with.
He pulls a home address out in Hollywood Hills. A detective story set in L.A.? Who'da thought? :D

"A very cheap one."
I've been really curious about what kind of time has passed between FC: Revelations and 'Tec #854, and this exchange is exactly why. I finally read Five Books of Blood a bit ago (yeah, i know, what kept me?), and the relationship between Tot and Renee there was rather cold. It could be that once all the excitement from 52 finally winded down, he finally had time to settle down and mourn Vic's death, and how he might've felt about Renee running around in his mask, but the huge difference between their interaction in Five Books of Blood and the 'Tec backup means they would've needed time to grow on each other, and it would've had to happen after Revelations. It' odd on the one hand, but nice on the other, to see Tot doing what he's always done best (running op, being sardonic, and quoting philosophy), and technology letting him do it better, even.

Moving on, Renee sneaks in the house (very cool page, she's hopping up walls!) and finds the shipping manifest she's after. But then the lights flick on.

Srs, how easy do you think it is to intimidate The Question? Her Will Save probably rivals Batman's!

You know, that just keeps happening. It goes along with what Tot was saying in the third scan, but these guys aren't making it easy to be investigated! Renee won't make it easy for them to avoid it either, though. She slips the manifest into her jacket and makes a break for it, kicking some dudes in the face on her way as she runs on into next month.

I've heard they're going to start allocating more of the pages toward Renee's side now the first Batwoman arc's over, but it might've been when the second one's through, though I've also heard tell she's getting the main 'Tec feature after the third one. We'll have to see how it all turns out.

Speaking of Kate, interesting developments as the Elegy arc ends.

Devils always in the details. The same way Rucka likes to play around with whether a word balloon is in English or not, notice how Alice's is a regular black-text-on-white instead of the normal inverse thing she's had going?
The next Batwoman arc is "Go!" which is the long-awaited origin story. We've seen a fair bit of foreshadowing throughout "Elegy", but this is a plot point that has me really excited to see how Rucka handles it.

Keep your eyes out for the next issue!