Catwoman No. 8 review: Selina, always a great thief

Penguin has come to Villa Hermosa to goad Catwoman into stealing something for him, which she only does so he will give her something very personal.

The first arc of Catwoman was mediocre at best a lot of the time. It had great art, but a rather uninteresting story that was being told, so thankfully, with these past two issues, the series looks to be trending upward in quality. The art continues to be fantastic, with Elena Casagrande and Fernando Blanco on art here instead of Joelle Jones, and the story is slowly becoming much more interesting. This issue helps a lot to build the story moving forward while also presenting a decently enjoyable heist.

One of the hardest things to do is combine set-up with an enjoyable story. Most set-up often feels extremely expository, forced, and action-less. Not “fight scene” action-less mind you, but rather, the characters don’t do anything” action-less. Thankfully, with this issue, Jones is able to combine set-up with an entertaining story. There’s a lot going on with this issue, which is a detriment to some of the things presented here. But hopefully, once the story comes full circle, the things presented in this issue, and seemingly forgotten about, will be returned to, which it seems like they will.

Image by DC Comics/Art by Elena Casagrande

It’s hard not to feel like the series has taken an upward swing in the past couple issues though with Penguin joining the fray. There’s a menace to him that isn’t really presented that often, and this issue uses that to its full advantage. He’s not used that much in the issue, but his presence is felt through the entirety of it, like a looming specter. When he does show up though, he’s extremely manipulative and creepy, and it feels like he could snap at any moment. Honestly the portrayal of The Penguin in this issue feels very Batman Returns, but with a more grounded tone.

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On the other side of the villain spectrum though is Reina Creel, who hasn’t lived up to her potential as almost a Lex Luthor-style villain for Catwoman, but makes strides in this issue. She’s already been presented as a ruthless person prior to this issue, but really, she’s presented as almost a decent into madness here. So while she hasn’t been all that interesting so far, there is the potential for her to become so.

The art throughout the issue is great, as well. It’s split between Casagrande and Blanco with Casagrande taking over the Catwoman aspects of the issue and Blanco drawing the Creel portions. They’re styles work really together, but are different enough to emphasize who the issue is focusing on based on the art style.

This may be a bit of personal preference, but Casagrande’s art is the stand-out in this issue though. Her action is extremely fluid and fun to read, and the way that she draws nuanced body language and facial expressions, especially for Selina is fantastic.

7.25/10 

Catwoman continues to rise in quality with another really fun issue that bites off a bit more than it can chew.