Reviews del CatWoman #53

CATWOMAN #53 ADVANCE REVIEW
Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Great
Title: The Replacements Part One

One year later – who’s in the Catwoman costume? And what happened to Selina Kyle?

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: David Lopez
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Matt Idelson
Cover Art: Adam Hughes
Publisher: DC Comics

Review: I’m going to try very hard to be vague for the sake of the three people left on Earth who haven’t had some of the “One Year Later” changes for Catwoman spoiled already, but it won’t be easy. So if you find out something in this review, I apologize in advance.

One year later, Gotham City’s East End is still being protected by Catwoman, but it’s not Selina Kyle in the costume. Selina, under an assumed name, is in the hospital. She comes home this issue, but she doesn’t come home alone.

Will Pfeifer has really done a wonderful job of expanding Catwoman’s supporting cast during his run on this title, while still managing to make her an integral part of Batman’s universe – One Year Later this hasn’t changed at all. The person who brings her home from the hospital is no surprise at all, nor is the visitor who appears in her apartment late that night.

The biggest question, and the biggest mystery fans have clamored for since the solicitation for this issue came out, is who… um… “helped” Selina get into her “situation?” That question is not answered with 100 percent certainty this issue, but the allusions are incredibly obvious. In fact, they’re so obvious that part of me thinks they’re just playing with us, trying really, really hard to make us think it’s a specific candidate. On the other hand, if it’s anyone else, the fans may be in an uproar, especially with the events of this issue.

David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez are our art team, and they’re quite good. The crooks on the streets of Gotham may not be able to tell that it’s a different Catwoman in the costume, but she’s slightly smaller, slightly more awkward in her movements, and it really adds a lot to the issue.

I had high hopes for the “One Year Later” experiment, and so far, those hopes have been met at nearly every turn. This is another great issue.

Rating:
(4,5 sobre 5)

by Don MacPherson

CATWOMAN #53
"The Replacements, Part One"

DC Comics
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: David Lopez
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover artist: Adam Hughes
Editor: Matt Idelson

Price: $2.50 US/$3.50 CAN
DC's "One Year Later" event continues this week, and it's made for some rather personal changes in the life of one Selina Kyle. Pfeifer really hasn't tinkered with the cast of characters too much, and I think his choices for change add some down-to-earth drama that plays to the series's strengths. Nevertheless, I'm not entirely hooked by the new direction as it's not at all clear what he's trying to say about these characters. Signing David ( Fallen Angel ) Lopez on as the title's new penciller was a good choice, but in this issue, he doesn't embrace the darker look that serves his style so well in the past.

Selina Kyle is dead, but a woman who used to be Selina Kyle finds herself in a different part of Gotham facing a radically different kind of physical challenge. It's been a year since she killed Black Mask in the name of protecting the citizens of the East End, and her life has taken a dramatic turn in that time as she reaches the end of her pregnancy. At the same time, Catwoman returns to the streets of the East End after a year-long absence, but if the original Catwoman is recovering from childbirth in a hospital, who's wearing the costume and cracking the whip these days?

Given David Lopez's work on Peter David's Fallen Angel during the property's tenure at DC Comics, I felt he would make an excellent fit with Catwoman , another dark heroine. The problem is that we're not seeing quite the same level of darkness from the artist here. He offers some fairly straightforward comic art here. The simpler leanings in his work that allowed the shadows and mood to take hold are gone, replaced with a slightly more realistic style. It seems as though he's striving to match the style of his predecessor, Pete Woods. There's nothing wrong with the art, per se, but it just seems rather ordinary at this point.

DC missed out on a great marketing campaign and Pfeifer misses an opportunity to really hook readers by failing to connect the title character's pregnancy with the Batman. The character makes a brief cameo in this issue, but from his behaviour, it's clear he had nothing to do with Selina's new status as a parent. It's too bad... it really wouldn't have been that much of a stretch for us to believe that Bruce and Selina shared a night of passion several months ago. Pfeifer doesn't really play up the mystery of the father's identity at all. Maybe I'm forgetting a cue from previous issues, but mention of the kid's paternity is oddly absent here.

Given what she has gone through, Selina's complete lack of concern for her replacement seems out of character for her, and furthermore, Pfeifer is too successful at conveying the new Catwoman's inexperience. She is so in over her head it's difficult for the reader to understand why she or anyone else would think what she's doing is a good idea. Still, there's potential in the concept, just as there is in the notion of a heroine balancing an extraordinary life with single parenthood. 6/10


http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?p=2110561

CATWOMAN 53 — David Lopez in and of himself is enough reason to come back month after month, but I'm also looking very forward to finding out more about Selina's kid. I love that the baby's name is Helena. B+


Catwoman # 53 (DC; by Koben): I've actually never followed the adventures of Catwoman before, but this creative team has sunk its hooks into me, and they're not letting go. Selina Kyle has ceased to exist. In her place is Irena Dubrovna (the name of the female lead in the original movie, Cat People), who gives birth in the first few pages. So if it's not Selina, who is it kicking ass in her old costume? And does the fact that she names her baby girl Helena (the name of the Earth-2 Huntress, daughter of E-2 Batman and E-2 Catwoman) have anything to do with the Crisis? Cameos by Slam Bradley and Bats add to the mix, making this issue a joy to read. Pfeifer's OYL storyline creates questions, but not confusion, inviting the new reader to stick around, while David Lopez (Fallen Angel) contributes some of his best work for DC yet.


Writer: Will Pfeiffer
Artist: David Lopez
Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Colorist: Jeremy Cox
Editor: Matt Idelson
Cover Art: Adam Hughes
Publisher: DC Comics

REVIEW: Welcom to OYL! If the goal of OYL is to attract new readers, I could see this title failing miserably. If the goal is to get current fans excited about the book again, mission accomplished. I never thought I'd want to see Selina out of costume and living outside the East End, but this has me interested. It's going to take a while for the mystery of the father of her child to be sorted out. My guess is we'll see a swerve or two in 52 before it's finally revealed here.

This issue opens with Selina giving birth to her baby. The name she picks for her? Helena . Meanwhile, a new Catwoman is out trying to break up a stolen video camera ring. This Catwoman is much sloppier and much less precise than her predecessor. She manages to finally get the drop on the thugs she has been chasing, but not before she gets slapped around a little. Angle Man watches her from afar. Selina gets to take her child home. Before her cab can pick her up, Slam Bradley pulls up and offers a ride. Despite moving out of the East End and "retiring" as Catwoman ,Selina still has Holly as a roommate. Angle Man is plotting something with Catwoman , but his true plans are yet to be revealed. Batman drops by Selina's new pad to deliver a full college scholarship to anywhere in the world and he also brings a large teddy bear. They discuss the new Catwoman . Before Bruce can talk her out of it, she tells him that she supports the new person in the suit. Selina realizes there are going to be growing pains, but she thinks that eventually everything will work out. Meanwhile the new Catwoman is caught in an explosion set by Angle Man .

If you've read the comic and paid attention at all, it should be fairly obvious who the new Catwoman is and I'm sure someone will be kind enough to spoil it here. This book is just aching for a cliffhanger that involves Selina being forced to fill out a birth certficate and finally reveal the father's name.

This is the way an OYL title should be written. Picking up dangling plot threads (Angle Man and the GCPD plotline) and running with new ones that are going to change a title for the better (Selina's child and the new Catwoman). That being said, I don't think this is a great title for a new reader. You'd have no idea what was going on other than the new baby and the new Catwoman .

What worked in this issue? Pfeiffer "gets" these characters. These characters feel authentic to me, as does their speech. The words in the thought bubbles and the words coming out of their mouths feel like their own. Especially with Selina . I really can't wait to see what Pfeiffer has in store for her in the months to come. I also thoroughly enjoyed his comedic moments with Batman and Slam Bradley .Batman showing up with a teddy bear and Slam Bradley having to remind everyone that he used to be a detective were just entertaining moments that came naturally to the flow of the story.

The artwork was strong in this issue. This title still has a lot of the high contrast panels and pulp-noir tendencies that it's known for, but with the addition of a new baby and Selina re-positioning herself in the DCU, this title has taken on a lighter tone. A lot of the faces are drawn softer and the color scheme is a bit brighter. It's strange for me to see smiles in a Catwoman comic that aren't maniacal in nature. The backgrounds are also more detailed under Lopez than they were under Woods .


Comic Review
by Paul Milligan

Catwoman #53

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Penciller: David Lopez
Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher

It’s one year later and Selena’s having a baby! So who’s the Catwoman running around Gotham’s East End? And will she be able to evade the Angle Man, who’s still looking for revenge after being humiliated by Catwoman last year? Meanwhile, one of Gotham City’s finest is trying to uncover evidence that will prove Catwoman killed the Black Mask.

Thanks to writers like Ed Brubaker (who started the current series) and Will Pfeifer, Selina Kyle has become one of the most complex and fascinating female characters in all of comics. This issue, set one year after Catwoman #52 and the conclusion of Infinite Crisis , does even more to cement that fact, taking Selina out of the catsuit and making her a brand new mother. It’s obvious that she is trying to make a new life for herself and her new daughter as she has passed the mantle of Catwoman to her dearest friend. And while the events in this issue are certainly shocking, it feels like a calm before the storm. This series is defined by those moments.

When this series first began, under the care of Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke (and later Cameron Stuart and Brad Rader) it was one of my absolute favorite reads each month. But after a while I lost interest in the book, particularly when Paul Gulacy became the regular artist. No slam against Gulacy, who I like. I just didn’t think his style fit the book. But just when I thought I was out Will Pfeifer and artist Pete Woods were there to pull me right back in and Catwoman is once again one of my favorite titles. Woods has now moved on (currently drawing both Action Comics and Superman ) but they couldn’t have picked a better artist to take over. I was gaga about David Lopez when I first saw his work on Peter David’s Fallen Angel and knowing that I will get to see his work on a regular basis again has me doing back flips.

This book has had new life breathed into it, not just because of the new creative team but also because of their story. The identity of Selina’s baby’s father is the most intriguing of all the mysteries. The obvious choice seems to be Bruce Wayne, especially seeing that Selina has named her daughter Helena, an obvious nod to Earth-2 continuity where Bruce and Selina were married with a daughter named Helena, who became The Huntress. But that seems a little too easy. If I were a betting man I might lay odds on Sam Bradley, the son of detective Slam Bradley, one of Selina’s closest allies. And it sure will be fun to see if the new Catwoman will survive and whether or not Selina can avoid being dragged, probably kicking and screaming, back into her role as the protector of Gotham’s East End. It’s gonna be one hell of a ride, I’ll bet the farm on that one.



Catwoman 53

This was the OYL title I've been most eager for. No surprise, and therefore, no disappointment, as to the new Catwoman's identity. It was nice to see Slam. The cover is more stunning than the previews hinted at. The interior art was nice. Selina grew her hair out. She named the baby Helena, which was pretty cool for some reason. Bruce is still Bruce and no word, naturally, on Helena's daddy, or even why Selina got pregnant, went to term, and is keeping the baby. But, as with Hawkgirl, things happened, story threads were set in motion, and things look to get very interesting. I've been having conflicting feelings re: books getting all new teams vs keeping at least the writer. In this case, I'm glad Pfeifer is staying on. He's got a nice feel for Selina.
Shelly said this @ 9:59 PM
Bop! Bam! Kapow! |2 folks commented


Catwoman 53 Will Pfieffers blog
As heavily predicted, Catwoman, Selina Kyle, gave birth in the One Year Later issue of Catwoman. Her little kitten is a girl named Helena. Bats stops by with an offer of any college tuition, and a bear. Some of the dialogue is 'we need to talk', leaving us with the impression that Bats is daddy or it's a red herring. I've never been a Catwoman fan, but Pfieffer in this series has been very interesting as Selina deals with life changes from mind wipes, identity, and becoming a mom. Oh, and there is a new Catwoman on the Gotham scene.
posted by redlib

Catwoman 53
So, here we are, one year later on the East End of Gotham City (well, and in Downtown Gotham, too). Oh, how things have changed. As everyone already knew, Selina Kyle is no longer Selina Kyle, nor is she Catwoman. She's too busy giving birth to baby Helena (what a coincidence, name-wise). Meanwhile, on the East End, Holly is proving to be not that great of a Catwoman. I mean, she is trying, but it seems her best isn't going all too well. We also get Slam (who's apparently gotten a lot better since last we saw him), Batman shows a soft side towards baby Helena (is he the daddy? We don't know yet ... although the fact that's it's too obvious may make people, including me, think he's not the baby-daddy.), Angle Man is back (and possibly most psychotic than before), and Black Mask is apparently dead. It's a great jumping on issue, although one wonders just how long it is until Selina is back in the suit and Holly's babysitting. We'll see ...
Nifitly yours,
LtFlux