Catwoman #4

[aeka]

We learn a little bit more about Selina's past and are introduced to more people in her life. At best it appears as though the Frank Miller prostitute origin has been retconned out of continuity. So I guess one point for Winick?










Heh, I don't know about anyone else, but I thought Selina looked a bit like Sailor Star Fighter in those last few panels.

Anyway, from the last few pages of Catwoman #4, an interview with the boys behind this book:

1. What do you love about writing/drawing these characters?

Judd: Catwoman is brilliant, damaged, sophisticated, crass, and a born survivor who also seems at times to have a death wish. The complexities leap her.

Guillem: I like lonely characters so I can focus on the body language, facial expressions, how he or she interacts with the background.

2. What is your favourite thing about your part in the New 52?

Guillem: It will be long remembered and I'm incredibly happy I got the chance to be a part of it. I feel I'm adding something to the character, putting a bit of my own vision of Catwoman in the book.

Judd: The fresh stories we get to tell, how we get to hit the ground running, and how we can welcome new readers. All the stories are open to EVERYONE.

3. Can you tease the villains they will be fighting in upcoming issues?

Judd: Well, Catwoman's a criminal, so her adversaries cross a few spectrums. She'll have a run-in with an ugly mobster named BONE, have a budding romance with a member of the Gotham Police Department, and OH YEAH--there's Batman!

Guillem: See Judd's answer. I just want some of the villains we have in the book to stay for a long time because they're great. I love Bone.

4. What new things are you doing with these characters?

Judd: We are getting back to the core of Selina Kyle. She is, first and foremost, a thief. She steals not to survive, but because she digs it.

5. How will you shock readers?

Guillem: Every issue I've drawn to date has a very strong surprise or cliffhanger at the end. I'm always shocked when I read Judd's scripts.

Judd: As of Catwoman #1, pardon the pun, but the cat's out of the bag on one of our MAJOR surprises--the Catwoman/Batman romance.

6. What is your favourite page in the first few issues and why?

Judd: Am I allowed to say ALL of them? If I HAVE to choose, it's page 3 of the first issue. Catwoman crashing out her window in a hail of gunfire, half in her costume, whip in one hand, cat carrier in the other. This says EVERYTHING about our book and Catwoman. Dangerous, sexy, and unexpected.

Guillem: Issue #1, page1. All started there. I hope it takes a long time to finish.

Comments

[q99]

Still, it feels like I'm missing a step in how she became a career high-end thief.

[sistermagpie]

Agreed. A thief is a specific thing. Not that a person can't be a sex worker and a thief or one and then the other. But I like my Catwoman origins to be specifically based on theft because that's her raison d'etre. With Frank Miller it's hard for me not to just think that she's a sex worker because she's a woman character and a thief because even he knew he had to get her back to Catwoman=Catburglar.

I love the mirror to Bruce Wayne being that his thrills are associated with this mission to protect and law and order and helping people keep what's valuable to them when Selina's is taking what *she* wants and causing chaos. That's why she's a great foil to him, imo. A past as a dominatrix just brings nothing to her to me--she's not even dominating as a criminal. She's a cat burglar, in and out and nobody can touch her, with a quick scratch of the claws if trapped so she can get away. It's a pretty pure archetype and I think that's one reason she's so iconic.

[q99]

Well said.

I could see the origin fitting with some character (Mia-Speedy's a sex worker and I love her), but Catwoman doesn't care about dominating and doesn't seem to line up with the origin much.

[whitesycamore]

With Frank Miller it's hard for me not to just think that she's a sex worker because she's a woman character

This. I would personally expand that far beyond Frank Miller and his fixation on sex workers, and say that almost all heroines with sexually abusive backstories have one just because they're woman characters, and because superhero comics are a misogynistic genre.

...But then I think about reality, and how so many real women have sexually abusive pasts essentially *because* they are women, and how we live in a misogynistic world. And then my head explodes with anger and confusion.

tl;dr: I'm not sure what the right way to portray sex work, and sexual abuse, and violence against women in comics is, but I'm certain that Frank Miller's way is NOT it.

[aeka]

...But then I think about reality, and how so many real women have sexually abusive pasts essentially *because* they are women, and how we live in a misogynistic world. And then my head explodes with anger and confusion.

This. I actually had this conversation with my friend yesterday, and I think the thing I find most alarming is how many people--women included--accept this as normal. I can't decide if this is due to a lack of awareness, or the belief that 'nothing can be done about it,' or both.

[whitesycamore]

Yeah. And because of that I can almost - sort of - understand the perspective that, because sexual violence is common against women in real life, it's realistic for sexual violence to be commonplace in comics.

I'll even admit that I experience a bit of cognitive dissonance when I'm rolling my eyes at some superheroine's Tragic Backstory, and then I remember that hey, I'm a woman who was sexually abused, and also there was that one time when I used to be a sex worker.

I think the difference is that superhero comics are supposed to be escapist fiction. Seeing a female character have her backstory determined by her vagina and all the nasty stuff that can happen to it doesn't feel very fun and escapist to me. Some people argue that it's empowering to show a woman *overcoming* that kind of past, but tbh most of the time it seems like she only had that backstory in the first place because some dude thought it was suitably gritty and titillating.

I just can't accept the "but it's realistic!" argument because I don't believe that male writers give heroines these backstories in order to make any kind of statement about misogyny. It feels more like they just think it's... sexy. :/

[aeka]

Yeah one of the things I noticed right away about superhero comics from the post-Crisis era in particular, is that writers attempted to depart from the 'escapist' aspect of comics by calling attention to real world issues and making the characters more psychologically complex in order to make the stories 'feel more real and relevant.' Admittedly this wasn't always executed successfully.

I do agree that many of these tragic backstories for female characters seem to be done purely for shock value and 'edge' rather than to make any real comment about misogyny. When comics DO attempt to call attention to serious issues, most of the time they skim the surface on the problem at hand and hardly ever comment on pervasiveness of the attitudes behind them.

[benicio127]

THIS comment~!

[benicio127]

tl;dr: I'm not sure what the right way to portray sex work, and sexual abuse, and violence against women in comics is, but I'm certain that Frank Miller's way is NOT it.

What I can't believe you don't like Frank Miller's women... I mean c'mon it's not like his ASSBAR Wondy isn't a strawfeminist or anything...

I love it when people tell me that she's a *strong* female character. I'm like but! but! she's actually kind of stereotype of the evil feminist! She hates men, so that's how you know she's a real feminist.