What do you think?
Rate this book
DC Anthology Specials
Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular #1
Our gal Catwoman is turning 80 next year (and looking very good, if we meow say), and DC is celebrating with nothing less than with a huge soiree, invite only, packed with creators who mean the most to her and to whom she means the most! Stories featured in this 100-page spectacular include a tail-sorry, tale-that takes place at the end of the Brubaker/Stewart Catwoman run, in honor of artist Darwyn Cooke. Plus, Catwoman is caught by an exotic cat collector, runs into a wannabe thief trying to prove himself as her apprentice, encounters a mystery involving memorabilia from alternate continuities, and of course some Bat/Cat fun.
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
8 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Ed Brubaker
1,795 books3,015 followersEd Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.
Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.
In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.
Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.
In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 12, 2020
This was the weakest of DC's 80th anniversary specials. There's a couple of decent stories here but overall I give this a "Meh".
June 18, 2020
Just like with any of these, a few good stories, a few mediocre ones, and a few that are complete trash. Paul Dini's opener was surprisingly and uncharacteristically bad for the guy, DC always seem to bring him in for these and lately it feels like he cares less and less for it. Tom King, Ed Brubaker and Ram V did three of the best stories here, and Ram V's impressed me so much that I now really want to check out his upcoming proper run on Selina's solo title. I completely skipped stories by Chuck Dixon and Ann Nocenti because fuck that noise. Mindy Newell's story was really bad, which is a shame because Lee Gardbett's art was a pleasure to see once again. Will Pfeifer's fourth wall-breaking story was interesting for 90% of it but ultimately fell flat with its resolution, all the while Pia Guerra's art was a surprise — she hasn't really drawn much of any comics outside of Y: The Last Man, to the point where I assumed she wasn't working in comics at all since then. A nice surprise to see her work again for sure. And Jeff Parker's Batman '66 homage was just alright, though I am not a big fan of the whole '66 aesthetics in general. Overall not a terrible collection, and the best stories here certainly live up to the greatness of Selina Kyle's character.
June 14, 2020
SUPER FAST REVIEW:
Damn, Catwoman sure looking good for an 80 year old! So I missed the Robin one but made sure to get the 80th anniversary specials for both Catwoman and Joker. My LCS recently opened back up after all this COVID bullshit (pretty sure the only person who still gives a fuck in my entire state is our governor but that’s not what we’re here to talk about) and had this sweet AF variant!
(Artist: Frank Cho)
Anyways, so like most special comics and anthologies it was a mixed bag.
For stories they were mostly just okay, but there were a few I fully liked or disliked.
My favorite was a story titled The Catwoman of Earth (creative team: Jeff Parker and Jonathan Case) where Catwoman fights aliens. It had a very cool cartoony art style and fun action as well as a brief anti-misogyny message without being preachy or anything, I liked it. Least favorite was a story called Little Bird (creative team: Mindy Newell, Lee Garbett, Alex Sinclair and Tom Napolitano) that was just uninteresting, boring and poorly written regarding both storytelling and dialogue though the art was still okay.
There’s a lot of pin-ups, most of them are good. Some better than others though I didn’t consider any to be quite terrible or anything. I also thought the brief pages showing off the character’s designs in comics over the years were cool.
Overall I would definitely say fans of Catwoman or maybe even the Bat-Family in general should try getting a copy for their collections! Just expect a rather typical anthology comic.
3/5
Damn, Catwoman sure looking good for an 80 year old! So I missed the Robin one but made sure to get the 80th anniversary specials for both Catwoman and Joker. My LCS recently opened back up after all this COVID bullshit (pretty sure the only person who still gives a fuck in my entire state is our governor but that’s not what we’re here to talk about) and had this sweet AF variant!
(Artist: Frank Cho)
Anyways, so like most special comics and anthologies it was a mixed bag.
For stories they were mostly just okay, but there were a few I fully liked or disliked.
My favorite was a story titled The Catwoman of Earth (creative team: Jeff Parker and Jonathan Case) where Catwoman fights aliens. It had a very cool cartoony art style and fun action as well as a brief anti-misogyny message without being preachy or anything, I liked it. Least favorite was a story called Little Bird (creative team: Mindy Newell, Lee Garbett, Alex Sinclair and Tom Napolitano) that was just uninteresting, boring and poorly written regarding both storytelling and dialogue though the art was still okay.
There’s a lot of pin-ups, most of them are good. Some better than others though I didn’t consider any to be quite terrible or anything. I also thought the brief pages showing off the character’s designs in comics over the years were cool.
Overall I would definitely say fans of Catwoman or maybe even the Bat-Family in general should try getting a copy for their collections! Just expect a rather typical anthology comic.
3/5
July 19, 2024
3.5 Stars
A decent collection of stories with some cool pin up art as well. Hard to believe the character has been around over 80 years.
A decent collection of stories with some cool pin up art as well. Hard to believe the character has been around over 80 years.
August 29, 2020
Disappointing.
June 5, 2020
watching catwoman beat up some cops? that's self-care darling
June 14, 2020
This was kind of terrible. Didn't really enjoy any of the stories and none of them felt true to Selina except the last issue.
June 10, 2020
A collection of ten short stories, accompanied by some artistic impressions of the title character (including some retrospective ones, showing how her look has changed down the years). The stories are mixed, as one might expect, and so is the art, with both ranging from good to poor. It's a varied look at different visions for the character, from the gritty to the comedic (one is set in the Batman '66 universe, for instance). Nothing with too much depth, perhaps, given the individual lengths, but it's as good a way as any to do an anniversary special.
July 2, 2020
Some solid stories in collected in the 80th Anniveraary special for Catwoman. My two favorites would be the Paul Dini story "Skin The Cat" and "The Art Of Picking A Lock" by Ed Brubaker & Cameron Stewart. I also really enjoyed the humor and unique story in "Conventional Wisdom" by Will Pfeifer.
Reading this collection made me think back on some of my favorite Catwoman moments. Everyone has a Catwoman costume that they are partial to. I think my favorite would be the early 2000s look with the goggles and leather. I haven't ever really been able to get in to a Catwoman solo series so most of my experience with the character is when she shows up in various Bat titles. I know a lot of people weren't thrilled with Tom King's run and the wesding story arc but I really enjoyed it. They are some of my favorite Catwoman stories. But nothing compares to the Darwyn Cooke story, "Selina's Big Score." I absolutely love that book and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. And growing up in the 90s, it hard not to think of Michelle Pfeifer's iconic interpretation in Batman Returns as well as the always great Bruce Timm's Catwoman that appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.
With Selina Kyle alwaysteetering on the edge of being a hero or villain, fans will continue to follow Catwoman's adventures for years to come.
Reading this collection made me think back on some of my favorite Catwoman moments. Everyone has a Catwoman costume that they are partial to. I think my favorite would be the early 2000s look with the goggles and leather. I haven't ever really been able to get in to a Catwoman solo series so most of my experience with the character is when she shows up in various Bat titles. I know a lot of people weren't thrilled with Tom King's run and the wesding story arc but I really enjoyed it. They are some of my favorite Catwoman stories. But nothing compares to the Darwyn Cooke story, "Selina's Big Score." I absolutely love that book and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. And growing up in the 90s, it hard not to think of Michelle Pfeifer's iconic interpretation in Batman Returns as well as the always great Bruce Timm's Catwoman that appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.
With Selina Kyle alwaysteetering on the edge of being a hero or villain, fans will continue to follow Catwoman's adventures for years to come.
October 7, 2020
Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular is a commemorative issue that celebrates the eightieth anniversary of Catwoman. It is a collection of ten short stories that celebrate the anniversary of Catwoman and is penned and penciled by the best alumni from DC Comics.
This anthology is divided into ten vignettes with each story centering on Selena Kyle as Catwoman. For the most part, this collection of short stories gave an overall mediocre impression. This anthology is a decent, albeit mediocre collection of comics with few outstanding or memorable pieces. Tom King's "Helena", Ram V's "Addicted to Trouble", and Ed Brubaker's "The Art of Picking a Lock", stood out the most.
In addition to the short stories above there are wonderful pinup pictures penciled by Babs Tarr, Ty Templeton, Steve Rude and Matt Hollingsworth, Tula Lotay, Tim Sale and Brennan Wagner, Jim Balent, and Jae Lee and June Chung.
All in all, Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular is a mediocre issue to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Catwoman.
This anthology is divided into ten vignettes with each story centering on Selena Kyle as Catwoman. For the most part, this collection of short stories gave an overall mediocre impression. This anthology is a decent, albeit mediocre collection of comics with few outstanding or memorable pieces. Tom King's "Helena", Ram V's "Addicted to Trouble", and Ed Brubaker's "The Art of Picking a Lock", stood out the most.
In addition to the short stories above there are wonderful pinup pictures penciled by Babs Tarr, Ty Templeton, Steve Rude and Matt Hollingsworth, Tula Lotay, Tim Sale and Brennan Wagner, Jim Balent, and Jae Lee and June Chung.
All in all, Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular is a mediocre issue to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Catwoman.
November 16, 2020
De todas las historias que trae este especial de cien años sólo hubo tres historias que me gustaron.
El arte es bueno en todas y las ideas de las historias son interesantes aunque la mayoría gira sobre los mismos temas y las ejecuciones dan mucho que desear.
Entiendo que el número está hecho para ser un homenaje del personaje a través de sus 80 años de existencia pero los diálogos se sienten raros en la mayoría de las historias.
La que más me gustó fue la de Tom King. Pero tampoco es que sea muy original en realidad, retoma lo que hizo en uno de los Anuales de Batman donde nos muestra el futuro de Batman y Catwoman. En el anual nos habla sobre la enfermedad de Bruce y su final. En esta historia corta vemos el embarazo de Catwoman, y es una historia emotiva pero construida sobre las mismas bases y conceptos que King desarrolló en su serie de Batman. Era obvio que King escribiría una historia de este tipo para este especial.
El resto no es muy memorable, ninguna historia te asombrará o mostrará algo increíble a nivel técnico.
El arte es bueno en todas y las ideas de las historias son interesantes aunque la mayoría gira sobre los mismos temas y las ejecuciones dan mucho que desear.
Entiendo que el número está hecho para ser un homenaje del personaje a través de sus 80 años de existencia pero los diálogos se sienten raros en la mayoría de las historias.
La que más me gustó fue la de Tom King. Pero tampoco es que sea muy original en realidad, retoma lo que hizo en uno de los Anuales de Batman donde nos muestra el futuro de Batman y Catwoman. En el anual nos habla sobre la enfermedad de Bruce y su final. En esta historia corta vemos el embarazo de Catwoman, y es una historia emotiva pero construida sobre las mismas bases y conceptos que King desarrolló en su serie de Batman. Era obvio que King escribiría una historia de este tipo para este especial.
El resto no es muy memorable, ninguna historia te asombrará o mostrará algo increíble a nivel técnico.
July 3, 2020
I thought I'd actually might get some of the older stories that have been published through the years although I don't know why I thought that considering I did look it over and it looked like new stories . . . anyway the first 4-5 stories were at turns boring, incomprehensible, badly written, badly drawn, self-important, y'know the same-0ld, same-old when it comes to these sort of anthologies, but the last 2-3 stories starting out w/the Cat Woman dream story really picked things up on the interest meter for me & they were drawn quite well to boot. So, Cat Woman 80th anniversary ends up earning a 3 star rating if only for that. Worst offender of the bunch is the Tom King story. If I never read another new story of his it might be too soon - he really thinks he's the Shakespeare of comix w/his meta-narration tricks & ponderous seriousness. Just my take. Don't taze me bro.
January 22, 2021
Like the Joker 80th anniversary issue, the stories that aren’t great here often sink to being pretty mediocre or even bad, but there are some standouts I really like. King/Janin team up again for a Cat+Bat pregnancy story that’s surprisingly touching, Parker/Case offer a fun first contact alien story that’s all cheesy 60s sci-fi and technicolor pop art with Catwoman saving the day, the Pfeiffer/Guerra story is all dream logic at a comic convention with tons of fourth-wall-breaking nods at CatWoman’s many eras, and Brubaker/Stewart close out the issue with a reliably great story that makes me want to check out their early 00s CatWoman run.
July 6, 2020
This was a nice anniversary special celebrating 80 years of one of my favorite characters. There are ten different stories all written by some of Catwoman’s biggest creators who helped define who she is as a character such as Paul Dini, Mindy Newell, Ed Brubaker, etc. All the stories were very solid and did a good job showing who Catwoman is as a character, there were only two that I wasn’t a huge fan of. Overall this was a great anthology and a nice love letter to Catwoman.
March 23, 2021
I really liked this collection. I'm not a particularly huge Catwoman fan, but I did enjoy these snapshot-stories that provided a real character study into Selina Kyle. My favorite stories were definitely the one where she and Bruce had Helena. (I'm a sucker for family stories.) And then the one at the "con"--the idea of Catwoman being at a convention as the character was just super surreal and entertaining.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2020
Really liked most of the stories. Quick and fun or quick and sad. Catwoman's mezuzah was interesting. Seeing Catwoman in all the different art styles was fun. Skipped the last one because the art was by sexual predator Cameron Stewart. I wonder how many of the other male creators in this book are also sexual predators?
May 23, 2022
2.5
Tom King's and Ed Brubaker's stories are the clear standouts for me. All the other stories are either meh or no thank you. The art is good for just about every story (except one). I feel like it could have done more to "honor" the character and her history, but such is the way of anthologies.
Tom King's and Ed Brubaker's stories are the clear standouts for me. All the other stories are either meh or no thank you. The art is good for just about every story (except one). I feel like it could have done more to "honor" the character and her history, but such is the way of anthologies.
November 5, 2022
It was alright— a few stories I enjoyed, a few I ended up skimming through and only admiring the artwork. The artwork was the only consistent thing.
3 stars.
Novelstorian (Blog) ✨ Instagram ✨ Twitter ✨
3 stars.
Novelstorian (Blog) ✨ Instagram ✨ Twitter ✨
June 12, 2020
Good comic! Some very good stories some not very great stories. 4.5 out of 5 however in some of the stories she does not show up as Catwoman which is kinda disappointing at least for me I recommend this to people who like Batman villains or Catwoman in general
August 2, 2020
Woops, thought I'd done this review.
Short version: Very good. Selection of stand-alone tales plus a collection of covers from over the years showing how the character has developed.
Excellent fun, but probably one for the purists/geeks than the casual reader.
Short version: Very good. Selection of stand-alone tales plus a collection of covers from over the years showing how the character has developed.
Excellent fun, but probably one for the purists/geeks than the casual reader.
August 26, 2020
It was a long awaited book, and I wish the stories were better. As I've mentioned in my Podcast, I feel like this Anniversary issue falls at the bottom of the list of the others which have come out since Action Comics #1000.
August 27, 2020
Most of these stories were mediocre at best. The art was surprisingly good. Only two of the stories were written by women with more women on art, and probably accounting for the better art. All that said one star because DC still will employee Chuck Dixon, noted bigot.
July 1, 2020
The most of them are quite good. It was good to see Pia Guerra around. Ram V is improving in every issue. And I will love for ever Janin's panel of Cat freaking out.
July 19, 2020
.... loved some, hated some, didn't care for the rest.
But Tom King for the win!!!!
But Tom King for the win!!!!
July 22, 2020
Some pretty good Catwoman stories in here. Great seeing some of the classic Catwoman writers come back like Ann Noncenti, Ed Brubaker and Mindy Newell too.
July 25, 2020
Enjoyable overall, though the Chuck Dixon story was very bad.
August 4, 2021
I LOVE CATWOMAN!!!
January 4, 2022
Some of the stories were great. Some, not so much...
Some of the art was great. Some, not so much...
Some of the art was great. Some, not so much...
February 26, 2022
3.5/5 Like most anthology books, some stories are stronger than others. Overall, it was enjoyable. I like Catwoman, so that helps a bit.
January 8, 2024
Full of clever plot twists from the start, edge of the seat stories that will keep you on your toes, great and varied art from the beginning, adventure and action! :D
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews