It’s never a good sign when the tagline on the comic’s cover is misspelled, “Assualt” on A.R.G.U.S indeed.
So let me get this straight: Ann Nocenti was the writer on Green Arrow and her run was widely hated by fans and critics and the book tanked at a time when the character was gaining popularity on the TV show Arrow. Rather than being swept aside entirely, she’s pulled off that book only to be given Catwoman, an even bigger character, and she’s also been put in charge of a brand new series, Katana. This leads me to believe that Nocenti is a really nice person that the folks at DC love being around because the quality of the writing stinks.
Not only does it make Judd Winick’s run look bloody Shakespearean by comparison, it makes me angry that my hero, Batman, would ever put his D in Catwoman’s V. They’re still drawing Catwoman hot, but Nocenti is consistently failing to bring any complexity to the character. Randomly throwing in a line that Selina used to draw tanks as a kid doesn’t count. She needs to be mysterious as well as smart and this Catwoman is an idiot whether she’s possessed by a thousand year old demon or not. And by the way, getting possessed by a demon is a terrible idea for a Catwoman story. It’s especially bad when our titular hero doesn’t even save the day, it’s a disembodied arm– and no I’m not joking, that actually happens in this comic.
When I read the dialogue I can’t help but wonder if the author has ever heard real people speak before. Everyone sounds the same. Each character from Catwoman to the scientist to the soldiers and amorphous blob monsters all talk like teenagers, or how an older person thinks teenagers speak.
And the artwork…everyone looks rubbery. All the characters take on this stretched out, distorted quality that looks stylistic and great one moment and then like we’re seeing a reflection in a fun house mirror the next.There’s a lot of detail, which is nice but it actually gets too busy. There’s random junk flying around constantly and multiple characters are packed in extremely tightly.
I don’t want to waste a lot of time talking about this comic. It’s garbage. It’s garbage because it’s exactly what people who DON’T read comics would think it is: drawings of nonsensical bang! pow! fights between 1 dimensional villains and a scantily clad babe. And for Christ’s sake, can she leave her cowl on for a change? The book’s called Catwoman.
SCORE: 1/10
