Catwoman #17 // Review
Selina Kyle climbs out of a pit and into magic through shadows and poetry in Catwoman #17. Thanks to the editorial intervention of the Year of the Villain, Selina has been given an option. An opportunity by a strangely messianic Lex Luthor. In a retrospectively introspective tale brought stylishly to the page by artist/writer Joelle Jones. Jones’ unmistakable fingerprints cover the entire issue in art, dialogue, and plot, elevating the series once more to what it was when it started: a mysterious walk with a mysteriously beautiful character. Kyle has some decisions to make in a glorious return to the style and form for Joelle Jones.
In recent months, Lex Luthor has offered a great many things to a great many people that all involve opportunities for a great deal of power. To Catwoman, he provides...a map and a choice. Luthor is savvy enough to know that Selina isn’t interested in the standard stuff. She could go back to what she left behind in Gotham, or she could pursue things in her newly claimed home of Villa Hermosa. It’s a profoundly reflective moment for Catwoman drenched in shadowy phantoms of the past. Which cast some light into the deeper motivations that have been lurking in the corners of her memory.
Jones’ central narrative with Catwoman had been faltering a bit in the recent past. The seventeenth issue in her series is one of those rare instances where the intrusion of a major crossover event actually allows a central character to find some sort of direction. As the poetry of Jones’ work is filtered through a direct confrontation between Catwoman and her primary motivations. There’s substantial power in the simple blending of Catwoman’s inner monologue with visuals of motivating factors in her past and struggles in her present. And because Jones knows that she’s working with a hero at the heart of it all, Selena’s tumble has a ragged, triumphant feel about it.
Jones’ visual execution of this chapter in Catwoman’s life feels fresh and dynamic. Subtle, dramatic expiration into the inner emotions of Selena Kyle are contested against powerfully aggressive moments of action. Some of the action visuals are powerful. Kyle solemnly dons a motorcycle helmet before shooting off like a cat out of hell. Later-in there’s desperation in a single hand reaching up out of the water. Memories are wavy panels in the background as Kyle shoots towards destiny on the back of a motorcycle. And then there’s that classy final reveal of Kyle’s next acquaintance at issue’s end. Jones’ architectural rendering of the Magic Club provides a classily atmospheric setting for the big reveal at the issue’s end.
Catwoman has been sliding through elements of magic in Villa Hermosa thus far. For month events have been leading down a far less earthbound kind of adventure for Selena. The poetry of this latest issue files quite nicely into a dark world of magic that should serve as a very appealing addition to the adventures of Catwoman moving forward into the end of the year and beyond.
