By Kelly Gaines

I want to start off with the one thing that irritated me with Mother Panic - Batman #1. Maybe I never noticed it in Mother Panic, but I wish they’d use actual curse words instead of Violet losing her “@!*&&#$” mind. I’m going to lose my @!&&#$ mind over that. I’m starting with the negative because the rest of this review is going to be a long-winded fawning over Mother Panic as a title, followed by a serious appreciation for the adventure Mother Panic - Batman #1 sets up.

Mother Panic hit me on a personal level when I first picked it up. At the time, I was working in a nursing home, on the severe dementia and hospice floor. I know how depressing that sounds, but those residents and the year I spent with them was one of the most rewarding periods in my life. How does this tie into Mother Panic? We learn early on the Violet is another Gotham socialite whose childhood has been destroyed by tragedy. As a child, Violet may or may not have shot her own father after finding out he was negotiating a disgusting deal involving her and an adult friend of his. The loss was twice as hard for Violet considering that she did not have a mother in the way most other little girls do. Her mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s shortly before the death of Violet’s father. The disease progressed as it does, taking parts of her mother’s memory and making her incapable of functioning the way she used to.

By the time we catch up with adult Violet, she is her mother’s main caretaker. Far from a sad ending, Violet has used her family’s extensive wealth to create a paradise for her mother. Her mother floats in and out of memories and hallucinations, showing genuine wisdom and understanding in one moment, and becoming lost in a fantasy the next. Now of course dementia and Alzheimer’s can manifest in a multitude of ways. Of the sixty residents I had, no two of them had the same experience. Some become violent, some retreat back into their youth or other moments of their lives, and some dissolve into their own heads entirely and live in a silent, but no less vivid, solitude. Violet’s mother, up to this point, remains very active. Her daughter’s care and wealth allow her every inner fantasy to be indulged, and thus Mrs. Paige has her own personal Wonderland, complete with toadstool tables and daily tea time inspired by her favorite childhood stories. Violet’s mother is an extremely important part of the Mother Panic mythos, right into this issue, and I have a sincere respect and gratitude for a character with her disease to be written as valuable, helpful, and wise. The world Violet has created for her within their home is a beautiful gesture of acceptance, and I’ve appreciated it in every issue so far.

Setting my personal attachment aside, Mother Panic - Batman is a bizarrely fun read. Violet finds herself up against what she assumes is an old enemy, only to be confronted with an unexpected twist- the new headmaster of Gather House is a priest, Father Bruce Wayne. Father Bruce, who is clearly not himself, shares the “good news” with Violet, telling her that he has taken in all of the damaged youths of Gotham and effectively brainwashed them to forget the pain in their pasts. He tells Violet that he has been waiting for her and that he will wash her clean and take away the trauma that has shaped her into Mother Panic. Violet doesn’t buy it. She manages to snap Bruce and the brainwashed children out of their trance and save the day.

For all her coldness, Violet understands that knowing who you are can only come from accepting where you’ve been. Violet leaves Bruce to figure out what to do with the saved children, except for one little girl who insists on going with Violet. The girl tells Violet that she is her hero and that she wants to live her life extracting vengeance and killing bad guys as Mother Panic’s sidekick. Violet responds with a somber “no you don’t,” but the emotion is still apparent. Violet may not consider herself a hero, but her actions and morality are slowly shaping her into one. Batman calls her out on this realization while asking for her help. (Buckle up, cause here comes the big tie in part). Batman goes to the Paige household and confronts Violet with her mother. He tells her that she is making Gotham a better place and that a man named Cave Carson *ahem* and a creature called Swamp Thing *AHEM* have sent out an “all hands on deck” distress call. The force that brainwashed Bruce into the priesthood is digging its claws into the very fabric of their universe. With her mother’s urging, Violet agrees to join Batman and save the world, and her new biggest fan accidentally becomes a stowaway on the impending adventure.

Like most long-time comic fans, big crossover events make me nervous if not somewhat pissed off. They tend to be disappointing money grabs that insert themselves into arcs we were enjoying and demand to be read. Previous prejudice aside, I’m kind of pumped for Milk Wars. This issue pulled me right to the edge of my seat, and come hell or high water I’m just going to have to go along for the ride. So here’s to Milk Wars- an event I really want to believe in. And here’s to Mother Panic, I hope she gets to say fuck someday.

Score: 4/5

Mother Panic - Batman #1
DC's Young Animal