"Fuck the Bat"
— Violet Paige
Mother Panic is a 2016 comic book published by DC Comics as part of the first wave of their Young Animal imprint. The title is written by Jody Houser with art by Tommy Lee Edwards, Shawn Crystal, and Jean Paul Leon.
The story focuses on Violet Paige, a young celebutante who returns to Gotham City after a mysterious ten-year absence. Armed with extensive martial arts skills, a technologically-advanced suit, and superhuman strength, Violet takes on the dark underbelly of Gotham's elite, privileged society as the brutal vigilante Mother Panic, seeking revenge for events in her past. In addition, she must figure out her place within Gotham's existing roster of crimefighters, deciding whether she will toe the line or operate according to her own rules, thus putting herself at odds with Batman and his allies.
Although not released under DC's Rebirth banner, the series does still take place in the same continuity, as do all Young Animal titles.
The series began on November 9, 2016. In October 2017, after the release of issue #13, the book went on hiatus until the Milk Wars crossover. While Violet doesn't play a big role in the crossover, the Mother Panic/Batman special has her properly meet Batman.
Mother Panic provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alliterative Family: Violet has an older brother named Victor.
- All There in the Manual:
- Some info on characters and the technical specs of Violet's gear were included in supplemental material in the back pages of other Young Animal titles before appearing in this book itself.
- Remains is only named in some of the solicits for the arc he appears in, not in the comic itself.
- Aloof Big Brother: Victor is fifteen years older than Violet (he was in law school before she was in high school), so the two of them were never really close as siblings. It appears he deliberately had Violet sent to Gather House as revenge for killing their father.
- Barehanded Bar Bending: Violet bends a rifle in half in issue #5.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted in issue #5 during a flashback to Violet's training at Gather House. She wins a fight by headbutting her female opponent, and the blow leaves both of their foreheads cut and bleeding.
- Berserk Button: Violet does not like being asked about her father's death. Or being associated with the Batfamily.
- Bland-Name Product:
- Boarding School of Horrors: Violet's decade away from Gotham was spent at such a school, called Gather House. Located on the outskirts of the city, many of Violet's initial targets are associated with the school in some way. The exact nature of Gather House remains to be seen.
- Boomerang Bigot: Violet is a rich heiress and member of Gotham's upper class, but she hates the lifestyle and what she sees as the shallowness and callousness of other rich people.
- Cheap Costume:
- Played with. While Violet's helmet is fairly advanced and fully custom-built from all appearances, her gloves are hockey gloves with spikes attached.
- Remains, the villain of the third arc, wears a body bag that's been adapted into a hooded cloak.
- Cool Bike: Violet has a hover bike (referred to as a "glider" by the creative team), as seen on the cover of issue #2.
- Cool Helmet: Violet's costume features one, which somewhat resembles a stylized, long-eared cat. It also features nozzles mounted on the chin that shoot some kind of acid.
- Covered with Scars: A post-coital scene in issue #2 reveals that Violet's back, upper arms, and thighs are laced with scars that resemble whip marks.
- Cyborg: A character profile sheet in the back pages of Shade, the Changing Girl #4 reveals that Violet has some degree of mechanical enhancements.
- Delinquent Hair: Fitting with her brash nature, Violet sports a shaggy, asymmetrical bob cut (further distinguished by long side bangs and purple highlights) that wouldn't look out of place in a punk band.
- Dual Wielding: Remains uses two Beretta pistols.
- Expy: A queer Gotham City socialite who uses brutal tactics, operates independently of Batman, has a punk-esque civilian aesthetic and green eyes, is a master martial artist, and a half-orphan? Are we talking about Violet Paige or Kate Kane?
- Fanservice Pack: In Shawn Crystal's issues (#4 to 6 and 10 to 12), Violet goes up 3 cup sizes.
- Form-Fitting Wardrobe: In Shawn Crystal's issues, Violet's costume seems to cup each of her breasts, something it not only didn't do before but is simply not the way clothing fits chests.
- Groin Attack: Violet kicks a thug in the crotch during a fight in issue #1.
- Hollywood Acid: Played with. Violet's helmet has chin nozzles that shoot some kind of neon-green acid that can cause burns, though it's unclear exactly how strong it is.
- Hunting "Accident": Violet's father was killed this way approximately fifteen years prior to the start of the series. Or at least, that's the popular belief.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: During her cameo in issue #2, Batwoman comments upon Violet's costume to herself after seeing her from afar.Batwoman: Who the hell wears white?
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Violet. Outwardly crass and rude, and thinks of herself only being out for selfish revenge and not caring about anyone but her mother. However, on two seperate occasions when faced with the choice of getting revenge or harming a child, she sides with the children.
- Let's You and Him Fight: In issue #3, Violet runs into Batwoman, who wants to have a chat with her about being a new vigilante in town. Violet wants Batwoman out of her way and throws a punch, starting a fight.
- Mad Artist: Gala, who tortures and murders people during the creation of her works.
- Meaningful Name: Violet is bisexual, and the flower of the same name is an old symbol that bisexual women and lesbians used to identify each other.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite possessing Super-Strength, Violet is not particularly muscular.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Violet wears a blouse with a navel deep neckline during a talk show appearance in issue #4.
- Nominal Hero: Violet, and she knows it. She works toward a good cause, but it's driven by revenge and selfishness. She even flatly denies being a hero on multiple occasions.
- Not-So-Abandoned Building: Violet makes her base of operations and home in the abandoned Pike Hotel.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: After getting punched off a roof by Violet, Batwoman stops her fall by grabbing onto a fire escape and has no apparent injury afterward.
- No, You: Violet is greeted by a swarm of paparazzi and tabloid reporters upon her return to Gotham. One of them questions her:Reporter: Care to comment on the fact you were seen at Vue with Shawna Schulz right after her-
Violet: Care to comment on your face? - Painting the Medium: When speaking with her helmet on, Violet's speech bubbles are drawn as rectangles with matching offset red rectangles behind them, as opposed to normal round bubbles. This is to indicate her helmet contains a voice modulator (the grill for this can be better seen in Shawn Crystal's art).
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Violet's initial motive as a vigilante. She's out for brutal revenge against those who hurt her.
- Percussive Therapy: Violet has a habit of punching walls when frustrated, usually leaving a crater.
- Power Fist:
- The gloves of Violet's suit are covered in rather vicious-looking spikes. In fact, they resemble the ancient cestus, or Roman boxing glove.
- Issue #9 reveals that Violet carries a set of spiked brass knuckles when out as a civilian.
- Product Placement: Violet wears Osiris sneakers.
- Remember the New Guy?: Violet herself fits this. The first issue implies that she has some sort of history with Kate Kane, despite this series being Violet's debut.
- Rooftop Confrontation: Violet's fight with Batwoman occurs on a roof.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Violet's mother is revealed to know that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
- Self-Harm: Violet slices her finger open with a shaving razor and paints smiley faces on the walls of her hotel room to freak out a guy she had a one-night-stand with.
- Self-Made Orphan: Downplayed. Issue #2 reveals that Violet killed her father, after she overheard him agreeing to let Hemsley molest her ill mother.
- Sensual Spandex: Mentioned above in Form-Fitting Wardrobe that Shawn Crystal seems to think breasts are attached to the collarbone and are separated in clothing, especially when Violet dons her costume.
- Statuesque Stunner: Violet is exactly six feet tall according to the preview magazine.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: In issue #3 Batwoman pulls a Stealth Hi on Violet by just sort of appearing in front of her on a roof Violet had just landed on. She does it again later in the issue when she appears behind Violet in an alley to compliment her heroics.
- Super-Strength: Violet has this, as a result of some sort of physical augmentations. She's been shown to easily toss around and carry adult men just using one arm, punch chunks out of concrete walls, bend the wheels of cars, and rip steel cables in half with her hands.
- Terse Talker: Violet's speech generally leans in this direction, and even her inner monologues tend to be clipped and journal-like.
- Twice Shy: Violet and Dr. Varma struggle to let each other know their mutual romantic interest.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Downplayed. Violet is a skilled fighter, but according to
Word of God, she relies more on her enhanced strength and would not be a match for another skilled combatant (such as any member of the Batfamily) in an extended fight. - Upper-Class Twit: As per usual for a Gotham vigilante, the public views Violet's outward persona as this; she is someone "who no one suspects of having anything lying beneath the surface of her outrageous exploits", according to the solicitation for the first issue.
- Use Your Head: A flashback to Violet's training in issue #5 shows her winning a fight by headbutting her opponent.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After saving the children from Gala, Violet chews out Batwoman as to why none of the Batfamily did it first. Batwoman simply responds that they trusted Violet to do it.
- What You Are in the Dark: Faced with the choice of pursuing and killing Gala and saving the children Gala was using in her art from burning to death, Violet chooses the kids, not wanting them to have a similar fate to her Gather House schoolmates.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Along with the above example under What You Are in the Dark, Violet refuses to kill a child in issue #5, even though doing so would be revenge against one of her targets.
