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Batwoman (2011) #1-2
Batwoman: Haunted Tides
The complete Haunted Tide story from the New York Times best-selling Batwoman series by acclaimed comic talent J.H Williams III gets collected here for the first time! Batwoman is soon to be a show on the CW, this story is perfect place to start reading more about this strong, fascinating character.
They call her La Llorona. "The Weeping Woman." A spectral presence that drowns her own sorrow by destroying the lives of others, dragging innocent children to a watery grave...or to an even worse fate. The hero called Batwoman is no stranger to sorrow herself. Estranged from the father who was once her partner in crime-fighting, she blames him for the death of her mad sister in Gotham Harbor--but she blames herself most of all.
Now she has a new partner--her cousin Flamebird. Together, they're on the hunt for La Llorona, the children she's abducted, and the shadowy forces behind it all. But the hunters are hunted as well: everyone from government agents to Gotham cops wants to clip Batwoman's wings...
A tide of danger and death is coming to Gotham City. And it will be all Batwoman can do to keep her head above water...
The acclaimed creative team of writer/artist J.H. Williams III (Promethea) and writer W. Haden Blackman (Star Wars: Republic), along with artists including Amy Reeder (Rocket Girl) and Trevor McCarthy (Nightwing), bring you the riveting solo adventures of Batwoman in these classic stories. Batwoman: Haunted Tides collects Batwoman #0-11.
They call her La Llorona. "The Weeping Woman." A spectral presence that drowns her own sorrow by destroying the lives of others, dragging innocent children to a watery grave...or to an even worse fate. The hero called Batwoman is no stranger to sorrow herself. Estranged from the father who was once her partner in crime-fighting, she blames him for the death of her mad sister in Gotham Harbor--but she blames herself most of all.
Now she has a new partner--her cousin Flamebird. Together, they're on the hunt for La Llorona, the children she's abducted, and the shadowy forces behind it all. But the hunters are hunted as well: everyone from government agents to Gotham cops wants to clip Batwoman's wings...
A tide of danger and death is coming to Gotham City. And it will be all Batwoman can do to keep her head above water...
The acclaimed creative team of writer/artist J.H. Williams III (Promethea) and writer W. Haden Blackman (Star Wars: Republic), along with artists including Amy Reeder (Rocket Girl) and Trevor McCarthy (Nightwing), bring you the riveting solo adventures of Batwoman in these classic stories. Batwoman: Haunted Tides collects Batwoman #0-11.
280 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2019
6 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
J.H. Williams III
392 books214 followersJames H. "Jim" Williams III, usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is a comic book artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as Chase, Promethea and Desolation Jones.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 22, 2020
This book contains Batwoman (2011) vol. 1, Hydrology and Batwoman (2011) vol. 2, To Drown the World.
Kate Kane deals with Medusa and the DEO.
Kate Kane deals with Medusa and the DEO.
March 11, 2022
Part 1: 5 stars / Part 2: 3 stars.
January 3, 2020
Beautiful, intricate artwork and colouring that really pops and brings the story to life. I don't think this is a good place to begin with Batwoman because I felt a bit lost. Sorry Batwoman, it's not you. it's me.
August 16, 2020
I had read some of the New 52 Batwoman back in 2011 but I couldn't remember if it included what was collected in Haunted Tides - I had read some but not all of these issues. I love the art by JH Williams III; it's gorgeous and the use of colours and the composition is amazing. I wish that he had been the artist for issues #6-#11, but the art in those was still spectacular. Really interesting story - I like the inclusion of all the urban legends. I was just hoping for a bit more character development. Very curious to see where the next issues go.
February 20, 2024
A nice story and good artwork!
June 12, 2021
It was about time I owned a 'Batwoman' comic. A prominent mainstream LBGTQ superheroine like Batwoman deserves as much recognition and praise as possible (I also like the TV series - more rep like in that, please!). She deserves her iconic status. Something like 'Haunted Tides' seemed like a good place to start my education. I'll get to another 'Batwoman' book once it arrives at my doorstep.
I really enjoyed reading this one. I enjoyed the characters and their individual arcs, the action, the mystery, the plot, the structure, the pace, and, surprisingly, the horror and violence (it is quite graphic, be warned). It is very "dark and edgy" and OTT, but there is still a lot of care put into telling the story, with interesting and sympathetic characters. Oddly enough, they do feel human and hopeful, amidst all the tragedy, chaos, blood, dismemberments, supernatural shit, and child death (yes, there's instances of that as well; again, be warned).
'Batwoman: Haunted Tides', collecting the first two volumes of J.H. Williams III's original run, is not bad for a New 52 title, and wow does that feel like such a long time ago; it's practically ancient history now.
It can be a bit crowded, with a lot going on as the series progresses. It also takes place after Batwoman/Kate Kane's origin story, and after a crucial, defining tragic event in her life, despite this supposedly being a "reboot". This is one of the many common problems that the New 52 comics had - DC didn't reboot its superheroes for new audiences, it lazily, vaguely retreaded old stories, sometimes skipping them altogether, and expected its audience to already be aware of them, if in passing. Not so fresh, is it?
Similar to the more recent 'Batgirl' comics, particularly in the New 52 (and in the New 52 overall, let's be honest), after reading this comic I'm left wondering if Batwoman had actually achieved anything by the end. She's very cool and capable, but how often is she allowed to get the big jobs done? She isn't an antiheroine, and even then that shouldn't be warped into incompetence! It might be because this is a continuous story run, but DC, please, I'm begging you: let superheroes succeed in saving people and stopping evil plots already! Let them be, you know, heroes! Otherwise what are they doing? Why are they here? What is the point?
This run of 'Batwoman' has well written relationship drama - such as Kate Kane with her lover Detective Maggie Sawyer, and Kate with her family and the devastatingly complicated issues there - however. Personal/civilian baggage works just as well as the super heroics in 'Haunted Tides', if not more so.
Additionally, DC BUT ESPECIALLY IN ITS NEW 52 RUN is too obsessed with Batman. He doesn't have to appear in every DC comic, even ones featuring Bat-Family members. Give Bruce a break, for the love of Diana! (not in that way, dear frak no) He's had more comics, TV shows, films, video games and fan works, official and unofficial, to his name than every fictional character ever, I swear. He is the ultimate Mary Sue, at this point.
But 'Batwoman: Haunted Tides' is fun, for its edgelordy storyline. The queer rep is solid - strong stuff - and the POC rep is... passable, I think, at this moment in time. The POC characters do seem to be relegated to either victims or villains, though.
The artwork is awesome, bold, exceptionally detailed, and sometimes effectively stylistic. There is nary a fanservice panel in sight; whenever nude women are drawn while they are undressing, it is done tastefully, at least by the standards of the New 52 and DC comics in general - a cesspool environment of toxic masculinity that it is, or was. Even that one lesbian sex scene in the first volume isn't explicit; it's drawn in very light colours, mostly white, with the bedcovers over the two women. It is contrasted with a plot-relevant, raw and bloody fight scene, which it overlaps: it conveys very well the heroes' personal life pleasures and escape vs their neglecting their duties and inadvertently letting loved ones nearly get killed.
So give it a chance, give it a go. I can't wait to read another 'Batwoman' title - a more classic, turning point comic, next time.
Final Score: 3.5/5
I really enjoyed reading this one. I enjoyed the characters and their individual arcs, the action, the mystery, the plot, the structure, the pace, and, surprisingly, the horror and violence (it is quite graphic, be warned). It is very "dark and edgy" and OTT, but there is still a lot of care put into telling the story, with interesting and sympathetic characters. Oddly enough, they do feel human and hopeful, amidst all the tragedy, chaos, blood, dismemberments, supernatural shit, and child death (yes, there's instances of that as well; again, be warned).
'Batwoman: Haunted Tides', collecting the first two volumes of J.H. Williams III's original run, is not bad for a New 52 title, and wow does that feel like such a long time ago; it's practically ancient history now.
It can be a bit crowded, with a lot going on as the series progresses. It also takes place after Batwoman/Kate Kane's origin story, and after a crucial, defining tragic event in her life, despite this supposedly being a "reboot". This is one of the many common problems that the New 52 comics had - DC didn't reboot its superheroes for new audiences, it lazily, vaguely retreaded old stories, sometimes skipping them altogether, and expected its audience to already be aware of them, if in passing. Not so fresh, is it?
Similar to the more recent 'Batgirl' comics, particularly in the New 52 (and in the New 52 overall, let's be honest), after reading this comic I'm left wondering if Batwoman had actually achieved anything by the end. She's very cool and capable, but how often is she allowed to get the big jobs done? She isn't an antiheroine, and even then that shouldn't be warped into incompetence! It might be because this is a continuous story run, but DC, please, I'm begging you: let superheroes succeed in saving people and stopping evil plots already! Let them be, you know, heroes! Otherwise what are they doing? Why are they here? What is the point?
This run of 'Batwoman' has well written relationship drama - such as Kate Kane with her lover Detective Maggie Sawyer, and Kate with her family and the devastatingly complicated issues there - however. Personal/civilian baggage works just as well as the super heroics in 'Haunted Tides', if not more so.
Additionally, DC BUT ESPECIALLY IN ITS NEW 52 RUN is too obsessed with Batman. He doesn't have to appear in every DC comic, even ones featuring Bat-Family members. Give Bruce a break, for the love of Diana! (not in that way, dear frak no) He's had more comics, TV shows, films, video games and fan works, official and unofficial, to his name than every fictional character ever, I swear. He is the ultimate Mary Sue, at this point.
But 'Batwoman: Haunted Tides' is fun, for its edgelordy storyline. The queer rep is solid - strong stuff - and the POC rep is... passable, I think, at this moment in time. The POC characters do seem to be relegated to either victims or villains, though.
The artwork is awesome, bold, exceptionally detailed, and sometimes effectively stylistic. There is nary a fanservice panel in sight; whenever nude women are drawn while they are undressing, it is done tastefully, at least by the standards of the New 52 and DC comics in general - a cesspool environment of toxic masculinity that it is, or was. Even that one lesbian sex scene in the first volume isn't explicit; it's drawn in very light colours, mostly white, with the bedcovers over the two women. It is contrasted with a plot-relevant, raw and bloody fight scene, which it overlaps: it conveys very well the heroes' personal life pleasures and escape vs their neglecting their duties and inadvertently letting loved ones nearly get killed.
So give it a chance, give it a go. I can't wait to read another 'Batwoman' title - a more classic, turning point comic, next time.
Final Score: 3.5/5
November 3, 2019
Oh my gosh!
This is so good!!! The writing, art, and everything else just meshes in a way that works perfectly for me! I don’t even totally know why, because it’s a lot darker than I often go with the comics I read, but it was luscious and intricate in a way that just made it a really rewarding reading experience for me. It was almost like the comic equivalent of getting to drive a really, really nice, well-made car (if that makes sense).
There are so many details I could discuss that I liked—like the art and how different styles are used to affect how different characters and scenes are read, or the fact Kate Kane/Batwoman is one of the most awesome, amazing badasses I’ve read in comics—but honestly, I think it’s something where a lot of what I loved about this book could be what makes someone else scoff at it. So, I guess the best way to recommend it is that if you like a supernatural, urban fantasy mystery with a main character who starts out as an enigma that you slowly come to know and understand, all presented in a way that uses the medium of comics as an integral part of the storytelling without being meta, this book may be for you!
(One other thing: It’s also really nice having a Bat-character who hasn’t been trained and/or bankrolled by Batman. It feels much more like Kate sees the power of the symbol of the Bat in Gotham, but then uses it to her own ends. I haven’t seen the TV show yet, but some people I know who have say it’s not so much this way, and if that’s true, then I think that’s rather disappointing.)
This is so good!!! The writing, art, and everything else just meshes in a way that works perfectly for me! I don’t even totally know why, because it’s a lot darker than I often go with the comics I read, but it was luscious and intricate in a way that just made it a really rewarding reading experience for me. It was almost like the comic equivalent of getting to drive a really, really nice, well-made car (if that makes sense).
There are so many details I could discuss that I liked—like the art and how different styles are used to affect how different characters and scenes are read, or the fact Kate Kane/Batwoman is one of the most awesome, amazing badasses I’ve read in comics—but honestly, I think it’s something where a lot of what I loved about this book could be what makes someone else scoff at it. So, I guess the best way to recommend it is that if you like a supernatural, urban fantasy mystery with a main character who starts out as an enigma that you slowly come to know and understand, all presented in a way that uses the medium of comics as an integral part of the storytelling without being meta, this book may be for you!
(One other thing: It’s also really nice having a Bat-character who hasn’t been trained and/or bankrolled by Batman. It feels much more like Kate sees the power of the symbol of the Bat in Gotham, but then uses it to her own ends. I haven’t seen the TV show yet, but some people I know who have say it’s not so much this way, and if that’s true, then I think that’s rather disappointing.)
August 16, 2020
Haunted Tides is a compilation of two older Batwoman volumes, both of which I'm certain I've read. That annoyed me at first (read the fine print!), but I quickly found myself caught up in the story being told. This is a quality Bat-person tale: a solid mystery, a creepy villain, a mysterious government organization, and plenty of personality quirks and family issues.
Kate Kane's stuck in Gotham after the partially explained events of the previous series. With her twin sister dead, Kate's on the outs with her father and invested in a new gig training a sidekick. She's also on the hook for finding some missing kids, which gets her involved with Gotham PD and a very attractive detective. At the same time, the Department of...Extraordinary Operations(?) wants Kate on their mystery team.
Events play out smoothly and crisply, ever escalating, but it's a neat slow burn that's mostly resolved at the end of Haunted Tides. But not quite resolved - Feels kind of silly to bundle up the first two volumes in a series when they don't contain the full story, but I'm definitely along for the ride and will be hunting down the third volume at my library.
Oh, and J.H. Williams art is tremendous. Watercolor flowiness for Batwoman scenes and clear action lines for Kate Kane. Neat use of shifting styles. Amy Reeder's art in the second volume isn't as exciting, but it gets the job done.
Kate Kane's stuck in Gotham after the partially explained events of the previous series. With her twin sister dead, Kate's on the outs with her father and invested in a new gig training a sidekick. She's also on the hook for finding some missing kids, which gets her involved with Gotham PD and a very attractive detective. At the same time, the Department of...Extraordinary Operations(?) wants Kate on their mystery team.
Events play out smoothly and crisply, ever escalating, but it's a neat slow burn that's mostly resolved at the end of Haunted Tides. But not quite resolved - Feels kind of silly to bundle up the first two volumes in a series when they don't contain the full story, but I'm definitely along for the ride and will be hunting down the third volume at my library.
Oh, and J.H. Williams art is tremendous. Watercolor flowiness for Batwoman scenes and clear action lines for Kate Kane. Neat use of shifting styles. Amy Reeder's art in the second volume isn't as exciting, but it gets the job done.
February 1, 2020
This one was a little all over the place. Having dumped Alice into Gotham Harbor, Kate's got some PTSD, but there's so much weirdness to this story that it's hard to focus on the character work.
There's this group Medusa that is creating mythical monsters based on belief and rigged circumstances and is then using those monsters to harvest victims to strengthen another hidden figure and I liked it better when Gotham was a bit more down to Earth.
The art is trippy. If you like that sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you'll like. Personally, I'd rather have a good old fashioned human villain.
There's this group Medusa that is creating mythical monsters based on belief and rigged circumstances and is then using those monsters to harvest victims to strengthen another hidden figure and I liked it better when Gotham was a bit more down to Earth.
The art is trippy. If you like that sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you'll like. Personally, I'd rather have a good old fashioned human villain.
October 6, 2021
4
I first read the rebirth issues of the character when I decided to read Batwoman over Batman. I soon found myself losing interest and gave up on the character. I soon rediscovered the character during one of the DC animated movies and thought I'd check out some isolated runs. Haunted Tides doesn't require an extensive knowledge of the mythology and I read this with no real complaints. It's a tad dramatic in places but overall I enjoyed the story and character. I may finish my rebirth collection after all.
I first read the rebirth issues of the character when I decided to read Batwoman over Batman. I soon found myself losing interest and gave up on the character. I soon rediscovered the character during one of the DC animated movies and thought I'd check out some isolated runs. Haunted Tides doesn't require an extensive knowledge of the mythology and I read this with no real complaints. It's a tad dramatic in places but overall I enjoyed the story and character. I may finish my rebirth collection after all.
October 6, 2019
Fantastically drawn, really interestingly laid out. The first issue did some really interesting work with time and story lines on the page that I loved lingering over. The use of flashback was interesting at first but overplayed in the last couple issues so it was feeling jumpy toward the end. The story was well done and engaging. Definitely worth picking up if you are a fan of super hero graphic novels.
June 26, 2020
My first Batwoman comic! I’ve been a fan of the show since it started and got this book back in January. Now that the show is well... changing... I was finally inspired to pick this one up and actually read it! I loved it and I’m glad I can still have Batwoman in my life. Can’t wait to read more! I wish it didn’t have so many time jumps in the very end, that made it a bit confusing- but I loved it anyway!
November 12, 2021
3.5 stars
Awesome art. The first half was really good but the second half was a bit hard to follow. There was a lot of jumping around on the timeline and since I wasn't completely familiar with all the characters involved, it made it a bit difficult. Of course, the environment in which I was reading this may not have leant itself to extreme attention to detail.
Awesome art. The first half was really good but the second half was a bit hard to follow. There was a lot of jumping around on the timeline and since I wasn't completely familiar with all the characters involved, it made it a bit difficult. Of course, the environment in which I was reading this may not have leant itself to extreme attention to detail.
September 2, 2023
i didn't really understand this book, the art is wonderful and the super-hero vs bad guy stuff is well done but there is a sub-plot about a super secret anti-masked hero government agency trying to figure out Batwoman's secret identity. She's a wealthy albino single woman that parties a lot in public, how hard is it to figure out who she is?
October 8, 2019
Great story and great artwork. Only thing I didn’t like was all the time jumps back and forth in the last quarter of the book.
October 26, 2019
Solid story, fantastic art.
January 8, 2020
Batwoman tries to stop children from being kidnaped and drowned by a sea ghost.
March 6, 2023
damn this was creepy but so good. das artwork ist für comiczeichnung echt extraterrestrisch. könnte sich sogar in einer ausstellung sehen lassen.
October 1, 2023
Miss when Kate had that dog in her.
May 1, 2024
Fantastic story. The JHW art is incredible, the Trevor McCarthy art is,,,, There. Its very average in a way that would be fine on its own but is just deeply disappointing when paired with JHW's work.
August 20, 2025
creo q estoy enamorada de esta mujer
December 13, 2019
An odd mix of intrigue and suspense combined with a really long drawn-out story. The artwork is great throughout, and the detective work puts Batwoman on par with Batman. The timeline (10 days ago, now, tomorrow, 2 days ago, etc) was really confusing, and a straightforward time would have made it so much better.
The overall story was interesting, but it didn't need to run for as many issues as it did, by the end, I was just ready to move on to the next story.
The overall story was interesting, but it didn't need to run for as many issues as it did, by the end, I was just ready to move on to the next story.
September 3, 2022
Bat Woman hunts down the cult known as Medusa which has popped up from nowhere bringing with it Gotham’s most feared urban legends. Great character development and solid storytelling. The art was beautiful and engaging throughout.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews