Catwoman #40 – Tini Howard, Writer; Nico Leon, Artist; Jordie Bellaire, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: The first issue of Tini Howard’s Catwoman run plunged Selina right back into the world of Gotham’s crime scene, taking her far away from Alleytown and into a grittier world of murder and mayhem. When her heist on Gotham’s criminal overlords brought her face to face with both her ex Eiko Hasigawa and her arch-nemesis Black Mask, she found herself in over her head—until a timely intervention from a woman at the club, and the interference of a mysterious masked thief named Valmont. Kristy, the girl who played savior, pays a terrible price for it at the onset of this issue and Selina heads off on a roaring rampage of revenge—one that has a lot more in common with a mafia conspiracy thriller than a superhero comic. Her investigation intersects with the Tomasso crime family, with a powerful don, a milquetoast son—and an ambitious consigliere who may be scheming to take his best friend’s spot as next in line.
The son, Dario, becomes a reluctant ally to Selina as she tries to get an entry into the family and gain an advantage over Black Mask. But when she discovers exactly what the ambitious Noah’s link to the don’s son is, it throws the entire story for a loop. Tini Howard’s writing always had pulpy elements to it, but she’s able to embrace them a lot more in this comic than she was in her Marvel work. Not everyone will enjoy it, but I do think it fits a Catwoman book pretty well—although it seems to be making a clean break from the previous run in a very decisive way, both in supporting cast and characterization. The weakest element of the book so far is probably Valmont, who seems to be a new version of a type of character we’ve seen many times—the masked, ruthless vigilante who plays a wildcard role. The end of the issue escalates the threat nicely, and definitely does enough to keep me hooked.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
