I’ve always stood up for “Catwoman”, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say this one was a bit of a let-down. It’s still fun and energetic, but none of the events of this issue are as exciting as previous installments.
In fact, the whole purpose of this issue appears to be the introduction of a new character, Spark, who will be acting as a partner of sorts to Selina in future episodes. That’s all fine and dandy, but the character doesn’t introduce himself until the final page and everything between the opening car heist and the final page reveal is pretty tame. Not bad, but nothing to get excited about yet.
Selina needs a supporting cast and the new fence and Detective Alvarez just aren’t cutting it. I had hoped that the new fence would get a bit more face time and we would finally get a supporting character with depth, but that doesn’t happen. I can’t even remember her name. And as for the other character that keeps cropping up, Detective Alvarez, well, all of his scenes look exactly the same from issue to issue.
“Cops in this city are so dirty.”
“I need to get Catwoman.”
“I need to get Catwoman, but it needs to be by-the-book!”
“I’m a good cop in a sea of corruption.”
“I think it’s Catwoman.”
“Everyone is corrupt but me.”
“By-the-book!”
“I have an anchor-goatee!”
Well maybe not so much that last part, but you get the idea. He’s pretty one dimensional. And as for Catwoman herself, she continues to be as reckless as ever and hasn’t quite learned from her past mistakes even though they got her old pal killed. But I think I’m fine with that. For now. It could be argued that she should have matured more after the last arc, but how she’s behaving makes sense in a way. These adrenaline junkie personalities often regress and rather than grow up and taking responsibility she dug up someone from her past to serve as a voice of reason for her. Rather than learning some self control she’s telling someone else to stop her if she ever goes too far. She’s so unwilling to grow up to give up her life on the edge that she’s going to shift the responsibility to someone else and see if that works out okay. It won’t. I don’t think this series is going anywhere anytime soon so I’m fine with Selina’s transformation into a brilliant, mature thief taking its time.
But here’s something I just got to thinking. DC reboots everything and makes Catwoman younger and places her at the start of her career, right? But she’s already on good terms with Batman, sort of a love/hate relationship, but there’s a whole generation of young readers out there who won’t ever even see Catwoman as a true villain. Well, at least until “The Dark Knight Rises” comes out.
As for the art, March is missing and that could have been a major disappointment, but Adriana Melo does a fantastic job filling in for him. In fact, you probably won’t even notice the difference until you see Catwoman a few pages in! Melo’s Catwoman looks a bit older, her head a bit rounder rather than the pointed look that March gave her. Every other character looks sharp and distinct and the action is pretty fluid. I’d say that the page layouts could’ve been been a little more creative, though.
Overall, issue #7 is a passable, but overall forgettable issue about Catwoman making a new friend who we won’t ever get a feel for until issue #8. Seeing as how he appears to be a “meta-human” (think Static Shock, but Asian) I’m not that excited about it. I read a variety of comics, but when it comes to super-powered characters I’d rather see them in, say, “Spider-Man” or “Action Comics” and I’d rather see magical characters in the pages of “Swamp-Thing” or “Animal-Man” or “Wonder Woman”. They’re just more organic in those environments. I’m not saying a guy who shoots lightning from his fingertips can’t work in a Batman comic, I’m just saying he better have a good excuse for the power so that I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept him as part of the Batman mythology. I mean, why is a guy who wields electric blasts wasting his time stealing cars? Why does he need a partner to help him steal cars? There’s really no reason for a guy like that to even turn to crime in the first place when you think about it. Would you pay $10 bucks to see a guy shoot lightning from his finger tips? Even more? I would!
SCORE: 6.5/10
