It’s a new era for Catwoman, and she has a new target—Gotham City's underworld!
Roman Sionis has been brought to his knees, but enough is enough. Catwoman’s vacation is over and it’s time to get back to work. But Selina has never been Gotham’s only protector, and she’ll have to contend with a well-meaning family of bats…What’s that old saying? The enemy of my enemy…should back off and let me handle it!
"Catwoman: Cat International" is a solid book with great story telling and even better artwork that suffers significantly from the way its various elements are slapped together. Thus, the book slams hard into the plot arc of another ongoing series and a new villain of questionable interest shows up to distract from the previous tense and fast paced plot. However, once the reader gets past the disorientation caused by having whole new plot directions and characters dropped into a pile of oozing, bad editorial decisions the book is actually a lot of fun.
Since the book is a bit of a hodge-podge the best way to enjoy it is to pick out the good pieces and move on. Look for the following great elements:
Dario's story arc - Dario really comes into his own in this book as a full fledged character and member of Selina's crew. Much of the story sees him in peril and waiting rescue, but the final part in which he takes his destiny in his own hands and stands up for Selina and Gotham is a great treat, if a long time coming.
The five families and other villainous forces - There are plenty of villains in this book. Most interesting are Dario's extended family followed closely by the ever creepy Black Mask. The "new" villains thrown into the book towards the end are a bit hard to follow but still mostly fun to watch.
Valmont's changing role - Valmont has always been a little irritating and under developed. Initially it seems like he was introduced as long-haired androgynous eye-candy and a possible kitty snack. This book gives him more to do and fills in his back story to just the right extent. His changing relationship with Selina and her internal conflicts over it are well worth the read.
New and emerging characters - Selina's crew does not get a lot of coverage in this book but it is clear that they are becoming more important and they are definitely worth watching. Eiko, has a strong and developing role for most of the book and the chemistry between her and Selina is chaotic, energetic and frenzied. Finally, a new member of Selina's crew , Tomcat, emerges. To avoid spoiler's that's all I am going to write other than to note that this character is a blast and has a lot of potential.
Selina - It's a book about Catwoman, so something would be wrong if Selina did not take center stage. Oh, and does she ever. Both the artwork and her story arc are superb. Watch for lots of confusion and misgivings on her part about her various relationships with Valmont, Eiko and Bruce. Additionally, there are some great scenes, usually of Selina in civvies, that stand out from the usual depictions. In particular, look for a blonde Selina wearing a cloche while negotiating with Dario's extended family and looking very much like a flapper -consigliere.
Tini Howard delivers another fun and best of all grounded story for Catwoman. Whilst I don’t personally love Valmont he was used to explore more sides of Selina and that’s always a positive. I didn’t entirely dislike the inclusion of new ‘strays’ turned heroes but they work in this story. The art is great throughout with Nico Leon and Sam Basri really delivering some solid art throughout. I hope we see more of this more grounded take on Selina Kyle.
This wordy Volume has Selena all over the globe, in situations where she is both escaping and helping criminals. Only once the final showdown happens does tragedy strike... twice. Highlights: - The "new guy" in Cat's life (introduced last Volume) is Valmont, a handsome and rich exile from the League of Assassins, and their partnership seems to be exactly what Selina needs. He is present and very helpful in shutting down a rival gang's human trafficking ring. - Unfortunately, the criminal underworld has been shaken up by the rise of Black Mask, and Cat is keen to stop it. Before she can really dive in, she hears that her friend and compadre Dario (who is part of the Tomasso crime Family) has been taken, and so she goes with Valmont to Italy to petition the main family for his release. - That doesn't go so well, and once she returns to Gotham, she is able to rescue him during a crazy car chase. - The new threat has to do with Punchline, who hopes to use the abandoned Axis Chemicals Plant to make more drugs to get the whole city hooked. Her team is much larger now, including Batman, and Dario (now masked and calling himself Tomcat). - At the end, Punchline escapes, but Cat has to protect Batman from Valmont and ends up killing him. She also takes the fall for most of the activity that happened, and goes off to jail, which is where we'll pick up next time...
The Volume was a bit wordy, but the action was excellent. Recommend, with slight hesitation.
Tini Howard's first collection set Catwoman up in organized crime, and this next piece is more about her managing her supporting cast while she figures out what to do next in Gotham, shaken up some with the arrival of Punchline and the return of Batman. It's got great action and continues to have a compelling original voice for Selina Kyle.
With Alleytown mostly under control, Catwoman sets her sights on the rest of Gotham's underworld, bringing her into conflict with Black Mask and old flame Eiko Hasigawa. But even with Valmont at her side, can Selina stand up against the might of the entire city's crime families? And what will Batman have to say about all this?
This arc feels a little like a retread of Genevieve Valentine's Catwoman run just after Batman Eternal a few years ago, and not just because Eiko's back in the picture. Tini Howard brings a realistic interpretation of how Gotham's crime families operate to the table, and Selina masterfully dances between them as best she can...until she doesn't. The last few issues of this volume turn everything on its head, and that whole 'things will never be the same again!' thing comes out to play. There's also some interplay with Howard's Punchline series, but the give-and-take is definitely in Catwoman's favour - you can read this without Punchline's book, but vice versa doesn't exactly hold true (I'll get to that when the Gotham Game trade comes out).
On art we have series artist Nico Leon, with some assistance from Sami Basri and Caitlin Yarsky. Leon's art in the last volume was truly phenomenal, but I think it must have been too difficult to maintain that style and meet monthly deadlines, because it definitely changes here and going forward. A shame, but I've seen Leon's style change as needed across different books, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing.
Catwoman's world turns upside down as she tries to do to the impossible. Compelling, if a little reminiscent of previous stories.
A decent continuation of the story in the previous volume, as Catwoman continues to fight Gotham's crime families... with more costumed characters thrown into the mix this time, which reduces some of the gritty feel. There are some good moments between the fighting, with Catwoman pondering her relationship with Batman and other past and potential lovers. The art is variable, but mostly good, and there's some change of scenery as we leave Gotham for a couple of issues. On the downside, the story veers about a bit, with links to other comics not all of which I've read; some of the plotlines end up only partially resolved. It ends on a cliffhanger - or perhaps slightly after one, since there's a coda with a totally different art style at the end that's setting up the storyline for the next volume. It's an enjoyable read, with some good characterisation, but could have done with some tighter scripting... but I'm intrigued enough to want to see where this goes next.
Follows up on the better elements of the previous volume. I ended up really liking how Selina's relationships with Bruce and Valmont shaped up on the page. She isn't over Bruce, and never will be, but that doesn't make her relationship with Valmont meaningless. Unfortunately, the Punchline plot kind of shows up out of nowhere. It felt like an interruption in the series. That said, it also lead to a really exciting and unexpected cliffhanger.
On a break from the Bat. Side by side with an ex League of Assassins...assassin. Protecting the Strays in Alleytown. Flirting with the Hasigawa Clan leader.
Question: How many plates can she juggle? Answer: Not nearly enough.
The first volume of Howard's run wasn't too bad but this is all over the place. Howard can't decide which way to go and tries to go all of them. Then there are things that make zero sense like the ending of issue #50. How'd that damn cat get in there? At least all of the artists (and there's a lot of them) involved have talent.
What happened? There was such potential with this storyline. And then it just went off the rails. It didn't feel like one story.
And if that wasn't enough, the art constantly changed. I'm not an artist and I feel bad complaining about someone's work but that last issue's art was not it! So much of this just didn't work.