REVIEW: MOTHER PANIC #4

Batman isn“t the only superhero in Gotham these days. And not everyone is on the big bats side.

We start our story with the bombing of the Gotham Museum of Science and Technology. A mysterious man pulls the fire alarm, the evacuation happens but some one recognizes him and them BOOM! Bye bye Museum.

The story continues with the internal monologue of Violet Page a socialite who has a secret past and an even bigger secret present.Â She is bored by the petty talks she must give on t.v. She is vocal about her dislike for Batman and his ability to harm the mentally ill and send them to Arkham. She is disliked by many and often booed off stage. This means nothing to her. She has he own agenda, she knows what she wants to do and she is ready to do whatever it takes to do it.

While leaving the tv set she hears the voice of the next guest, software mogul Ashley Layton. His voice stops her in her tracks. This voice she knows only too well. This voice is the one that set her on her path. This voice is the one that haunted her dreams. This is the man who sent her to that place. That horrible place that changed who she was forever.Â Gather House

Gather house was supposed to be a boarding school for troubled children. Violets brother Victor couldn“t wait to send her there and so she was sent away. Sent way to be reprogrammed, to be experimented on, to be turned into what she is today.

In her anger violet returns to her home, but she has to calm herself down not wanting to show her anger to her mother. Her Mother is a woman who seems to be not all there but also someone who knows more than she seems. More interested in the plants in her home than Violets revelations. Violets wants revenge but her mother does not want it directed at her brother. Violet tells her Victor is not who she will be targeting. Not for now anyway.

Later in her full superhero mode she goes to the one place she thinks she will get answers, Layton Software. But she was not the only one thinking this. She was not the first to enter and she may not be leaving alone.

This is a fantastic read moving on the a secondary story called Gotham radio. The artwork is stunning. Not the usual dark Gotham style. It leaves you wanting more, wanting to find out what happened at Garther House. Does revenge really clear up the past and why is her mum so into plants ?

Rate 3.5 out of 5

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by Jody Houser
Art by Shawn Crystal and Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Published by DC Comics