Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1: A Perfect Set-Up

Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1 is surprisingly approachable. As it begins here, the Bad Seeds event is basically Poison Ivy’s current storyline broadened to take over Batman and the Batman adjacent series. To truly understand the complete backstory, readers have to be familiar with the Poison Ivy series. That said, Fraction and Wilson do a very good job of making this issue approachable to all readers, supplying just enough information to understand what’s going on in broad strokes.

Fraction and Willow quickly connect the Poison Ivy storyline at the heart of Bad Seeds to other Gotham characters through a series of mostly brief scenes establishing where everyone is when the story begins and what their first response is. In this way Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1 doesn’t really deliver a story so much as it does a status report. Indeed, the last third of the issue is dominated by narration in the form of dialogue with Batman that lays out in explicit terms Ivy’s actions, the threat they represent, and the amount of time Batman has to save the day.

Poison Ivy fans will by far be the most satisfied with the few instances of depth that Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1 does supply. There is some exploration of other characters in light of these events, but the real depth here is reserved for Ivy. Fraction and Willow make her quite compelling, especially for readers who follow Poison Ivy. The anger, resentment, and desperation that is at the heart of the character in Poison Ivy #47 is just as evident here. In fact, Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1 is at its strongest whenever Ivy is on the page. 

Camuncoli has a very good handle on delivering expressive characters via minimal linework. Most of this comes via eyes which are by far the most communicative visual component for all the characters. Characters’ eyes border on too exaggerated times. This is especially the case with Vandal Savage in most panels that feature him. But on balance Camuncoli is very successful communicating characters’ emotions in any given panel.

There are solid action beats in Batman Bad Seeds Sunset #1, but as a heavy plot set-up issue, much of it involves slower, low action, dialogue heavy sequences. Camuncoli finds ways to keep a sense of movement in these with minor differences between panels. A character’s head might be turned one way in one panel and then another in the next. In more than one instance there are slight differences in the angle of a character’s eyes. Sometimes the difference between panels is merely whether the character’s mouth is open and closed as is the case in one sequence where Damien is sitting in profile talking to Batman as he looks in a microscope. It’s an effective way to keep the scenes advancing visually alongside Fraction and Wilson’s dialogue.

Morey’s work has moments where the coloring leans into truly vivid territory. There are also some sequences with high contrast between elements. But neither quality is consistent throughout the issue, and it greatly affects whether the visuals jump off the page or if there is a sense of distinctiveness between the different elements.

The inconsistent level of color contrast is made worse by Rathburn’s inking style. Rathburn uses thicker inking for fields of shading, but for the most part his lines are thin. This is the case even with outlines of different visual elements. With thinner outlines, Morey’s coloring has to do more lifting when it comes to keeping visual elements distinct, and it simply isn’t effective in the whole of the issue.

Caption boxes are found throughout the issue, consisting of narration and multiple characters’ dialogue. Cowles does a good job distinguishing it all with different box borders, fonts, and colors. There is never confusion over who is speaking.