The Good
Last issue we got a new creative team and we might as well have gotten a whole new title to go along with it. Now we were seeing the seeds being sown for the Catwoman that would appear in the near future as teased in pages of BATMAN and set up in BATMAN ETERNAL. Genevieve Valentine took the reins on a more staid, sedate Selina Kyle. Gone was the catsuit and whip as well as the active participation in larceny, both petty and grand. Or at least it seemed that way. We saw brief teases of someone else taking up the mantle of Catwoman, and here we not only see them in action, but get them unmasked. Valentine is building one helluva tower and she’s building it quickly: the developments come fast and furious, but it never feels overly rushed nor do we lose track of our core group. The core group is definitely the glue that makes this title worth reading as there are already splits forming in them, but they feel like they’re rooted in history and characters, rather than a simple need for a title to have a conflict. Valentine writes the characters with an effortless fascination that makes this more Sopranos or The Wire than what we remember of this character.
Garry Brown’s linework has to work overtime as there’s next-to-no action, but he’s clearly up to the job as the book still looks exciting and moves at a quick, effective clip. When an action scene DOES break out, it looks great and has the visuals emphasize a jagged, sharp look. Every hit looks like it hurts and we get reminded that, though she’s traded in her leather and caltrops for a suit and sharp acumen, she’s still Selina Kyle and she still knows how to throw down when push comes to shove. Lee Loughridge emphasize the murky, gritty subject matter that we find Selina coming up against with colors that bring a tremendous level of detail to the title without overwhelming the panel.
The Bad
If you haven’t been reading BATMAN ETERNAL, large swaths of this book are going to completely blindside you. Likewise, I’m not positive who Selina’s core assistants are, whether they were introduced earlier in the title before the shift or if they have yet to appear in ETERNAL, but it makes the interplay between them sometimes confusing as they reference things I’ve never seen.
This speaks to a larger problem in the title: while the core characters are interesting and dynamic, names get tossed around completely at will and it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of them all. It’s not exactly A Song of Ice and Fire level of cast confusion, but there’s little to no explanation nor exposition, so figuring out exactly who’s at war with whom can be tricky.
The Verdict
This is a completely new direction for Catwoman, and a few hiccups are to be expected. These also don’t fully detract from what is a highly entertaining read and a great example of how to shake up a title without abandoning its core principles or forcing the characters into roles they don’t fit into. This still FEELS like a Catwoman book, it’s just one that’s going in a new, incredibly exciting direction.