CATWOMAN #63 REVIEW
Reviewer: Terry Verticchio terryvert@hotmail.com
Quick rating: Fun
Title: The Paperweight—Part One
To get her life back on track Selina has to make a deal with the devil.
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: David Lopez
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colours: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Nachie Castro
Publisher: DC Comics
Things are slowing down in Selina’s life, but she continues to be hounded by some members of the GPD who have a rather unhealthy fixation on Catwoman . To get her name out of circulation, she has to make a deal with an unlikely individual. He’s very good with computers, but he can’t be trusted and makes a rather dangerous deal with Selina before he will do what she asks of him.
This issue has a nice old-school vibe to it. It is a simple set up to what will be an exciting adventure. Everything is paced perfectly and while the dialogue is simple it isn’t hackneyed or flat.
The art is adequate, thought it is a bit flat and tooney in places, I can’t find many faults with it.
A nice beginning to what is a very consistent and satisfying title.
http://www.comixtreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32476
Catwoman 63
Will Pfeifer is another writer who delivers the goods. I love the Selina/Holly scenes and this issue had the all-important non-discussion over Helena's father and Selina never did say why she picked that name. And it's always nice to see how far Selina would go to protect her friends. Gorgeous cover, too, and the interior art is nice.
http://shellyscomics.blogspot.com/2007/01/reviews-galore.html
Catwoman 63, "The Paperweight, part 1," by Pfeifer, Lopez, Lopez, Cox, Fletcher and Castro.
Another terrific issue from the Catwoman team as the story turns from the baby to Holly's status as a sort-of murder suspect and Irina's efforts to get her out of trouble, plus more meta commentary than any book since Fabian's last issue of Thunderbolts.
I was pretty amused by said meta commentary, which takes up the first two pages; I doubt it'll appease any of the baby!daddy critics, but I was amused. Amidst Pfeifer's little chat with the fans, there's a really funny scene with a poor pizza boy who gets set up to prove to Holly that she's not all in the clear. Lenahan's one crazy cop, something that hasn't eluded his bosses. Whose intervention efforts seem guaranteed to just make things worse. But that's a subplot for a later day.
Off in suplot 2 land, a couple big Russian thugs (Hammer and Sickle) get released. I was a bit confused about what this trade was, but I assume that'll get cleared up. And we'll see what this all has to do with Irina.
Cut finally to the main plot, which I also loved. Irina doesn't want to go to Bats to get Holly's name cleared (though why she thinks he doesn't already know she's a suspect in Black Mask's murder confuses me) and thus can't get to Oracle (yay! BoP shoutout. Though doesn't Irina have some direct access to Babs from an earlier BoP story?). So she goes to the alternative: Calculator, who I really enjoyed in VU and BoP.
He decides on a little tit-for-tat (not that way, you pervs; Irina rules that right out) and uses her to get rid of the Triple Threat morons who are trying to use him to get into the crime scene. It's a fun little fight that's kind of gruesome. It's a nice way to break up what would otherwise be a lower-action issue and an effective diversion.
Finally, inside, Calc sets up the rest of the story with his payment demand: A little paperweight. From the desk of one Lex Luthor.
Good stuff all around, one of my favorite issues since I started reading the series, I think (which granted, still wasn't all that long ago).
Will I get the next issue? Yeah.
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=97933
Catwoman #63 by Will Pfeifer ,David López , and Alvaro López. $2.99, DC .
This is an example of what I’m talking about. After getting progressively better over the last six months or so, this issue isn’t exactly a step back, but it’s a lot of setup to get to the point: the Calculator wants Selina to steal Lex Luthor’s snow globe. Yes, he really does. Now, of course, that’s not the whole point of the issue. Selina wants him to erase records pertaining to Holly’s arrest when she was Catwoman, because of that murder thing and all that Selina has hanging over her. So we go through why she needs the Calculator instead of going to Oracle. There’s also the cop, Lenehan, who’s becoming dangerously obsessed with getting Selina. In this issue he’s told to stay off the case. Yeah, that’ll happen.
There’s action, of course, but it feels a bit perfunctory. Boris and Natasha - Hammer and Sickle, who were last seen before OYL as part of the big gang that was trying to kill Selina - escape custody, and do general mayhem, with more gore than we usually see here. When Selina visits the Calculator, she needs to fight three neophyte bad guys trying to earn their stripes, and she beats on them pretty easily. It’s a pretty pointless fight in the final analysis.
It’s certainly not going to make me drop the book, because I have gained a lot of trust in Pfeifer over the course of the past year or so that he will write a good story. This was just a dull beginning to what could be a hoot. I mean, who doesn’t want to see Selina steal Lex’s stupid snow globe?
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/01/18/what-i-bought-17-january-2007/
Catwoman #63: Say what you want about Will Pfeifer, but there's no denying that he's a guy who likes to make bold choices , as evidenced by his decision to follow up a longform story featuring the cinema-themed villainy of the Film Freak with a multi-part epic concerning Lex Luthor's paperweight. I'm not sure, but I think that might be genius . I actually do mean that, too. Pfeifer's run on this title with David Lopez has been remarkably entertaining throughout, and even the joke on page one about the fan reaction to the father of Catwoman's child comes off as a lot less snide and self-serving than it could. It's fast-paced, action-packed, well-done, and even features the return of a pair of characters that I last saw kicking it in the pages of Suicide Squad . What more could you want?
http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_the-isb_archive.html
Catwoman - #63
Synopsis: Catwoman and Holly are watching the door to Holly's apartment building. A pizza delivery boy shows up as Catwoman has ordered a pizza to that address. Suddenly the cop who is after Catwoman for killing the Black Mask bursts thru the door (literally through) and grabs the guy! :O
Catwoman tells Holly that that's why she can't go home. However, since Holly can't live with Selina FOREVAR, Selina thinks of a way to clear Holly from the computer database. She doesn't want to approach Batman or Oracle however as she doesn't want to admit to them that she killed Black Mask, so instead she asks the Calculator for help. :|
Meanwhile, the cop who is obsessed with Catwoman killing Black Mask is summoned to his superior who yells at him for being obsessed with Catwoman killing Black Mask and to go do his job and work on other crimes. :o
Catwoman goes to see Calculator who sends 3 wannabe supervillains to fight her. She beats them and then Calculator says that he'll do her job if she steals a snowglobe off of the desk of Lex Luthor! :O
Review: The opening scene actually made me laugh so hard XDDD Like.. srsly.. what was that cop planning to do, wait behind the apartment building door and break thru it for EVERY person that came by? :O It's not Holly's HOUSE, it's her APARTMENT BUILDING. How many ppl live there? :O And this is his plan to catch her? XD Like... he can't stake it out or investigate or ask people questions or even OPEN the door? HE HAS TO BURST THROUGH!?
XDDDD
I'm sorry...
XDDDD
And given that the rest of the police force doesn't care about Catwoman, then why are they worried? He's clearly a crazy cop and he wun last long on the job being crazy. XD And the crazier he is, the less likely nebody will believe nething he uncovers on Selina or Holly.
I still dun get why she doesn't just ask the heroes for help. Manhunter will help her at the very least. And she's a lawyer and also.. Manhunter. Wonder Woman will DEFINITELY help her and currently she's like.. a super spy. Both of them have the resources to help Catwoman. And like, is she going to keep this from the heroes and Batman ALL the time? Batman will eventually find out who killed Black Mask neways, and then what? The writers can't avoid this FOREVAR. :|
I still dun like how other heroes kill or injure and ppl have a problem with it, but everybody around Selina is like "yah it's okay, no problem!" >:|
I didn't like the fight scene where Catwoman beats up the 3 guys cuz it's very... ugh. :( She didn't have to snap the guy's arm and they didn't have to DRAW THE BONE STICKING OUT OF HIS ARM!! EWWWWW :| I'm okay with violence and gore, but like smex and nudity, it shouldn't be used just for shock value. :( I found it unnecessary. o_o;;;
I also thought it was odd that Catwoman would automatically assume that Calculator wanted smex in return for doing her a favour. Does she rly think that every guy is a horndog and that every guy wants her body? :| But it was just a throwaway line so that's okay XD
The challenge is interesting! I like it cuz it's kinda pointless. Tho since Calculator has OCD, it would make sense that he might want something strange like that. :o Is Lex still the most powerful guy evar or not? :O I'm soooo confused! Some books (like Superman/Batman) seem to imply that he is. While other books (like Action Comics) imply that he's a fugitive now and doesn't own a company. So.... o_O
But I think it's a good fun challenge for Selina to try to steal something small off the desk of Lex. :) So for that reason, I'm interested to see how the next book turns out! Yes it's arbitrary, but it's a fun kind of arbitrary :) And her being sneaky means using her brains and not having to snap ppl's arms. :3 I've always had a soft spot for espionage and stealth. :)
I dunno if this book is worth getting for non-Catwoman fans, but the next one might be! :)
Angelwings Rating: 2 and a half Pizzas out of 5 Broken Doors
Recommendation: If arbitrary violence and crazy cops aren't your thing, you might want to pass on this, but the next one promises to be interesting! :)
http://ami-angelwings.blogspot.com/2007/01/catwoman-63-review.html
Reviews CatWoman #64
Catwoman - #64
Synopsis: Selina goes into Metropolis to steal Lex Luthor's snow globe.
In Selina's absence, Holly becomes Catwoman again to fight crime. :o
Selina takes a tour of Lexcorp and finds out from the tour guide that all of Lex Luthor's former stuff was stashed in the basement of Lexcorp, sealed up where nobody but Superman can get to it. XD She sneaks away from the tour group to find the secret vault. :O
In Russia, 2 escaped supercriminals head towards America to get revenge on Catwoman for locking them up.
Selina uses a teleportation device she stole from Warp to beam herself to the secret basement area. :O There she finds all sorts of crazy equipment and runs into herself (presumably for the future) who then dissapears. She finds the snowglobe but is caught by.. Lex Luthor! :O (OH NOEZ!)
Review: This is another book that's teetering on the edge of my pull list XD It's just not very interesting. :( As you can see from the synopsis, not a lot rly happened there. :\
I'm also confused about what's going on with Lexcorp. o_O
So you throw Luthor out of it, and then find all his sekrit projects and weapons and stuff.
Do you:
a) analyze them to further the company
b) turn them over to the government
c) turn them over to Starlabs for further study
d) sell them to Waynetech
e) give them to Superman to destroy or whatever Superman does with stuff
f) put them in a basement storage locker claiming that "nobody can get to it, so we're safe now"
Apparently it's F. AND the tour guide is made aware of this and encouraged to tell people who ask. XDDD
Why would the contents of Luthor's desk be put in the same place as his sekrit weapons? :O
I guess this is what happens when Lana Lang inexplicably becomes the new head of Luthorcorp (that still makes NO sense) XD
Neways, I'm guessing that that's not RLY Luthor that caught her at the end and prolly the result of some crazy device in that basement. >.>;;;
The future Catwoman thing is weird too, I guess she'll find a time travel device there? Actually, if she did, that might give her the perfect Deus Ex Machina to get the police off her back. e_e I dunno if that'd be a GOOD thing tho. :O
Neways, this was a pretty blah book, and definitely isn't improving my opinion of the OYL Catwoman series. :(
Angelwings Rating: 1.5 out of 5 sekrit basement weapons storages
Recommendation: Not worth checking out, even for Catwoman fans :(
http://ami-angelwings.blogspot.com/2007/02/catwoman-64-review.html
CATWOMAN #64 REVIEW
Reviewer: Terry Verticchio terryvert@hotmail.com
Quick rating: Better than good
Title: The Paperweight—Part Two
What a woman has to go through just to get the cops off her back.
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: David Lopez
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colours: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Adam Hughes
Editor: Nachie Castro
Publisher: DC Comics
Okay the Calculator made Selina an offer she couldn’t refuse. Break into a maximum security building and steal a snowglobe and he’d make the file the Gotham Cops have on Holly disappear. The one catch is that the globe belongs to Lex Luthor. Oh yeah let the fun begin.
And this issue was fun. Lots of old-school excitement and I like to seeing Selina return to her cat burglar roots. The story is clever and the dialogue crisp. Though I am getting a bit annoyed with the underlined words in the narration boxes. It serves no purpose.
The art remains a conundrum to me. It’s adequate, with fine detail in some panels, but there is just something missing to the entire style. Nothing really jumps out at me. It’s hard for me to describe; suffice it to say that it is good in it’s own way, but not spectacular.
A nice adventure is brewing in this title. I must say I’ve wanted to find a reason to drop this book, simply because I want to thin my pull list, but the stories are fun and it’s nice to look at, so I have no legitimate excuse to stop buying it. Oh well, I guess I’m stuck with this book for a while.
http://www.comixtreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33036
Welcome, to what one feminist academic has to say about pop culture. Comics read, television watched, reviews heavily spoilered.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Selina, In the Sun: A Brief Review of Catwoman #64
I admit it freely, Gentle Reader. I’ve had problems with the One Year Later run of Catwoman. This used to be one of my favorite titles—particularly any Cat/Bat Interaction!—but the “Who Fathered Catbaby?” storyline disappointed me, to say the least. I wasn’t thrilled with the Sam Bradley answer, or his convenient death, or the way Selina seemed to dismiss everyone’s concerns over her recent act of murder. As a Wonder Woman Fan, I felt a bit cheated that Selina murdered someone and was applauded for it, while Diana killed someone in self-defense—of the *world*--and she’s been put on trial.
That is to say, I go a bit sack of hammers when The Amazon Princess is wronged.
But the Catbaby Father storyline has come to an end, both Selina and Holly are Back In Black, and Catwoman #64 gives us one heck of an issue that has the feel of Old Selina with the caution and meticulousness of New Selina. Or, to wit, This Humble Author Eats Crow, and feels that #64 is the best issue of Catwoman we’ve had since we’ve jumped, One Year Later.
Selina is “hired,” so to speak, by Calculator, to perform a little theft. In exchange for stealing Lex Luthor’s snowglobe from an insanely high security vault, Calculator will erase Holly’s name from the Gotham PD computers, and she will no longer be under threat of arrest for the murder Selina committed. Simple, yes? A simple little crime for a simple little cat burglar.
But of course, it *is* simple for Selina Kyle. With #64, we see Selina at the top of her game again. She’s smart, she’s sassy, she’s cunning, and she’s pulling one over on everyone, despite the bright sunlight that seems to creep into every corner of Metropolis. Despite the reflective chrome-and-glass feel of Superman’s City. And most importantly, because of the introspection we, The Readers, see. Sometimes we forget, Gentle Reader, that sunlight can illuminate inside as well as out.
When reflecting on why she chose the rather obvious pseudonym of Irena Dubrovna, Selina remembers a line from Cat People in which Irena admits that she prefers night to day, dark to light. “She’s right,” Selina thinks to herself. “It is friendly. I suppose that’s why I love Gotham so much. It’s dark. It’s cozy. It’s home.”
It would seem that Selina is never farther away than when she is outside of Gotham, and even, sometimes, outside of the East End .The final panel of that page shows Selina, squinting against the sunlight pouring through the train windows. It shows Selina, in the sun, an image we so rarely see of our favorite Feline Heroine. The sun is cleansing, yes, and light is often a symbol of purification and reveal. Think only of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Blanche DuBois’ continuous pulling away from harsh light. She could never abide a naked light bulb or a cruel remark, she says, and we only see Blanche for who she is when her face is turned directly to the light.
Selina, too, favors the dark, as do all denizens of Gotham City .Batman, the Joker, the Penguin, Huntress, all of them prefer the cover of night, to disappear deep into the shadows and pop out when we least expect. Not so Metropolis. The first thing Selina sees upon arriving in the city is a streak of red over the sky. “Look!” the citizens say, pointing upwards. “What are they all…” Selina begins, before she, too, looks up.
“Oh,” she thinks, rather unfazed. “Right.”
And that, ultimately, is the beauty of Selina Kyle. Not only is she unfazed by the sight of the Man of Steel, but she’s unfazed by the sight of, well, herself. In an odd time crunch, Now-Selina runs into Future-Selina. If the costume alterations—tears, scratches, and bloodstains—are any clue, Selina is about to run into some problems. “Wait, I remember this,” Future-Selina says. “Listen… you need to watch out for the loo…” but before she can finish, she fades away. Now-Selina tells herself to calm down because “Could’ve been anything. Illusion generator. Parallel dimension portal. Hypnosis device.”
It’s this Selina that This Humble Author has missed over the past several issues. Smart, rational Selina. Confident, shining Selina, who shows nothing but pure joy for her job. When she prepares to break into the inner depths of Luthor’s building, she gives us a—pardon the pun, Gentle Reader!—cat-with-cream grin. She hopes Lex’s company has his sense of paranoia, because, as she tells us, “I’m here to rob them blind.”
She may have come over to the Bright Side, Friends, but at heart, she is the Selina Kyle that we’ve grown to love: toeing the line of good and not-so-good, of bright and dark, of crime and necessary crime. In short, Selina is damn good at what she does and at being who she is. And the reason we love her so completely? Because she knows it. Selina’s confidence may have been shaken by recent and not-so-recent events—Zatanna’s mindwipe, for starters—but this issue seems to bridge the gap between the former, devil-may-care Selina and the current more-cautious, more-meticulous Selina. It’s an interesting move, and one that I think works Quite Well.
Sometimes, I find that familiar characters are their most interesting, their most intriguing, outside of their comfort zones, not because of their vulnerability or Otherness, but because they truly demonstrate their core strengths. Buffy never had to be as strong as when she thought she was alone. Wonder Woman never held a position of honor so high as when she had to make horrible choices by herself. But Selina is, as This Humble Author is coming to realize, charming in Gotham or in Metropolis, fascinating at home or abroad. Because ultimately, Selina is, like Blanche DuBois, “very adaptable—to circumstances” (Williams 55).
Selina is not, of course, on her way to Elysian Fields like Dame Blanche, dependent on the kindness of strangers—and we can all thank our Lucky Stars for that, Gentle Reader! But she is self-confident, self-dependent, self-assured of her strengths, critical but understanding of her weaknesses; she is the same Selina, in Metropolis, in the sun, as she is in Gotham , in the dark. Her adaptability to circumstances, any circumstances, is a survival mechanism that has served her well, from her earlier, purple-suited days, to her black-suited, more utilitarian present. And the lengths to which she is willing to go to clear Holly-as-Catwoman prove that her obligations and loyalty are the same as they’ve always been. To Friends, to Family, to Those-In-Need.
Posted by Amy Reads at 9:04 PM
http://amyreading.blogspot.com/2007/02/selina-in-sun-brief-review-of-catwoman.html
Catwoman #64
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by David Lopez
Rating: Check It
Dan P.'s Review: There are plenty of morally ambiguous comic book characters out there, but few are as complex and entertaining as Selina Kyle. In the hands of a talented writer, DC's resident femme fatale is one of the most intriguing personalities in comics, a character capable of tremendous heroism and selflessness one minute and incredible greed the next. Thankfully, writer Will Pfeifer thoroughly understands the conflicting aspects of Selina's personality and uses this intriguing dichotomy as the basis of the character's voice and personality. Though I was initially disappointed to see Pfeifer move the title and character away from the hard-boiled, noir-inspired direction established during Ed Brubaker's incredible run, Pfeifer has succeeded in exploring more conventional superhero territory without moving Catwoman too far outside that moral gray area she normally occupies. This latest issue follows Selina in her attempt to clear Holly of Black Mask's murder by doing Calculator a very risky favor - steal one of Lex Luthor's prized possessions. The story is the perfect vehicle for the character, and Pfeifer has a lot of fun bringing Selina's inner-thief back to the surface.
http://comics.ign.com/articles/766/766519p2.html
Catwoman #64
Posted by Rae_rae on 02/23/2007, 11:20 PM
Bad Kitty 4
Remember way back when Catwoman killed Black Mask? Ok, so it wasn’t that long ago, but it sometimes seems like it was. A couple issues back Holly, who was taking over as Catwoman, was arrested for the murder. Holly’s out of jail now, but for how long? Selina knows it’s only a matter of time before the cops arrest Holly for the murder she didn’t commit. Selina decides to go to a hacker friend of hers and having him hack into the police files to take Holly’s name off as the murder suspect. But everything comes with a price. The price of Holly’s name? A snow globe. Easy, right? Come on, this is a comic book. Nothing, let me repeat, nothing is ever easy. This particular snow globe is in a special storage underneath Lexcorp and is being guarded by a killer robot and old baldy himself.
As always, Pfeifer writes Catwoman , fantastically. None of the characters are stereotypical (unless it’s called for) and nothing is extremely obvious. I suggest that if you aren’t a reader of this series, but you enjoy either Action Comics or any of the Batman series, then you should start reading with this issues.
Catwoman #64
Written by: Will Pfeifer
Art by: David and Alvaro Lopez
DC
$2.99
http://www.popsyndicate.com/index.php/site/story/catwoman_64/
Catwoman #64 by Will Pfeifer ,David López , and Alvaro López. $2.99, DC .
Last issue was a bit disappointing because Pfeifer spent too long setting the whole caper up, which is basically that the Calculator wants Selina to steal Lex Luthor’s snow globe in return for getting Holly’s name off the Gotham City Police computer. It’s an intriguing idea for a story, but let’s face it - Pfeifer could have even skipped the issue, because that’s all that really happened. Thankfully, he’s back on track in this issue, as Selina shows up in Metropolis and breaks into Lexcorp HQ. Well, she doesn’t exactly break in: she takes a tour and just happens to leave it along the way. She manages to get into the vault underneath the building where all of Lex’s stuff is stored, and then weird things start happening. She meets herself, for instance. She gets her hand on the snow globe, but then someone shows up to stop her. If you can’t figure out who might be inside Lex Luthor’s private vault who wouldn’t want Selina stealing Lex Luthor’s snow globe, you might be too stupid to live and should check to make sure you’re breathing.
It’s a fun issue. Selina is on a caper, which is always a good place for her (not that I don’t want the serious stuff that Pfeifer has been putting her through, but she’s a thief, after all, and it’s nice to see sometimes), and there’s another story about Holly putting the costume back on. Yeah, that won’t get her in trouble. And Hammer and Sickle decide to take their revenge on Catwoman. I wonder who they might find instead of Selina? So the serious is there, but the main story is goofy (Luthor’s snow globe?) but still gives us plenty of action and some nice tense moments.
Catwoman continues to be an excellent comic book. So of course it doesn’t sell. Oh well.
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/02/22/what-i-bought-21-february-2007/
CATWOMAN #64
Catwoman is one of those books that I don’t read regularly, but pick up from time to time to see what’s happening with the character. Catwoman in Metropolis! I guess we know where this will inevitably lead. Yup! Supes sighting in the sky, and in invasion of the Lexcorp building. A beautiful cover by Adam Hughes, and a fun Catwoman story, but not much else to yell about.
http://billscomics.blogspot.com/2007/02/2-21-pt-1.html
Selina, In the Sun: A Brief Review of Catwoman #64
I admit it freely, Gentle Reader. I’ve had problems with the One Year Later run of Catwoman. This used to be one of my favorite titles—particularly any Cat/Bat Interaction!—but the “Who Fathered Catbaby?” storyline disappointed me, to say the least. I wasn’t thrilled with the Sam Bradley answer, or his convenient death, or the way Selina seemed to dismiss everyone’s concerns over her recent act of murder. As a Wonder Woman Fan, I felt a bit cheated that Selina murdered someone and was applauded for it, while Diana killed someone in self-defense—of the *world*--and she’s been put on trial.
That is to say, I go a bit sack of hammers when The Amazon Princess is wronged.
But the Catbaby Father storyline has come to an end, both Selina and Holly are Back In Black, and Catwoman #64 gives us one heck of an issue that has the feel of Old Selina with the caution and meticulousness of New Selina. Or, to wit, This Humble Author Eats Crow, and feels that #64 is the best issue of Catwoman we’ve had since we’ve jumped, One Year Later.
Selina is “hired,” so to speak, by Calculator, to perform a little theft. In exchange for stealing Lex Luthor’s snowglobe from an insanely high security vault, Calculator will erase Holly’s name from the Gotham PD computers, and she will no longer be under threat of arrest for the murder Selina committed. Simple, yes? A simple little crime for a simple little cat burglar.
But of course, it *is* simple for Selina Kyle. With #64, we see Selina at the top of her game again. She’s smart, she’s sassy, she’s cunning, and she’s pulling one over on everyone, despite the bright sunlight that seems to creep into every corner of Metropolis. Despite the reflective chrome-and-glass feel of Superman’s City. And most importantly, because of the introspection we, The Readers, see. Sometimes we forget, Gentle Reader, that sunlight can illuminate inside as well as out.
When reflecting on why she chose the rather obvious pseudonym of Irena Dubrovna, Selina remembers a line from Cat People in which Irena admits that she prefers night to day, dark to light. “She’s right,” Selina thinks to herself. “It is friendly. I suppose that’s why I love Gotham so much. It’s dark. It’s cozy. It’s home.”
It would seem that Selina is never farther away than when she is outside of Gotham, and even, sometimes, outside of the East End .The final panel of that page shows Selina, squinting against the sunlight pouring through the train windows. It shows Selina, in the sun, an image we so rarely see of our favorite Feline Heroine. The sun is cleansing, yes, and light is often a symbol of purification and reveal. Think only of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Blanche DuBois’ continuous pulling away from harsh light. She could never abide a naked light bulb or a cruel remark, she says, and we only see Blanche for who she is when her face is turned directly to the light.
Selina, too, favors the dark, as do all denizens of Gotham City .Batman, the Joker, the Penguin, Huntress, all of them prefer the cover of night, to disappear deep into the shadows and pop out when we least expect. Not so Metropolis. The first thing Selina sees upon arriving in the city is a streak of red over the sky. “Look!” the citizens say, pointing upwards. “What are they all…” Selina begins, before she, too, looks up.
“Oh,” she thinks, rather unfazed. “Right.”
And that, ultimately, is the beauty of Selina Kyle. Not only is she unfazed by the sight of the Man of Steel, but she’s unfazed by the sight of, well, herself. In an odd time crunch, Now-Selina runs into Future-Selina. If the costume alterations—tears, scratches, and bloodstains—are any clue, Selina is about to run into some problems. “Wait, I remember this,” Future-Selina says. “Listen… you need to watch out for the loo…” but before she can finish, she fades away. Now-Selina tells herself to calm down because “Could’ve been anything. Illusion generator. Parallel dimension portal. Hypnosis device.”
It’s this Selina that This Humble Author has missed over the past several issues. Smart, rational Selina. Confident, shining Selina, who shows nothing but pure joy for her job. When she prepares to break into the inner depths of Luthor’s building, she gives us a—pardon the pun, Gentle Reader!—cat-with-cream grin. She hopes Lex’s company has his sense of paranoia, because, as she tells us, “I’m here to rob them blind.”
She may have come over to the Bright Side, Friends, but at heart, she is the Selina Kyle that we’ve grown to love: toeing the line of good and not-so-good, of bright and dark, of crime and necessary crime. In short, Selina is damn good at what she does and at being who she is. And the reason we love her so completely? Because she knows it. Selina’s confidence may have been shaken by recent and not-so-recent events—Zatanna’s mindwipe, for starters—but this issue seems to bridge the gap between the former, devil-may-care Selina and the current more-cautious, more-meticulous Selina. It’s an interesting move, and one that I think works Quite Well.
Sometimes, I find that familiar characters are their most interesting, their most intriguing, outside of their comfort zones, not because of their vulnerability or Otherness, but because they truly demonstrate their core strengths. Buffy never had to be as strong as when she thought she was alone. Wonder Woman never held a position of honor so high as when she had to make horrible choices by herself. But Selina is, as This Humble Author is coming to realize, charming in Gotham or in Metropolis, fascinating at home or abroad. Because ultimately, Selina is, like Blanche DuBois, “very adaptable—to circumstances” (Williams 55).
Selina is not, of course, on her way to Elysian Fields like Dame Blanche, dependent on the kindness of strangers—and we can all thank our Lucky Stars for that, Gentle Reader! But she is self-confident, self-dependent, self-assured of her strengths, critical but understanding of her weaknesses; she is the same Selina, in Metropolis, in the sun, as she is in Gotham , in the dark. Her adaptability to circumstances, any circumstances, is a survival mechanism that has served her well, from her earlier, purple-suited days, to her black-suited, more utilitarian present. And the lengths to which she is willing to go to clear Holly-as-Catwoman prove that her obligations and loyalty are the same as they’ve always been. To Friends, to Family, to Those-In-Need.
Posted by Amy Reads at 9:04 PM
Labels: comics ,DC ,heroines ,reviews
Go figure, an episode of Catwoman I actually really enjoyed! That's because we finally get a break from the annoying plotline of Catwoman as a working mom, and she finally gets down to what she does best - stealing stuff. Fresh off last issue's excellent cliffhanger, which sent Selina to Metropolis to steal Lex Luthor's snowglobe for Calculator in exchange for clearing Holly's name of the murder Selina committed, we get to see Selina undercover as a tourist, and then breaking into the most secret vault in all Metropolis, where all of Luthor's bizarre mad-scientist trappings are hidden now that he's been deposed. There's a host of bizarre traps attempting to kill Selina, and the art and writing are perfectly suited to telling this kind of fun, fast-paced story. It feels like the good old days of this comic. And even though I saw the cliffhanger, with Luthor showing up, a mile away, it was still cool. Will Pfeifer is an excellent writer, and as the baby was probably an editorial mandate, let's hope he can get this book back on track now.
http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?p=2767313
Catwoman #64
This is the first time I've read this book, and I've been away from the DCU for the most part for decades, but there are familiar elements here. The name 'Holly' rang a bell immediately so I grabbed my copy of 'Batman: Year One' and found why -- there's the typeface, too.
I recognize Adam Hughes on the cover, not because of anything to do with Miller's classic take on the character but just because his work's caught my eye before.
Looks like I missed the beginning of the arc, this is 'The Paperweight part two'. The background pages to catch me up were nice, and seemed well integrated into story flow -- not clunky.
'Motherhood'?
This issue was a great fun ride, very stylishly and cleverly done, and the artwork suited it well (probably not least because it reminded me of Mazzucchelli). A variety of plot elements came together to maintain interest smoothly throughout. Will Pfeifer (I assume no relation to Michelle with two f's ;-) is a new name for me, but I'll definitely be coming back for more.
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?p=4470386
CATWOMAN #64, $2.99, 32 Pages . Written by Will Pfeifer; Art by David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez. There is just something about Pfeifer's style on a title like this that is really enjoyable. Everything seems so basic at first, but it is such a pleasure to read that you don't even notice how intricate things suddenly become. It is really tough to describe, but he definitely has a flavor all his own that just works with certain titles.
http://www.comixtreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32972
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