Catwoman #1

In all the Batman mythos, no character is portrayed more stereotypically than Catwoman. People seem to latch onto her and do the most predictable things with her. Originally a cat burglar - using the monniker "The Cat", her relationship with Batman was a subtle, is-there-something-going-on-between-these-two-or-am-I-imagining-it kinda thang. But over time it was made more and more overt. The whole cat burglar thing was forgotten. 
 
Then when Tim Burton brought her to the screen, everybody raved about the costume - I was like - a catsuit - they went for the obvious. And a single-tailed bullwhip? Why? That's where they actually should have gone for the obvious - the cat-o-nine-tails! (Contrary to what you'll find on most sites on the web, Selina was merely a burglar who used an old woman disguise in her first appearance - the costume and whip came later)
 
But of course the outfit & bullwhip stuck, even though it was never as cool or sexy as what she was wearing in the 70s, the exposed

legs (the draping dress would have been especially convenient in the final scene here - as most of the costume staying on is an impossibility for that scene to have gone any further) and cat-o-

nine-tails, and all. Then at some point someone added goggles - and that stuck too. And then they just kept pushing it, literally making her a prostitute at one point. Catwoman is right up there alongside Two-Face (most often portrayed as One-Face, all bad) as one of the most complex bat-villains that too often gets reduced to a caricature of herself.
 
And, lo and behold, that's what we get here. Although, I am pleased to see she maintains some sort of cat-burlariness. But there are other things about that don't seem to jibe with her being a known criminal, like some random thugs in skull masks who found her apartment pitifully easily - in fact, her secret identity doesn't seem to be much of a secret at all, as every single character in the book, friend or foe, seems to know who she is and where she lives (or lived). 
 
But actually, I can't complain overmuch about the writing, it may not be stupendous, but by the standards of the majority of the New 52 titles... it's actually pretty good. No, my problem is the art. Sumptuous looking pinup style cover aside - too much of the time Catwoman looks downright fugly as her lips are drawn off center, her nose is long and pointy and sharp, her body is contorted in freakish positions or her proportions are grossly off human - and this is supposed to be the sexiest character in the DCU. And it's not just the renderings of Catwoman that are bad - her pet cats throughout the issue look more like googly-eyed goblins than any real felines. 
 

(Oh, and for a second, I have to go on my thought balloon rant again - why exactly are we replacing them with text boxes that have a pink "M" on them? is that supposed to be an upside down "W" as in "woman" as written on the cover? Da hell...?)

A particularly hot sex scene between Catwoman and Batman in the last few pages seems to be the whole reason this issue was written... O.K., that was cool. Now where else are you going with this...?