The Good

I was never the biggest fan of artist Guillem March on CATWOMAN, but I do believe he is better suited on this series. He executes fight scenes in this issue very fluidly and his style really compliments the story. March also has a lot of attention to detail, which I think is important to a lot of the scenes in this issue.

Overall, this story is really well organized. Even some of the story's supplemental characters (like Anya) take center stage and give a really great show without stealing all of the spotlight. It's clear that 'The Gotham Butcher' is a very violent, extremely dangerous and unstable character, and it's obvious that he is being set up by this series' creative team to be a prominent villain and member of Calvin's own rogue's gallery. The overall portrayal of The Gotham Butcher' in this issue and his interaction with Calvin certainly has an "edge of your seat" feel, and if I had to compare this relationship to any other in a comic it would probably have to be Bane and Batman's interactions. There are definitely similar elements between these two characters.

The set-up of the plot is really good, too. I think James Tynion IV does a great job covering a large range of emotions in this issue. You see a lot of fear, suspense and even a very sweet sentimental moment by the time you reach the end of this issue.

The Bad

I can understand that "The Gotham Butcher" has a very specific role in this story and his job is simply to blindly seek out Calvin and eliminate him for the Court of Owls. This would be fine, except that there are certain lines in this issue that indicates there is some kind of deeply seeded rivalry between the two characters. As if there is more history here than maybe we originally thought. Overall, though, the interaction was really good.

The Verdict

Overall this was a good issue. The story is pretty action packed and the structure and layout are relatively well organized. I think that there is a lot of great set-up for a solid rivalry between Calvin and The Butcher, and based on that last page, I doubt we've seen the last of him. It will be interesting to see the interactions between these two develop, Overall, pretty solid story.