Catwoman #1-3
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred and Matt Hollingsworth
Published by DC Comics
Ads for the extraordinarily disappointing Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again are in evidence throughout these issues, striking a brilliant contrast between the shoddy, overpriced marketing gimmick that is Frank Miller's latest project and just another everyday, average excellent title from writer Ed Brubaker.
Maybe I'm stretching to draw comparisons between the two, but consider: Frank Miller established much of the backstory Brubaker is building upon here, and both projects are recent additions to the Batman stable of titles. The difference is, I will be returning to Brubaker's Catwoman. I'd line my birdcage with the pages of DK2, but A) I don't have a bird and B) the garish abuse of Photoshop by the previously talented Lynn Varley would probably poison the bird. If I had one.
Anyway. The character of Selina Kyle was intriguing once, a long, long time ago. Around the time it was established that she retired from crime and married Batman, and they had a daughter who became the Huntress. If you're thinking I am an old fart who can't let go of old continuity, screw off. Jim Balent is one of the worst artists ever to disgrace comics, even if he managed to do it for years and years and years without missing a beat. And, he said, the new Birds of Prey TV series is going to use exactly that origin for the Huntress. See, sooner or later, if you can ride out the junk, like all those Balent Catwoman issues, good stuff comes around again. And yes, goddamnit, I miss Earth 2.
In Catwoman, Ed Brubaker and his spectacularly talented collaborators create a new environment and motivation for this previously misused character, pushing her to the forefront of the DC Universe (as far as I am concerned) and creating the best new mainstream superhero comic I've come across in quite some time. Sure, she's more anti-hero than super-hero, but I find so few of the DCU's mainstream superhero books readable that based on the excellence of these three issues, as far as I am concerned, Selina Kyle is now the be-all and end-all of heroes in the DCU.
Months have passed since Selina's apparent death, and she is laying low and hiding out, and she is in a kind of therapy with Leslie Thompkins, Batman's personal physician and a longtime staple of the Batman corner of the DC Universe. As these three issues unfold (with the fourth issue next month set to conclude the first story-arc), Selina decides to return to the night, but with a new mission, a new costume, and a new attitude. None of it comes off as anything other than perfectly natural, and every page is compellingly designed and executed by Cooke, Allred and Hollingsworth. Their collaboration recalls the Parobeck/Timm-style animated look, but remains realistic enough that it carries the much more adult tone of the story perfectly. This is not kid stuff, with prostitution, police corruption and an apparent serial killer all figuring heavily into the plot.
Brubaker, after Brian Michael Bendis and Greg Rucka, is one of the best superhero writers to emerge from the mainstream in recent years, and his story construction here is clear and compelling. We're brought along on Selina's journey through her inner dialogue, which is naturalistic and generous in its revelation of where her head is at now. Of course she's confused as the story begins: DC has gone so many different ways with her character over the past. what, 50 years or so, that there's no way you can really pin down who she is supposed to be. Instead of ignoring this or worse yet, winking at the reader, Brubaker allows her to work through her confusion (and the reader's) slowly as she begins to arrive at her eventual transformation into, really, a heroine. Not a superheroine, because she doesn't have super powers. What she does have, though, is a long history in Gotham City, a knowledge of how things work, and a sense of the massive injustices being played out in her town. And the abilities she does have are more than up to the task of putting right what has gone so wrong. And off she goes.
These issues are a glorious expression of this character, the best treatment she's ever gotten, with open and engaging artwork inviting the reader into this new corner of Batman's world with glorious design and a newfound sense of wonder. Yes, Brubaker builds on Miller's Batman: Year One continuity here, but not in the derivitive sense that that's been done so often in the past. Brubaker is building on a solid foundation, not squatting in a burned-out tenement.
Given all the undeserved hype surrounding the aforementioned DK2, you may have decided to skip Catwoman (those DK2 statues ain't cheap -- or pretty) or may not have even heard about it. I'm telling you now, Catwoman is the place to go for masterful storytelling, gorgeous artwork and a genuinely intriguing sense of direction from creators who are earning your trust. Three issues in, I'm hooked.