New Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman, old Catwoman, more Catwoman, and Birds of Prey.
Employee’s Pick
[DC] Catwoman Vol. 3 #10-16
Writers: Ed Brubaker (issues 10, 12-16), Steven Grant (issue 11)
Pencilers: Brad Rader (issues 10-11), Cameron Stewart (issues 12-16)
Sometimes retcons are as valid as any story, adding something new to a character’s history without countermanding what the original author intended. Joyride is one such case. An old friend of Selina’s, Rebecca Robinson (no relation to Holly), is on death row for a murder she didn’t commit. After Rebecca’s appeal fails, Selina decides to bust her out, and we learn from flashbacks why she cares so much. There’s more now to Catwoman’s past than before, and it’s a natural addition, an organic extension of established history.
Issue 11’s a fill-in, and out of place with Catwoman’s new quasi-heroic direction. It was probably on file for years, held back in case of a situation like this. Here, Catwoman is portrayed as more of a force of nature, or as the narrator describes her, a cat, than a person. It’s not completely at odds with Brubaker’s characterization of her, just shallow. Catwoman steals from the same person, Toni Tiglon, several times, and Toni becomes obsessed. She sets up a supposedly impregnable security system and dares Catwoman to break in. So she does, for the challenge, for kicks, and to stick it to Tiglon one more time. It’s good for what it is, a random Catwoman-as-mischievous-master-thief story.
Issue 12 kicks off the five-part Relentless, with Cameron Stewart taking over as penciler and J.G. Jones replacing a string of lousy cover artists to make issues seem attractive for the first time since Darwyn Cooke was on. Another of Selina’s old friends pops up, this one running the Alleytown Kids, a gang of thieves who rely on youth and labyrinthian alleyways to pilfer purses and wallets. Their new leader, Sylvia Sinclair, is also recently out of prison, though in her case it was a legal release, technically, brought about by Black Mask’s lawyers. As if there weren’t enough old faces in Selina’s life already, her sister Maggie picks this time to reappear out of the ether. Only it’s not her choice, as soon becomes evident. She’s following her husband, whose new job in Gotham is no happy coincidence.
Things turn ugly in issue 13. Selina uses diamonds stolen from one of Black Mask’s underlings to build a new community center in the East End. Everything’s going shiny happy with a chance of fun times, so Brubaker tears it down. Hard. The Center is blown up, Maggie’s husband is kidnapped, and it only gets darker from there. Brubaker’s run reaches its zenith for brightness, lingers briefly, then spirals to its nadir, its darkest point, personally traumatizing the whole cast and changing the book forever. Selina never tries anything as ambitious as the Community Center again. If I recall correctly, she doesn’t entertain the idea. It’s so far from an achievable goal to her now that she might as well talk of flying unaided. In her world, that’s more likely than becoming Gotham’s Robin Hood.
One more example of why universe-spanning events don’t work. Five issues, five characters – the hero and her friends and family – a few villains, and no one is ever the same. That’s an event. When you can feel it, when it hits you where you live. When it hurts to remember, yet binds the survivors together. And it can’t happen all the time, especially when the consequences are as terrible as they are here. The characters would fall into despair and never recover. It’s hard enough getting over one such incident. It takes time and relative quiescence.
New-Type Books
[DC] Blue Beetle Vol. 7 #35
Writer: Matthew Sturges
Artists: Carlo Barberi, Jacob Eguren
The penultimate issue of Jaime Reyes’ solo series. Why is this getting cancelled? Whine! Moan! Rage! *flail* …sigh. I don’t mind that not every superhero comic is lighthearted fun, but I’d like to have a few like this one being published on a monthly basis. There are some, but they tend to be exceedingly light, out of continuity, a miniseries, or all three. This was pretty much my ideal comic book. JLI with more action, Spider-Man with less angst and no dead parents, Deadpool without… well, Deadpool. Better than it sounds. I’m going to miss Blue Beetle so hard. Except for what I have, this nigh-complete thirty-six issue series. That I’ll treasure, and read again, and again, and again…
This issue was autowin for me for one simple reason. I was hoping Hector and Nadia would pop up again, and here they are. Not a token cameo, either; they’re important to the story, supplying Jaime with info as he battles a host of old Ted Kord villains. If you’re not a fan of Jaime’s technogeek sidekicks, there’s plenty more to like. Nearly the whole supporting cast are here. There’s a sinister reason for that. Someone’s supposed to die in next issue’s series finale, so Sturges gathers up most anyone you could possibly care about and sets up a situation where any of them could die.
Jaime’s safe. Probably Traci 13, too. Both are appearing in Teen Titans now, and both have reason to appear after this series’ cancellation. The rest, though? Paco, Brenda, Hector, Nadia, and Jaime’s family were created for Blue Beetle, and little or nothing will be seen of them once it ends. I’d still hate for any of them to die. It’s Runaways all over again. You know someone’s dying, and you know it’ll hurt. You can only hope it’s not your favorite. Or second favorite. Or… maybe Hector. Hector’d be OK, so of course it’s not him. Ohhhh, why can’t it be the toaster? Runaways had a sentient toaster, Blue Beetle kinda does, too. Kill the toaster. I promise to fake cry. It’ll hurt so bad! That toaster was going places! You have no idea. Girlfriend back home, little toaster on the way…
The art’s a bit wonky. Barberi’s pencils are generally cleaner than Rafael Albuquerque’s, but he doesn’t have the same feel for the characters. Jaime looks much older this issue, as though we’d skipped ahead in time, and he takes more liberties with the auit design than Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Eh, he’s serviceable. Art’s never been the book’s strong point, maybe part of why it didn’t sell. It grew on me, especially Albuquerque’s, but it’s not conventional pretty times.
Man, one more issue. The ending’s off to a good start. Hard to believe this arc’s going to wrap up in two issues, but I think Sturges can pull it off without rushing much. It could’ve been the start of something big, though. The fallout of John Rogers’ run, the consequences of Khaji Da’s rebellion.
[DC] Wonder Woman Vol. 3 #28
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti
So, Zeus? Totally bonkers. After "saving" the Amazons last issue, he continues to not honor Athena’s last wish by setting up a sister brother island to Themyscira and populating it with Manazons. No women are permitted (except Athena, because he’s totally doing this for her, doohoohoo), anyone who sets foot on the island without permission is instakilled, and oh yeah, Zeus is going to give the King of the Manazons a son, immaculately conceived, just like Athena did for Hippolyta! Kingy never asked for it, but Zeus knows best. Fruitcake.
Genocide does her best Despero impression, all with the blind hatred and the immense power, knocking a conveniently Superman-free JLA around like chumps. Makes as much sense as her thrashing of Wonder Woman a couple issues back. Diana’s recovered enough now to mount a second assault, and rides to the potential rescue in an impressive two-page spread where Diana, Donna Troy, and Cassie Sandsmark stand side-by-side in full battle armor, with Tom Tresser and the Battle Gorillas along to help. This is followed by a rousing fight scene.
Good stuff. It’s kicking into gear now, and while I don’t know where we’re headed or whether I want to go there, it looks to be a fun trip, with some classic WW villains along for the ride. We still don’t know Genocide’s identity, though we get a look at her face. I… could have done without that. Simone pulled off a good reveal with Junior in Secret Six, so I’m optimistic about the chances of the Genocide reveal being worth the wait. As it is, she comes across as a generic megathreat who’s deadly just because.
Back Issues
[DC] Catwoman Vol. 3 #17
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Javier Pulido
In the aftermath of Black Mask’s cruel revenge, Selina’s entered into an ill-advised relationship with Slam, the one person who basically took the whole ordeal in stride. The others were deeper in and need more than one issue to dig their way out. Right now, they’re more wallowing than anything, unable to let go of the recent, terrible past. They try to block it all out, with sex, with drugs, or by hiding inside themselves. Anything to avoid the soulcrushing reality of what happened.
[DC] Birds of Prey #98
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciler: James Raiz
The previous two issues contained cameos by a mysterious new Batgirl, who makes her first full appearance here. Later renamed Misfit, she goes on to become a regular part of the cast until the book’s cancellation, arguably a good addition, but in her first appearance she’s three parts obnoxious, one part crack. It’s nigh-impossible not to hate her, as she shows undue familiarity with the Birds, in addition to martial prowess and detective work exceeding that of several characters with far more reason to possess such skills.
Between faux-Batgirl and the terrible art, I’d almost recommend skipping this issue. But the parts with Sin are gold, and this isn’t a fill-in or one-shot. It’s part of an ongoing series with continuity ties, and sometimes you have to accept a subpar issue when you read an ongoing. It’s part of the story, and the story as a whole is still good. This is one I’d try to get for less than three bucks, but it’s worth getting eventually.
Trade
No trade review this week, sorry. I’m running late, and the past few columns have come out every other week, so I’m going to cut this one short in the interests of getting it out without too much delay. There’s a new Secret Six next week, and I’m overdue to review the latest Fables and Ex Machina.
Truncation
Catwoman – Painfully good. The brightest and darkest points of Brubaker’s run in one arc.
Blue Beetle – Perhaps the best Sturges issue yet, so of course it’s the second to last.
Wonder Woman – Best issue of the current arc. Armored Amazons and disturbingly crazy Zeus.
Catwoman – Fallout. It stings.
Birds of Prey – Ugly and half-annoying, but not a total loss.
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