Batman/Catwoman #9 – Tom King, Writer; Liam Sharp, Artist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: We’re almost to the end of what is likely Tom King’s final say on his Batman epic (save a stand-alone series starting in March), and it pretty much sums up both the best and worst of King’s work. Free from the confines of a mainstream ongoing comic, he’s free to play with timelines and formats much more like he does in works starring characters like Rorschach and Adam Strange. But at the core of this comic is a story that’s surprisingly simple—and surprisingly slow. There is relatively little movement in the two past timelines this issue, with the earliest timeline mostly focusing on showing us Batman and Catwoman’s growing attraction and how it tears apart their previous plans and alliances. And in the “present day,” Joker reveals Phantasm’s genuinely shocking secret, hinted at last issue, and the entire segment takes place entirely in one room within a few minutes that feel like hours.
The future segment, though, is really where the meat of the story is. Selina is on the run, trying to stay ahead of her daughter and the law after killing Joker. To escape the city, she contacts her old frenemy Oswald Cobblepot, now a bitter old man who is long retired from villainy. The banter between the two of them shows that when King dials it back a little, he’s actually a great character writer and can even be pretty funny. But with only three issues left, it feels a little odd that this series is barely more than a collection of character pieces following the two core characters—and it almost feels as much about Joker as the two of them right now. New artist Liam Sharp has done a great job on this fill-in arc, even shifting his art style dramatically within the same issue. It’s a fascinating experiment, but it may be a little too close to mainstream to let King truly cut loose like he does on his other books.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
