Review: Catwoman #39

For a character that has something of a chequered publishing history, from a mature readers book, to Jim Balent’s cheesecake, Cooke’s more utilitarian look which has persevered since its inception, this new book sees Catwoman come something of a full circle.

Bored of her Alley town living, Selina heads back to the bright lights of the big city and straight into a caper featuring the heads of various crime families. Set in part in a strip joint, Selina has a heist in mind, so it’s on with the killer heels to take on the heels and the killers.

Trini Howard, possibly best known for her work on Excalibur amongst other X-books, is the new writer replacing Ram V. Where Ram V went for a thinking man’s book, with Catwoman being Mother cat to a pack of strays. From the outset, Howard is giving the book a sense of fun with a more playful than usual Selina. This time around Howard is happy to accentuate the sex appeal of a character, whilst also allowing a number of powerful women moments, rather than subscribe wholly to cheesecake. Its a worthy plan; strong confident woman in charge of her own sexuality rather than cow-towing to a male perspective makes for a fun read. Howard also tries to install an introspective tone to Selina’s monologue; we have a Selina is aware of what she has been through.

Nico Leon, another Marvel alumni, joins Howard. Leon has a number of book under his belt, with Power Rangers and Ms. Marvel to name a couple. Here, the style is a mix of sexy with a more natural Leon vibe. This does offer a couple of of odd poses, especially for the pole-Catwoman, but for the main there is a charm to the art. The steal of the show are the colors by the always pretty damn excellent Jordie Bellaire. Bellaire looks to add a sheen and shine to Catwoman’s costume and I absolutely adore the cityscape of bright lights. Letters are provided by Tom Napolitano who reverses the black font in white boxes to deliver a contrasting monologuing against both the night life and the party life.

Another new start for a character, that despite all the attention, feels like DC have no idea what to do with. Is she with Batman? Is she not? Is her book a fun book or a serious book? I guess the proof, this time around, will be in the reading, though we are off to a pretty decent start.

Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Trini Howard
Art by; Nico Leon
Colors by; Jordie Bellaire
Letters by; Tom Napolitano
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network