Selina’s plans to capitalize on her Russian connections pays of in very handsome ways.
What They Say:
She’s a thief who lives to steal just for the thrill of breaking the law. He’s The Dark Knight, obsessively driven to battle evil with every ounce of his strength. They should keep each other at arm’s length, but…they just can’t seem to help themselves!
The Review:
The opening issue of the new Catwoman series certainly earned it some scorn from various fans due to the sexuality of it all, and not just from the last page where she and Batman started going at it in costume. With the second issue, they certainly aren’t going to make many amends for those fans and I can’t say I’m going to complain in the slightest. Especially after playing a few rounds of Batman: Arkham City just before reading it and seeing the sexual side of Selina Kyle there. While we’ve had variations on the sexual relations between Bruce and Selina over the years, things are definitely plain here, yet still cloaked in a way, that is highly appealing as the two have their own little dance about their relationship and the intensity of it all. There’s a certain primal nature to it that’s to be expected and I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptive nature of things from Selina’s point of view, both of the intimacy which is well represented here but also the way the feelings between the two are playing out.
While that opens the book, it’s not the fully defining moment for it, though it will definitely stick out for people. What the story wants to follow up with is her whole heist she runs through quickly of the painting that’s of value only to Russian mobsters. It’s a quick job to be sure but a lot of it just goes back to wanting to deal with one of the Russian’s she’s got a bit of a history with and sets up an event where she has two different mobs coming for it so they can kill each other and she can get some vicarious revenge. There’s not a lot of depth to the piece when you get down to it, but in a way that works rather well because it’s just a job and not one that needs a whole lot of explaining. The basics are there and it’s more about getting a feeling for how Selina operates.
What I really liked with the book though in terms of this story is that in order to make the handoff in a public place, she does it one of Wayne’s charity events so there’s a lot of people around. This gives us a good look at how she perceives Wayne, who she doesn’t know as Batman, but whereas he knows her inside and out. His persona in this form is definitely that of a playboy and it’s amusing to see how she finds him to have such a presence even though he’s so casual in a way. She can’t help but to really sense him as a predator in a way but it’s also a way to see just how easily he can seduce the less aware of what he’s really like. She has a great sense for it even though she doesn’t know the truth. And having the small bit of commentary from Alfred about the whole thing just adds wonderfully to it.
Digital Notes:
This Comixology edition of Catwoman contains the main cover as seen with the print edition with no variants or other extras included.
In Summary:
Catwoman has always been a sexual creature but I’ve been out of her books for a few years so I can’t tell if it’s been this overt or not. But what I can say is that even though it may bother some, I love it because this feels like it’s a stronger and more open version of what we’ve seen of the character throughout the years, even back to the 1992 movie. Superheroes are sexual but it doesn’t belong in every book. It really belongs in very few of them overall because they should be accessible. But in a book about Catwoman, it feels completely appropriate and right here, especially in giving us another angle to the relationship she has with Batman. The action here is decent but it’s the party itself that I thoroughly enjoyed and the assessment she makes about the relationship and sexuality she has with Batman. It’s almost a guilty pleasure, but honestly I feel no guilt at all here. This is a Catwoman I can enjoy just as much as the playful one that should appear in other books with a reduced sexuality.
Grade: B+
