Catwoman #57 – Tini Howard, Writer; Nico Leon, Artist; Veronica Gandini, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: So far, The Gotham War has been a top event, pitting Batman and Catwoman against each other with one twist after another. At the end of the last installment, an increasingly unstable Batman discovered that Wayne Manor had been bought out from under him—not by Catwoman, but by Vandal Savage, looking to claim a piece of Gotham for himself. But this is the first chapter of the event fully written by Tini Howard, and she’s naturally going to focus the story a little more on Selina. She’s come off as the more rational of the two parties so far, but she’s also making some risky decisions—such as planning a massive heist at the Gotham Opera with the help of her new lieutenant, Jason Todd. This is probably the best issue of Howard’s Catwoman run so far, thanks to her deft use of DC continuity such as digging into the links that Selina has to the various Bat-kids.
But Batman, naturally, takes Jason’s involvement very personally. The brutal fight between them does see Batman crossing some serious lines that could shatter the tentative trust he and Jason have built up, but it doesn’t feel like the missteps we saw in the past. This reminds me more of a father determined to keep his son from falling down a bad path—and in the process, potentially doing something unforgivable. But even as Batman loses control of himself, Selina may be losing control of her empire. Riddler and Savage are making a big move, and the cliffhanger reveals the true identity of a major player who has been hanging around Howard’s run. This is another case, like the return of Sin in Birds of Prey, of a writer digging up a long-forgotten character at exactly the right moment. This event could be the shot in the arm Howard needed to take this run to the next level.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
