Although I really like Batman, I’m not overly familiar with the comic version of the Batman/Catwoman relationship. From what I gather, it’s complicated. Sometimes they love each other, and other times they seem to want to kill each other. At some point recently, Catwoman was sentenced to the death penalty for killing a bunch of people. However, for helping Batman deal with Bane in the previous arc, I Am Suicide, Batman successfully reduced her sentence to a life sentence without parole.
This issue, written by Tom King, focuses entirely on Batman and Catwoman, spending a night together before Catwoman is supposed to be turned in. How much you enjoy this issue depends on how much you enjoy their relationship. They beat up a bunch of third rate criminals. Only one, Clock King, is given any real amount of focus. It’s amusing. The rest are all beaten in a single panel each, most of those panels looking very similar. Meanwhile, Batman and Catwoman talk about their relationship in various ways. The issue ends with a touching moment where Catwoman gives Batman some valuable items, asking him to do something generous with it, with the intention to run far away right after. There’s nothing overly surprising in this issue, and it’s a very quick read.
All the art duties are handled by Mitch Gerads, and it’s good. It’s a fairly dark comic that takes place entirely in the same night, with a starry sky frequently in the background. Facial expressions and body language perfectly capture Batman and Catwoman’s emotions. Catwoman is clearly in emotional distress at the start of the comic, but gets excited while travelling around the city for the night. Batman is at first resistant, but he seems to relax before long. The large panels and spreads show a lot of background detail with the buildings, as does the scene with Clock King inside an old clock tower. The section in the middle where they take down a bunch of no name criminals is kind of repetitive though. It shows the same angle on every criminal they beat up, with the same blank red background.
Like I said earlier, how much you enjoy this issue probably depends on how much you care about the Batman/Catwoman relationship. Personally I think this issue is alright, but I liked both of the other comics I picked up this week better. Because I’m not all that familiar with this relationship, I won’t give this issue a final score. I’m sure most people can figure out whether they’d want to pick this up or not anyway.
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