Catwoman/Tweety & Sylvester #1 – Gail Simone, Shea Fontana, Writers; Inaki Miranda, Artist; Walter Carson, Penciller; Horacio Ottolini, Inker; Eva De La Cruz, Sylvana Brys, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The next wave of DC/Looney Tunes specials kicks off here, and this is definitely the headliner. While there’s no megawatt display of brilliance like there was on last year’s Noir-accented Batman/Elmer Fudd, this is the one-shot that best embraces the chaotic combination of DC superheroes and Looney Tunes absurdity – and most of that is down to Gail Simone, who brings in many of her old favorite characters for the epic battle between cats and birds. The opening scene features a group of evil witches debating what they should keep as familiars – cats or birds. Despite the interference of Klarion, they decide to cast a dark curse – pitting avatars of cats and birds against each other in a battle that will spell the end of the species for the loser. Soon after that, Catwoman is in the middle of a socially conscious heist when she sees a cat drop out of the sky – and finds that it’s a lecherous, lisping cat named Sylvester. At the same time, Black Canary is in between shows and planning the next move in her career when she gets a visit from a squealing little yellow bird named Tweety. I like how both of them are designed to be more realistic, but still look cartoony enough to be recognizable.
From there, the issue devolves into a hilariously chaotic battle between the two heroines with ridiculously high stakes – it seems not just every cat or bird on Earth is doomed to die if they lose, but every avatar of the species, including plenty of superheroes. This turns into a wild series of cameos including Catman from Secret Six, and most puzzlingly, Wildcat. That throws the whole continuity here into confusion – Barbara Gordon is Batgirl (but is filling the Oracle role while benched with a broken leg, like Gail originally wanted to do in JLU) and Black Canary has a band, so it seems to be New 52/DC You era – but Wildcat is around, pointing to pre-Flashpoint. It’s a little distracting, but this issue is such great chaotic fun that it’s easy to overlook. This is exactly what one of these specials should be, and the fun continues with Shea Fontana’s Looney Tunes-style backup. This short story involves Catwoman and Sylvester teaming up to rob Granny’s apartment, while all Tweety wants to do is watch his hero Conan O’Birden on TV. Fun slapstick and some amusing Hollywood satire all around. It’s great to see Gail writing the Birds again too.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
