The Other History of the DC Universe #4

DC Comics

Written by John Ridley

Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Andrea Cucchi

Colors by Jose Villarrubia

Letters by Steve Wands

The Rundown: The journey of Renee Montoya is featured as she deals with her personal and professional lives.

Renee Montoya tells her story. One of immigrant parents coming to America and settling in Gotham. Of learning the hard lessons Gotham had to give and how she had to deny the truth of who she was in order to both fit in and protect the people she loved. As she grows older, the evils of the city compel her to become a police officer with the GCPD, but even that position required her to hide who she was and what she believed for the sake of fitting in. As her time in the department continues, she begins to see the changes in the city. Changes that Batman and his allies become a part of.

Eventually, Renee attempts to find a sense of balance between who she was perceived to be and who she really was. A balance that allowed her for the first time to be her true self with someone. Unfortunately, Gotham doesn’t have a history of giving people happy endings. After a downward spiral in her personal life, Renee finds purpose with the very costumed heroes she used to disdain. As her journey continues, she takes on the mantle of The Question and begins a new one looking for justice while discovering herself.

The Story: A beautifully detailed and comprehensive look at a flawed human’s fight for personal redemption. Renee’s journey is brilliantly complex and Ridley does a great job of making her a complete human in the telling of her story. There is a rich depth to the story and an even more enjoyable journey into the character’s life and experiences.

The Art: Camuncoli and Cucchi deliver some beautiful imagery throughout the issue. The story is complex and the art is equally so.

The Other History of the DC Universe #4

9.4

9.4/10

1 Comment

  • Eva

    May 25, 2021 - 3:24 pm

    I went into this really wanting to like this comic. But what they did to Kate Kane, I can’t forgive. In the New Earth timeline, Kate’s first relationship with Renee came before the latter had even met Daria. But in this comic, they have Renee cheating on Daria with Kate. Kate is portrayed as a homewrecker here and then at the end just gets a casual oh yeah I am in love with Kate now from Renee. and when it describes Kate and Renee’s first date Ridley calls her an army brat but says she grew up rich from munitions, and never mentions her attending let alone her expulsion from west point, and both of Kate’s parents were former soldiers themselves, nto weapons manufacturers (her stepmom was though). while the writing outside of that character assassination was mostly good, it was laughable for Renee to say that she thinks Batman was giddy over 9/11 because the rollback of personal freedoms that resulted from that would make it easier for Batman to Batman

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