Catwoman #3

[aeka]

No violent anonymous shagging this time...(well maybe a bit of snogging), but there's still a WHOLE lot of violence, and I mean LOTS of it.

Long story short: Bone guy receiving a pummelling in these pages killed Selina's friend Lola in the last issue, and now Selina's out for revenge...Helena Bertinelli style!









So Selina not only has anonymous violent sex with a man she doesn't even know, but she's also willing to kill now. Lovely. At least now if Helena Bertinelli really does turn out to be Helena Wayne at the end of her mini, there will be an excuse now for her willingness to kill. Fantastic!

Le sigh. Now I'm really hoping Earth-2 Selina is the Selina we saw in the 90s comics: a witty but mostly harmless thief with finesse. This Selina? There's no finesse to her. She's blunt and straight to the point. Not the Selina I know and love, which is an even bigger letdown. >:(

Comments

[aeka]

My point is Pre-FP Selina was not this eager to kill and abided by the same strict no-kill rule Batman follows. If she's always been this eager to kill anyone who killed or harmed any of her loved ones she would have surely not have made Black Mask the only exception.

[darkknightjrk]

Who's to say that this Selina has other loved ones like Lola?

[aeka]

What's your point?

[darkknightjrk]

I'm saying that if Selina was justified in wanting to kill Black Mask because of killing and torturing the people she cares about, then she's justified in wanting to kill Bones for killing someone she cares about.

[aeka]

I'm not saying she's not justified in her wanting to kill this guy. What bothers me is that she's being depicted here as someone who's eager to kill (or at the very least has no qualms about killing), and she's never been depicted as such. Even when she made the decision to Black Mask pre-reboot, it wasn't out of an impulse like she's doing here; she did so after she came to the realisation that if he remained alive he would continue to come after and harm her loved ones. Basically she killed Black Mask to keep him from hurting her loved ones. Here she's considering killing Bones in a fit of rage of losing a loved one, and the only thing that stopped her from going forward with the deed was Batman intervening.

[chipsnopotatoes]

I didn't interpret this as her being eager to kill, but more like pushed to her limits and so enraged that she loses control. I can't fault her for it, frankly.

You're right, this isn't the Selina we know. It's a much younger, more vulnerable version of the crafty cunning woman we love. She just hasn't grown into her yet. Having said that, I would like Winick to put a little more thought in her revenge sequences -- more variety and finesse. She can't be resorting to violence all the time. That would get old. Also, sometimes, the best revenge can be exacted by letting them live.

Despite the violence, what balanced this issue out for me were the pages with Lola. I really loved it. I love how excited she was showing off her first loot and asking Lola to move it. I love the photos of her and Lola goofing around on vacation. It shows me that despite the sucky childhood she must have had, there were still happy times, and that she's not so damaged a character that she isn't capable of enjoying life to the max.

The scene with Batman, while still kind of dry, actually had a point. I thought that was pretty clever of her throwing Bone off the roof and distracting Bats. And even her going back to Lola's apartment to get rid of the evidence. That shows presence of mind and survival instincts kicking in despite the grief. I admire that.

All in all, I enjoyed the issue. I'm really surprised by it because I was expecting something completely different and was ready to drop the book.

[aeka]

It could just be that my expectations for this issue were already low to begin with and it took a second reading for me to really get the full scope of what was going on here.

I understand that within the context of the story she snapped after losing someone she loves and cares about, but I won't lie, I'm still not sold on Winick's take on Selina, and I think it's too soon to say whether or not she'll go back to being the cunning crafty woman we love. Right now I'm going up to issue #10 before I decide whether or not it's a keeper.

[chipsnopotatoes]

Lol. You're giving Winick a much longer rope than I. This was my make or break issue. Fortunately, for him, I'm in for the next one.

[aeka]

I tend to see it more as giving the book a *proper* chance, and believe me when I say it's pretty hard not to jump the gun when it feels like a writer is taking too many liberties with a character. Same with Mr. Terrific. If it wasn't for the fact that both Huntress and Karen Starr are tied to whatever big reveal is in the book, I would have dropped that one too after #2 alone.