Catwoman #11 – Joelle Jones, Writer; Fernando Blanco, Hugo Petrus, Artists; John Kalisz, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 7/10
Corrina: Action Rules
Ray: Joelle Jones’ run on Catwoman has been strong so far, but surprisingly slow with very little plot advancement. Take that issue and dial it up to eleven, and you get Catwoman #11 – a snapshot from a heist thriller that all takes place over about ten minutes with few relevant events. As the issue begins, Villa Hermosa is hosting a premiere of a new superhero movie that seems to be inspired by Captain Marvel, and we’re treated to several scenes of fake celebrities walking the red carpet. At the same time, Selina and her band of allies are mid-heist and Carlos is trapped in the back of a speeding armored truck. Selina is racing after him to break him out as the trapped thief gets more and more panicked. There’s an extended, mostly wordless segment as Selina leaps from car to car, riding her motorcycle in destructive fashion to eventually land on the back of the armored car and break Carlos free.
This causes no small amount of chaos for the movie premiere, which largely seems to be just a plot setting – none of these characters or events have any relevance to the story. It leaves the characters in the same place, just chasing after their heist target. Meanwhile, Raina Creel continues her plot to take over Villa Hermosa. Now that she has a zombie son, she mainly uses him to threaten her living son as she forces him to use his power as a politician to intimidate their old allies. She’s pretty much a one-note villain and her end goal is rather vague. She does have a corrupt policeman in her pocket, which ups the scales with a nasty cliffhanger. The art by Fernando Blanco and Hugo Petrus is excellent, but I wish the story lived up to that standard – the chase segment is exciting, but the plot is paper thin.
Corrina: The chase segment is one of the better wordless Catwoman sequences that I’ve read and shows what Selina can do better than any of her appearances lately in Batman. It’s a masterclass in panel-by-panel art storytelling.
It also made me worry about the danger to civilians. Not that this would be #1 on Selina’s worry list but it would probably be there, in some form, and, indeed, the speeding cars do endanger civilians on the red carpet. The movie premiere is fun stage dressing but all the characters are new and thus, are just stage dressing. (But a nice nod to Captain Marvel.)
Still, Selina’s still in the same place as she was when she arrived in issue #1, the same big bad is still in charge, and I wish I knew better how this caper connects with her objectives in Villa Hermosa. Perhaps that’s because those objectives are unclear. It originally was to rescue or visit her sister. But Maggie’s been pushed into the background for most of this run.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
