Catwoman: Crooked Little Town - Part 1

[espanolbot]

Started watching the Wire lately, and it's put me in the mood for some of Ed Brubaker's Catwoman run, which I'm going to share as it's a far better series than most things published now or since.

The story begins with a man called Dexter in an interrogation room, being hit with a phonebook. The cop asks him whether he thought that he could get away with it, but Dexter says that he's going to cooperate with them, and that he'll explain what happened from the beginning.

It began a week and a half ago, with Catwoman finding a kid called Brennan on life support...







Yes folks, this is actually something that happens.

Selina and Holly, having decided to use her skills to improve the area of Gotham she grew up in instead of just stealing for her own benefit (established in the previous stories), decide to get to work investigating Dexter. Selina says that if they keep an eye on Dexter, chances are they'll learn who his bosses are.

Unfortunately, while this is going on Brennan disappears only to reappear, brain dead, in hospital. It turns out that a kilo bag of heroin burst open in his large intestine.

Selina starts following Dexter to find out who is responsible, only to find out that his boss is a man by the name of Xavier Dylan, who happens to also be a prominent donor for the mayor's electoral campaign. While she's watching the meeting, she spots someone taking photos of the pair from a neighbouring warehouse.

Turns out that it's her PI friend Slam Bradley (a DC comics character that actually predates Batman), who (after her distraction means he misses Dex handing Dylan his cut of his drug money) fills her in on who Dylan is and explains what he's doing there. It turns out that Bradley, a former GCPD man, was following a lead regarding some cocaine that a corrupt cop had stolen from evidence and it had lead back to Dylan.

He asks her what her interest in Dylan is, and she explains that Dylan's drug ring touches the lives of a lot of people in the East End and that it has to stop. When Slam scoffs at the idea of Selina becoming something of an avenging angel for the slum she lives in, saying that she's just out for revenge, Selina storms off.

Looking in at Dylan from across the street, she muses on what she could do to him...



Later, Selina and Holly are eating in a diner. Selina's cheerful that Dex hasn't been around for a few days, but her good mood evaporates when Slam shows up and explains why.

It seems that a few days back Dex seemed to flip out for no reason, shot Dylan's bodyguard and driver, before beating the tar out of the man himself, and handcuffing him to a bed in an abandoned building for days just watching him suffer. Despite herself Selina is kind of alarmed at this, as that wasn't what was supposed to happen.

It seems that when she cornered Dex, she pointed out to him that despite him thinking that he's a big man, he's just a replacable pawn of some rich white guy who preys upon children. Dexter's attempts to defend his ways doesn't exactly go that well for him...

Comments

[jaybee3]

Ah, Brubaker's Catwoman (and Cameron Stewart's art!). This was MY Selina. Imagine if the reboot had started with a story and art like this instead of March's contorted figures and Winick's "sexy, sexy, sexy" Catwoman.

[aeka]

This was my Selina too. I loved that she developed from being a thrill-seeking thief to a heroine of her own right using the skills that she acquired both on the street and as a thief. But most importantly, I loved that she was good at what she did.

[silverhammerman]

Oh man, that last panel of Dex on the second last page, when he realizes why no one's come to take his statement is pretty killer. It's kind of perfect.
One thing this did remind me of though, is that brief period when Holly replaced Selina as Catwoman, which got me wondering why I've never seen anyone nostalgic for that period. Legacy characters usually tend to gather a few fans, so why did she never gain a following?

[espanolbot]

Holly was a great Catwoman, though the period is kind of marred by her tenure being overshadows by Selina's baby daughter and how Holly ended up being hounded constantly for something that Selina did, ie shoot Black Mask in the face.

[jaybee3]

Holly as Catwoman II never caught on for the same reason Azrael!Bats never caught on - the readers knew from the start it was just a gimmick and was never intended to last.

Unlike Azrael however DC didn't even pretend to play it out - how long was Holly "Catwoman" in that OYL storyline after all - 2 or 3 issues I think and she was already grounded and on the run.

Ironically if they had stuck to the idea of Holly as Catwoman and how she approached things differently than Selina instead of the faux-Jerry Springer-ish "Who's The Daddy?" of Selina's baby storyline (which no one liked) than it would have gone over much better. Holly was a popular character among Catwoman readers and they would have given her a chance.

[janegray]

Wait, so Selina carelessly sent a key witness to his death? She didn't even try to make sure that he'd be safe after he agreed to confess everything and nail the drug lords?

I get that she was furious and all, but that was pretty damn stupid.

[espanolbot]

She knew there were crooked cops in the GCPD, but she doesn't know the extent of how bad the situation is regarding the cops in her area until later in the story. Namely the majority of the narcotics squad actually work for Dylan, so straignht cops might have arrested him but they unknowing sent him to the guys with the most to loose by him talking.

[lieut_kettch]

Sgt. MacNaulty? So when does he get transferred from Gotham to Baltimore?

[glprime]

Probably some time before Det. Ramirez got caught up in Major Crimes' corruption scandal and transferred to New York (and changed her name).

Serious answer: A reference by another fan, maybe?

[ladymoondancer]

This was the Catwoman I loved. She just made sense.

And the art is so simple yet beautiful.