Review – Catwoman #6: Showdown at Creel Manor

Catwoman #6 – Joelle Jones, Writer/Artist; Laura Allred, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 8/10

Corrina: Looks Gorgeous

Ray: The conclusion of Catwoman’s first arc finds Selina in the battle for her life against Raina Creel and her twisted crime family. When Catwoman #6 picks up, Selina’s just broken free from captivity and is battling her way through an army of goons. Before she can find her way to Creel’s mansion, she has to interrogate a goon who winds up pissing himself in an oddly gross segment. But that weird note aside, the issue is highly effective. Mostly done in double-page spreads, Joelle Jones’ art gives us a tight, intimate look at a final showdown between two equally dangerous women. As Creel presides over the funeral of her husband, she has no problem turning one of her sons into a living weapon to send after Selina. Ultimately, the issue makes the most out of limited space and close-quarters combat. Although it’s very different from the average comic book fight segment, it’s no less exciting.

This series has largely been about Selina coming to terms with her own traumatic past and self-destructive actions, while facing a twisted parallel in Creel’s willful destruction of her own family. This final issue bears that out, as Creel’s determination to kill Catwoman at any cost exacts a tragic cost on her own family. The issue works best when it’s taking on the tone of a high-intensity crime thriller, but I find it interesting that it feels almost completely disconnected from Selina’s life in the years before the series started. The relationship it feels the most interested in exploring isn’t Selina’s failed one with Bruce, it’s the tragedy of her institutionalized sister Maggie. The issue ends with a hopeful note on that one, but Selina’s got multiple enemies still coming after her. This first arc spent a little too much time wallowing in the twisted evil of its villain, but I’m excited to see where it goes next.

Corrina: This first arc has done many things well. For starters, Jones’ art is not only gorgeous by perfectly suited to the noir universe Catwoman lives in. It’s a different style than Darwyn Cooke’s art on Catwoman but it works in the same way–and certai,nly Allred also deserves credits for the various shadings of gray/white/black in the book.

It also portrays a recognizable Catwoman, an impulsive woman, unencumbered by the morals of many in the DC Universe, but one with her own sense of honor, and her own version of how to fight injustice. Selina can’s be intimidated. She might be stopped but she’s never going to be afraid of you.

The series also bought back Selina’s relationship with her sister, Maggie, and her history with Black Mask, though I’d never thought I’d see those brutal panels referenced again.

But the narrative was a bit muddled perhaps with too much focus on the main villain. Creel let the need for power destroy her and her family and, yet, she somehow comes off as hollow for the Big Bad.

I’m hopeful for future issues of the series, however, to what happens with Selina next.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.