Mother Panic

Mother Panic
File:Mother Panic 1.png Variant cover of the first issue, depicting the titular character and Batman. Art by Tommy Lee Edwards.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics (Young Animal)
Schedule	Monthly
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	Mother Panic January 2017—December 2017 Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. May 2018—August 2018
No. of issues	Original series: 12 Gotham A.D.: 6 Total: 18
Creative team
Created by	Gerard Way, Jody Houser, Tommy Lee Edwards
Written by	Jody Houser
Penciller(s)	Tommy Lee Edwards Shawn Crystal John Paul Leon
Inker(s)	Tommy Lee Edwards Shawn Crystal
Letterer(s)	John Workman Shawn Crystal
Colorist(s)	Tommy Lee Edwards Dave Stewart Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Mother Panic is an American comic book series written by Jody Houser, illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards, and published by DC Comics under their mature readers Young Animal imprint. It tells the story of Violet Paige, a controversial, bisexual celebutante in Gotham City who was tortured and cybernetically-enhanced by a secret organisation in her youth, becoming the vigilante Mother Panic to get revenge. The series features guest appearances by Batman and his allies, and was the only Young Animal launch title to feature an original character at its time.

Publication history

Creation

Young Animal is an imprint of DC Comics, designed to tell stories set within the DC Universe aimed specifically at mature readers. Mother Panic was the final of the imprint's four launch titles to release. The series and its title character, Violet Paige, was conceived by Young Animal curator Gerard Way and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards, both of whom conceptualized the character's background. Jody Houser, the author of Valiant Comics' Faith, was asked by Young Animal editor Molly Mahan to write several sample pages featuring Mother Panic to see if she "could nail [her] voice". Houser, who had grown up reading Batman, was hired shortly after turning in her work and began to write the series. She expanded upon Way's and Edwards' concept to "flesh out" the main character and establish her within Gotham City and the Batman mythos.

Unlike the other Young Animal titles, which feature established DC characters such as the Doom Patrol, Mother Panic features an original character created for the series. Houser's vision of Paige was essentially that of an anti-Batman: unlike Batman, Paige's identity as a vigilante is "not entirely an act" and the character as a whole is "messed up". Houser hoped that the series would last for several years and that Paige will continue to evolve. She also wanted to explore aspects of Gotham not seen in other Batman-related comics, due to the mature themes of Mother Panic; for this reason, she excluded well-known adversaries such as the Penguin and Catwoman. The first several issues were illustrated by Edwards, followed by Shawn Crystal and John Paul Leon. Jim Krueger writes a backup story called "Gotham Radio" for the series.

Print run

The first issue of Mother Panic was published on November 9, 2016, cover-dated January 2017. The issue's story established Violet Paige and the series' setting in Gotham City, and featured a cameo by Batman.

All Young Animal titles (except Doom Patrol) were placed on hiatus after 12 issues. In early 2018, DC published the five-issue crossover story Milk Wars featuring both Young Animal characters (including Mother Panic) and more traditional DC Universe characters including the Justice League.

Mother Panic was relaunched in May 2018 with a new first issue and given the subtitle Gotham A.D. Unlike the first series, the second volume is set in a dystopian future where masked vigilantes are outlawed, Batman having abandoned Gotham. Gotham A.D. ended after six issues in August 2018.

Reception

The original Mother Panic series has been generally well-received. On the review aggregator ComicBookRoundUp, it holds an average rating on 7.8/10, based on 135 reviews. Reviewing the first issue for IGN, Jesse Schedeen called it the standout of the Young Animal lineup. He wrote that although it was set within Gotham City, Mother Panic felt distinctive from the Batman family and surreal.

Gotham A.D. was also well-received. It holds an average rating of 7.7/10 on ComicBookRoundUp, based on 45 reviews.