In this review of Batman: Bad Seeds – Gotham General #1, the doctors and nurses of Gotham General hospital are in for a brutal night as Bad Seeds ravages Gotham…but that’s just the beginning!
Batman: Bad Seeds – Gotham General #1 main cover by Rosa Ekedal (DC Comics)
BATMAN: BAD SEEDS – GOTHAM GENERAL #1
Written by GREG RUCKA
Artists: ROSA EKEDAL and STEVE LIEBER
Main Cover: ROSA EKEDAL
Variant Covers: JAVI FERNÁNDEZ, MITCH GERADS, DUSTIN NGUYEN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 10/28/26
This review contains spoilers
As the sun sets, Shoshanna enters Gotham General to wait for the end of her mom’s shift. Her mom, Dr. Nat Evans, talks to her coworker Dr. Ava Dastur about leaving Gotham to keep her daughter safe, but just as Shoshanna surprise hugs her, the power flickers off and on, indicating city power failure and generator reliance. The Batsignal 2.0 drones hit the sky as a dinosaur forest grows outside the hospital, and Nat starts taking care of plant victims and tells Shoshanna to wait in the break room. Dr. Ava Dastur, senior resident at Gotham General, secretly tries to reach Batman, but can’t, and is called away to help Dr. Nat Evans. Nat figures out that one of their patients has strychnine poisoning, and they prep for curare and many other plant poisons.
Four hours later, Shosh finds a locked Bat-box in a locker in the break room.
Over the next 5 hours, the doctors fight for patient after patient. After 3 in the morning, Nat and Ava have another intense discussion about leaving Gotham again to protect Shosh. They’re interrupted by an ambulance arriving carrying the injured Batgirl, Stephanie Brown (see Bad Seeds – Gotham Central #2).
Well this can’t be good… (DC Comics)
Analysis
In Detective Comics #1100, Greg Rucka (and former Detective Comics and current Nice House series artist) Alvaro Martinez created a parallel series to Rucka’s landmark and beloved co-created series (with Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark) Gotham Central. Where Gotham Central approached Batman as a police procedural, Gotham General takes the medical procedural approach (think The Good Doctor or House MD). In that short story, called “The Knife and Gun Club”, the lifelong Gotham doc, Ava Dastur, helps the new resident, Nat Evans, see the benefit of Batman from a historical perspective – changing from massive amounts of knife and gun deaths to treating mostly gang members with bruises and broken bones – who don’t die. Here, we have “Sine Qua Non” – “without which not” – a phrase indicating “the essential element.” Though a lot of what that means is likely tied up in the resolution in the second issue, the hints of Batman and heroism – selfless service of others – seem to be indicated as that essential element.
One can’t review this series without mentioning the significant delay – originally scheduled to start in Week 3 of Bad Seeds alongside Gotham Central by Christopher Cantwell and Jacob Phillips, it’s slipped back 7 weeks to Week 10, starting alongside the finale of the series, with at least a full month before the resolution (which is somewhat spoiled both by the Sunrise issue of Bad Seeds itself, and by the fact that Stephanie Brown is a major character in the upcoming Gangs of Gotham series, also by Cantwell). Rucka has mentioned that Gotham General is a very difficult series to draw, as indicated by the addition of veteran artist (and frequent Rucka collaborator) Steve Lieber to the art team. The art in this book is quite beautiful – you can feel the effort put into details, as so much world and character building and compressed into just two issues (plus the stealth pilot in Detective Comics #1100). The characters are appealing, fun, and clearly laid out, and their professionalism and skill shine in the rapid fire montage style required both by an event comic tie-in and narrative compression. The colors by Patricio Delpeche are also excellent, giving the fluorescents of the hospital, the darkness of the plant horror outside, and the vitality of the characters such a strong look.
Which brings us to the Steph Issue. From the release of the cover for the second issue of Gotham General, we knew that Steph was going to be badly injured in Bad Seeds. But I personally never doubted that Steph would pull through – DC under Marie Javins is not the same DC as under Dan Didio, and Bad Seeds is not War Games 2.0. Matt Fraction is not interested in ripping the Batfamily apart and killing “superfluous” members for drama and shock value, and his collaborators share his vision of showing Gotham and the Batfamily pulling together in crisis rather than tearing each other to shreds. I’m very curious to see whether Steph is even conscious at all in the second issue, however!
Rucka, Ekedal, and Lieber build up three characters in particular this issue – Shosh, Nat, and Ava – showing each one in the pressure cooker of Bad Seeds in the emergency room. Shosh’s curiosity and joy, Nat’s worry and brilliance, and Ava’s determination and willpower shine through powerfully, and Rucka’s mentioned that other characters, like Sister Mick (Micky Flannigan) will have more of a spotlight in the second issue as well! I hope some of these characters shine strongly enough that we’ll get some backups, short stories, or other continuations of this little part of Gotham, similar to how Gotham Central, Gotham Academy, and other microcosms of Batman’s universe have taken on a life of their own!
Rosa Ekedal’s main cover shows our main characters in front of Gotham General’s entrance, a huge Batsignal on the wall, and Ivy’s flowers creeping up on them – a nice symbolic representation of the story. Javi Fernandez presents another view of the entrance, with Batman overlooking the staff as they rush people inside against encroaching vines – a very similar concept to the main cover, but more frenetic. Mitch Gerads presents a variant with a surgeon holding up gloved hands as lights behind him create a blurry effect, and the blood spatter on his chest makes a Batsymbol – a nice, simple expression of the concept. As a companion to his spot-foil cover to Gotham Central #1, Dustin Nguyen presents a flipping Signal fighting vines outside the hospital – kind of funny that Signal is not in this issue, just as Batgirl was not in the first issue of Gotham Central – and I wonder if that means Signal will show up in issue two?
Final Thoughts
The pressure is on as Rucka, Ekedal, and Lieber spin an intense medical procedural in Batman’s city!
Batman: Bad Seeds - Gotham General #1
DC Comics Reviewed by Ian MillerFinal Thoughts
The pressure is on as Rucka, Ekedal, and Lieber spin an intense medical procedural in Batman’s city!
