Catwoman has gone through some changes recently, mainly due to the face that Selina Kyle is no longer behind the cowl. Having been sent to prison for murder, Selina seems content to stay inside to earn atonement for her actions, whilst her friend Eiko takes over the role of Catwoman to keep dealing with the organised crime in Gotham.
Personally, I've kind of like this change to the series. Seeing Selina deal with one gangster after another over and over again was becoming a bit stale. Even with the introduction of Dario, the gay son of a mob boss who's had to flee the mob life because of his queerness, failed to change the formula. Don't get me wrong, I like Dario and enjoy hos presence in the series, but he was little more than a tech guy there to help Selina from time to time. However, the new status quo finally feels like the series is trying to be different at least.
The action for this issue is split across two stories. In one we follow Eiko and Dario (who's now also a vigilante called Tom Cat) as they mess up shit in the Gotham underworld, with Eiko juggling her role as a masked vigilante and a crime lord. The other takes us into prison, where we see what Selina is up to. The previous issue had a pretty big focus on Selina, and we get to see her working her way up from being the new woman on everyone's radar, to using her experience and outside connections to make herself liked and respected inside by ferrying in supplies and contraband. She even began to train up several of the inmate in thief skills and tactics in order to better their time inside.
However, Selina's carefully set up system is disrupted right away this issue as the prison seals up the vents in her cell that she was using to get her stuff in and out. This does, however, allow her the opportunity to swipe a burner phone from one of the workmen. It does feel kind of convenient that the workman had a phone on him that he forgot he had, and wouldn't want to report as missing (it's his phone for cheating on his wife with multiple women), but it does fit into the theme of the book of women punishing cruel men.
This issue may indicate that Selina's life inside might be coming to an end sooner than expected though, as she decides that she can't actually stay inside to atone for her wrongdoings, and needs to break out. This feels kind of quick for me. It was only a few issues ago that Bruce was telling her that she can do more good, and atone in meaningful ways out on the street as Catwoman. At the time she was adamant that she needed to be in prison, but now it seems that at the first slight hurdle (the loss of her vent access for supplies) she's decided to nope out of there because it's slightly more inconvenient than she wanted.
Perhaps the one saving grace for her sudden change of heart on the whole issue is that she wants to take her new friends with her. She makes the offer to break out of prison to the women that she's begun to form a bond with, even offering to help train them up to be thieves (on the condition that their thievery doesn't lead to anyone getting hurt and that a portion of their heists goes to charity) so that they don't have to go back to petty crimes or rejoin criminal gangs.
Whilst all of this is happening Eiko has to deal with part of the Royal Flush Gang, as she comes under attack from Queen of Hearts and her Crazy Eights. The action scene is pretty good, and the art team on this issue, Nico Leon and Veronica Gandini, does a great job at making the fights look really dynamic and entertaining. The action feels fluid, and Eiko always feels like she's in control of everything that's going on around her. Just through the art she seems to bring a different kind of energy to things than Selina did.
Unfortunately for Selina, she's no sooner decided that prison isn't for her than some new inmates turn up, Queen of Hearts and her thugs. Seems like Eiko taking them down might be making Selina's life a little harder.
Personally, I'm hoping that Selina's decision to break out of prison is only the start of things for her, and that it's going to take her a while to do so. It's been really interesting to see her navigating prison life, to see this new side of her. The supporting characters she's gathered around her are fun, and I like their relationships. Plus, I want to see more of Eiko as Catwoman, and don't want Selina taking the role back just yet. I even think Eiko's costume looks a bit cooler than Selina's, so want more of that too. Maybe we can end up with two Catwoman's/Catwomen; I wouldn't be against that at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment