Catwoman 32: Date Night!

[espanolbot]

After several months of being presumed dead (after being attacked by an assassin called Zeiss she was abducted by a cult that worshiped Ancient Egyptian cat gods they thought had possessed Selina... long story), Selina arrives back home in Gotham, only to bump into probably one of her oldest friends...




They head home, nearly bumping into Holly Robinson... seems to be blonde now, in the process.



They have sex, but a while afterwards Bruce has to duck out as they've turned on the Bat Signal, leaving Selina a nice note before he goes. She doesn't exactly mind though, as she more than most knows about Bruce's situation, and concedes it was a lovely night all the same.



Still hold that Ed Brubaker's (and Darwyn Cooke's) work on Catwoman was some of the best work that they did for DC, and the interaction between Selina and Bruce was one of the best parts.

Comments

[icon_uk]

Well, that was rather adorable wasn't it? :)

[randyripoff]

Yes, it was. How the hell did that happen?

[jaybee3]

Agree with you. Brubaker's run on Catwoman (even if you can't deal with what was done to Maggie and her husband by Black Mask) still remains the definitive Catwoman for me. And Darwyn Cooke (and Cameron Stewart's) art was a huge factor as well.

Interesting also that Ed Brubaker continued the Bat/Cat romance despite the fact that Loeb (and most of Editorial) seemed to put the nix on it at the end of Hush. In fact it was only in the pages of Catwoman that Selina ever interacted with Bruce on a personal basis without his mask after Hush. I also have no doubt that if he had stayed with the book he would NEVER have made the daughter of Selina the result of a one-night stand with the son of Slam Bradley - who also briefly a lover of Selina during the Brubaker run and she almost broke his heart. I actually doubt he would have gone along with the whole "Catwoman's Daughter" and her retiring and handing her "title" to Holly sales gimmick at all.

[espanolbot]

I don't think that Pfiefer's run was terrible, it just had a touch of Editorial Mandate on it like nearly every DC book post-Infinite Crisis.

[mrstatham]

Pretty much. Being forced to join in with stuff like Salvation Run or whatever it was did not help the book in the slightest, given.. Y'know, Selina hadn't been a villain in years, so sending her to the villains planet made zero sense.

[thatnickguy]

Out of curiosity, how is the rest of Brubaker's run? I stopped reading at around the #25 mark or so, when the art style changed. Before, they had guys like Darwyn Cooke and Cameron Stewart, giving the title a very simplified, yet fluid art style. It fit incredibly well with the tone of book.

But after that, it became more...I don't know, generic? Cheesecake? Too detailed? It was such a jarring, unwelcome change that I dropped the book after the first issue or two of it.

[espanolbot]

In the non-collected issues (basically everything from the end of Wild Ride to Will Pfeifer's run, including the above issue) aren't exactly bad, I just don't think that they're quite as good as the preceeding ones.

Though I will admit that Pfeifer's run wasn't as bad as some people say, even with the stuff which seems more than a touch Ordered By Editorial (such as Baby Helena). Holly as Catwoman was interesting, the fact that someone actually wanted to arrest someone for Black Mask's murder was... an interested twist on the dogged detective angle we've seen several times previously (he was a good guy, it's just that he was a touch Javert, really), and the artwork averaged out to be pretty good for the most part.

It's just that, as I said, all post-Infinite Crisis books had a touch of Editorial saying what stories should be like, rather than letting them grow naturally. See also, what happened to Bludhaven, Cassandra Cain, and various Teen Titans.

[mrstatham]

Hopefully DC will collect the remaining issues of Brubaker's run that have gone uncollected so far, given they're putting out those larger collected editions, now. At least I hope so, given I've read everything currently collected in Bru's run and it just cuts off suddenly - presumably because Brubaker left so abruptly.

[ghosty732]

Catwoman Vol 3: Under Pressure comes out April 01 2014. Catwoman Vol 2: No Way Down collected up to Issue 24, so I assume that Vol 3 will have the rest of Brubaker's run.

I can't wait, as I too have never read the rest of his run that has since remained uncollected.

[mrstatham]

Well, fingers crossed there. DC at least seem to have pulled their fingers out since he left Marvel, given they've collected Catwoman and Sleeper in new printings.

[jaybee3]

I'm trying to come up with any of the One Year Later sales gimmicks that DC came up with (Teen Titans fiasco, Evil!Cass in Robin, Artie Joe Aquaman, Catwoman's Baby, Hawkgirl taking over the Hawkman book and them changing the entire adventure format of the title) and trying to come up with one that worked and I can't.

The only good thing about the one year later idea was "52" which in the end didn't really tie into whatever else DC was doing (thankfully).

[psylynce]

I agree the new art was incredibly jarring. Everyone had these weirdly elongated heads and huge jaws. But if you could ignore it the story was just as engaging and the characterization of Selina spot on. I am a big Brubaker fan though. The first half with Cooke and that bit of Pulido is amazing and everyone should have it in their library.

[bradygirl_12]

Sweetly awesome! It's why Selina is so perfect for Bruce. She understands him and knows what to expect, and can allow him to relax a little.

[shadowpsykie]

i miss this... (though the new Eternal Storyline seems to be veering selina at least as more independent.... i still miss thier closeness...)