Review: Future State Catwoman #1

Whilst the powers that may be thinking that a two month event is a good idea, they sometimes fail to account for the flow of the runs that get interrupted. I remember when the Batgirl book, under the writing of Gail Simone was constantly having the main story paused for Year Zero or Gothtopia. Catwoman certainly falls in this category, given how a new creative team has just taken over and looked to reset the book somewhat.

In the future, Gotham’s strays, be they kids or adult, are getting shipped out via train to Whiteport Reformatory, all on the order of the Magistrate. Of course, strays are a bit of thing for Selina who looks to save those on the train. To that end she recruits a small team, has a cool cat on the inside to help and of course has more than one trick up her spandex sleeve.

One of the benefits to this interruption to regularly scheduled programming is having regular Catwoman writer Ram V wirte this event. By having V on the book, there is a sense of continuity in Selina’s character, a continuity that is missing in some of the other Future State books. Of course, theses changes are in part what the mini event is all about; but for a Catwoman book, which has had its fair share of starts and different ideas I appreciated the carry over. V’s plotting is pacy, snappy and fun with a few twists thrown in for good measure. For example, a blonde woman and a bearded imprisoned man, may lead you down the same onerous path as I took. The surprise is definitely worth the price of admission and a rare treat to audiences who may feel that they “have seen it all before”.

The art is provided by one of most prolific artists ever to be retweeted in Otto Schmidt, whose designs for a variety of female characters have been spectacular. One of the highlights of the rebirth books was Schmidt’s Green Arrow which was distinctive to say the least. Here, Schmidt’s art has evolved massively; one of the knocks previously was around poses during the action scenes. There is no escaping Schmidt’s portrait or body line skills, but now there are coupled with a sense of the spectacular, of grace of movement that suits this character perfectly. There is a mature feeling to the art that is reflected by the color scheme, which I presume is Schmidt’s work also as there is no colourist listed, which has depth throughout the book. Finally, letters are provided by Tom Napolitano who utilises different sized fonts well; the speech bubbles are well placed and with the smaller font intimates that not a lot is said and lets the art show rather than tell.

Future State Catwoman was a pleasant surprise; a tightly written heist book, the glossy high quality art of a visual masterpiece, One of the best Future State books to date.

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

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Ram V
Art by; Otto Schmidt
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