By Cat Wyatt

Mother Panic Gotham A.D. is a new series in the intermingled worlds of Batman and Mother Panic. Set ten years in the future, there’s no Batman, zero tolerance for vigilantes that aren’t pets of the aristocracy, and still plenty of a need for revenge. That’s the world that Violet Paige finds herself living in now.

As the label on the first page indicates; this may be Gotham city, but it’s a different bat time and different bat channel (universe). Violet saved the universe; she didn’t want to, but somebody had to make the jerks who stole her childhood pay. Somehow now Violet is in a new universe, with a whole new set of villains to deal with. Like she hasn’t had enough of that already.     

To make matters worse, Violet doesn’t even know if her mother is alive in this alternate universe or not. She’d like to think she is, and obviously, she feels compelled to look for her (who wouldn’t, after what Violet has already been through?).

There are a few things that stayed the same between the universes that Violet knew, but not much. Otis is still around…but he’s not the ally he had once been. He isn't very helpful, but he’s also not kicking her and Rosie out, so that’s better than nothing, right? Plus he’s willing to work with her to get the intel she needs, which is all Violet wants.

Speaking of Rosie Rode; she is the same from the other universe; because she’s from there as well. Talk about a tortured soul. Rosie has had a harder life than most of us would be willing to wish on our worst enemies, let alone a little girl like her. In a way it really isn’t surprising that she’s grown to be unafraid of everything; that she’s willing to stab a mugger in the leg, and then demand free food from the shopkeeper she ‘saved.’

Speaking of, that man? His name is Pretty (I wish I was joking) and he’s one of Madame Gala’s pets. She has a whole army of them; masked and cloaked figures running around the city, ‘saving’ people and demanding protection money. They’re basically a vigilante mob, if you’re so inclined to look at it that way.

So now that we have a good idea of the world that Violet now exists in (voluntarily or not), it’s time to get started on the plot. Violet is desperately trying to find any hint of her mother. She knows that the woman in this universe might not, hell, probably won’t be the woman she knows and loves, but she has to try.

Otis has a tip for her, somebody who may know where Rebecca Paige (her mother) has gone off to. Somebody who actually knew who she was. That’s one hell of a lead, all things considered. The problem, of course, lies with the man holding the information. I’ve always thought that had Joker succeeded in killing Batman, he would find himself completely incapable of dealing with the world without Batman. It turns out I was correct. There may not be a Batman in this universe, but there is a Joker. A Joker without a Batman is just a sad clown (sorry, couldn’t resist).

The Joker in this universe did everything he could think of to bring the Bat out of hiding. He killed innocents, he even killed Robin (okay, he admits it was just a guy named Robin, so not quite the impact he was going for), and yet nothing. Either Batman is gone, or there never was a Batman here. Either way, Joker can’t handle it.

I’m not sure I’d trust any information coming from Joker on the best of days, but information coming from a broken Joker? That seriously doesn’t sound safe. But he does remember Rebecca Paige. Of course he remembers the name – she was one of the inmates alongside him in Arkham. I doubt that’s the news that Violet was hoping to hear, but it’s still news.

This was an interesting start to the series. It had a lot of ground to cover in the first issue, especially with all the changes between one universe to another. It can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but I think once we get over the transition of it all it could end up being a really fascinating and intense series.

I love the slightly different portrayal of Joker in this issue. Not just in the emotional sense. His character looks wet – like he’s literally melting away now that he’s lost the Bat. It’s nice having that long standing theory about Joker confirmed, at least.

The artwork for this series looks like it’ll be fantastic. Like I said above, I love the interpretation of Joker. I also like Violet Paige’s costume design. Rosie’s design is pretty decent as well. I love the muted and bleeding colors that are shown in this series. Sometimes it’ll be dark, earthy shades; other times (like when showing Arkham) it’ll be a sickly green hue leaking into the scene. It’s perfect.

Score: 3/5

Mother Panic Gotham AD #1
DC Comics