Catwoman #7 Review

Story: 2/5

The cover's tagline promises that "your life is about to change," but the issue doesn't really deliver on that. In fact, while the story has changed to a new arc, it reads like the same old plot. Selina steals stuff, Selina has too much fun, Selina's being reckless, Selina gets into trouble, some new meta shows up. The scene focusing on Detective Alvarez has happened before, with only slight changes in dialogue. Coming out of the dramatic finish of the last issue, this one is just kind of...boring.

As a fan of superhero comics, I'm used to having to suspend my disbelief, but parts of this issue tested that suspension in rather dumb ways. From the very beginning, the story seems written to tick certain boxes rather than to actually resemble a coherent plot. It makes no sense for Selina to hire women to distract Nikandros so she can steal his car; she's always prided herself on the clever ways she singlehandedly commits her crimes. The opening scene thus reads as a comedy bit that bases its humor in stilted dialogue rather than the master thief Catwoman setting up another caper.

Her exchange with Gwen was a high point. I really do like their dynamic, and I feel that through them, Judd Winick is actually succeeding in doing something that Gotham City Sirens only tried to do. Selina can work with others, but her personality has to remain intact for the story to be a good one. Gwen has a great, fun rapport with Selina built on their shared past, but she also knows when Selina's getting too careless and tries to reign her in appropriately. (Conversely, Sirens' writers never seemed to know what to do with Selina, so she just hung out with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn rather than truly engaging with them.) Gwen's turning into quite an interesting character, and Winick keeps her around (he'd better), I'm interested in seeing more development with her. It's
hard to pit another woman against Selina without Selina stealing the show, but Gwen definitely seems like good character competition for her.

Detective Alvarez suffers most in this issue. I like him. I really do. But Winick needs to do something new with him, and quickly. His one actual scene in the issue has, as I've said above, literally happened before. At this point, his dialogue is just repetitions of things he's already said. However, the end of his scene does yield the best dialogue in the entire issue. "What's the difference," he asks another detective, "between a good cop in Gotham and Bigfoot?"

"Some people say they've actually seen Bigfoot," she replies.

"Amen."

I'd like to see his righteous frustration with corruption in the GCPD become something greater than the same scene over and over.

The abduction of the two prostitutes is quite creepy, and almost doesn't fit into the tone of the rest of the issue. But I'm far more interested in seeing what happens with it than I am in Selina's car thefts.

Spark's reveal is very similar to Reach's. His powers also seem similar to Reach's. In fact, so far he seems like a male version of Reach, who wants to work with Selina rather than against her. I realize there's only so much space in one issue, but his self-introduction to Selina was really poor: "I go by Spark! I thought we could steal things together!" Yep, great way to introduce a new character. I'd expect something a bit stronger and far less awkward from Winick.


Art: 5/5

I've said before that the title will suffer if March doesn't do the art for it, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that, though the art changed hands, it remained excellent. Adriana Melo took over the penciling this time, and her style is similar enough to March's that the change isn't jarring or distracting, but certainly different enough to boast a new aesthetic. Though I'm a fan of March (as if my previous reviews haven't made that clear), I'll admit that his faces do tend to look alike, to the point that in some parts of previous issues, the only difference between Selina and Gwen was their hairstyles and skin colors. Melo, however, distinguishes her characters' faces in both their features and their expressions. She continues the title's current trend of giving Selina very catlike facial expressions, especially when she's experiencing a quick but intense emotion, but Melo does it differently than March -- but no less successfully. Pages 7, 8, and 9 are particularly expressive, and art-wise, they're definitely my favorite pages of the entire issue.

The art is sensual without being overly cheesecake-y, and I think some readers who have been put off by the heavy sexualization of Selina's body in previous issues might prefer Melo's take on her.

I love March, but I'm already sold on Melo. Her style is perfect for the title.

Colors remain fantastic. The inks are more organic in places, but definitely in a good way (for example, check out the page where Detective Alvarez confronts Selina and look at the foreground).

The artistic team has changed a little, but it's a great change.

My one complaint about the art? On the story's last page, in the very top panel, it looks like Selina has fire coming out of her butt. Awkward placement there, but not awkward enough for me to dock a point.


Cover: 2.5/5

It's a much brighter cover than the others have been, and while that seems to fit the lighthearted tone of the issue (minus the abduction scene), it's not particularly striking. But then again, neither was the story. The conflict between Selina and Spark that the cover implies doesn't even come close to happening in the issue; in fact, quite the opposite happens. Selina's left arm also has some very noticeable foreshortening issues. March can do better. I normally excuse his anatomical distortions, but just like last month's cover, this time there aren't enough positive elements for me to overlook it.

In short, the art team got it right, but Winick and March seem to have phoned it in.