More Bat and the Cat.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: Mikel Janin
Colors: June Chung
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
“I am Suicide” part three! Plunging into the belly of the beast, Batman and his team of misfits infiltrate Santa Prisca. Betrayal and savagery unfold as Batman races to steal Bane’s prized possession…and not everyone will make it out alive.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While Batman is certainly quite the iconic character, there’s always been something about Catwoman that appealed to me more. That comes from some of the 1970’s era material that I saw as a young lad where we had the purple skirt, the simple headpiece, and the cape/cloak that she had. There was a sensuality about her to be sure even given the time period but there was also something fun about her that I was drawn to. I’ve been less invested in the character for the most part in the years since, particularly as the Batbooks went dark in the 80’s, and things went worse after the Batman Returns film in how the character became even more fetishized. There’ve been some good things going on since but a lot of it is lost under the darker dynamics of the day and the balance with Batman himself.
Which makes this current arc not exactly thrilling to some degree, though I’m enjoying the overall group that Batman has put together in order to get the Psycho Pirate in order to save Miss Gotham. Catwoman is a big part of it and we had it playing out last time with her narration and his physical actions in infiltrating San Prisca. Here, we get the past and present between the two of them so that we see their power dynamic at play as he looks to stop her since she’s killed almost three hundred people and yet he’s drawn to her in various ways. Janin delivers a great two-page rooftop spread chase for them early on here and the final panel as he holds her is fantastic in the starkness with how Chung colors it. But the whole thing just rubs me wrong in a way I can’t pin down.
The present day material isn’t all that engaging as we get more of the overall infiltration showing off what’s going on elsewhere. Catwoman has the Ventriloquist to get to the right destination in order to be an overall safeguard and there’s another fantastic two-page spread in the pipes that’s just a visual delight. Janin does deliver regularly here with the layouts and designs and I even like the smaller layout of panels we get for what’s going on with Punch and Bronze Tiger as there’s a good sense of fun about it and just the expressiveness between them with the quirks. Everything comes to a head well enough as you know the separate paths will intersect, but the story is just lacking something compelling to keep it moving forward for the reader at the moment. Again, I trust in King to deliver based on his other works, but this book still has me feeling like I’m missing an issue in between each and material from other books to be able to put it together fully.
In Summary:
After eleven issues I certainly have a feel for what King is doing and I can’t deny that, but I’m slowly coming to a place where I’m wondering if it’s really for me. I’ve enjoyed aspects of the series so far but I also find myself frustrated by a lack of a clearer vision and something that’s just a bit more accessible for new readers. This feels very inside-y in a way that I can’t pin down easily and it’s very frustrating even with the years of overall knowledge of the character I have and reading the fringe Gotham oriented books. The saving grace for me is Mikel Janin’s artwork as he and June Chung provide for some really great pages and layouts here that capture a pretty fascinating feeling with both the big and small moments. I’m still around for a bit more but I find myself wondering if the exit will be coming sooner rather than later.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 16th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
