Catwoman #19 // Review
Selina Kyle races across town to help a friend deal with a plague of zombies in Catwoman #19. Joelle Jones delivers a straightforward chapter in the current issue, which features art by Geraldo Borges, Aneke, and Inaki Miranda. This chapter is clean and kinetic without too many loose ends. Still, the parade of artists robs the issue of stylistic continuity that would take advantage of the sprint-to-a-fight plot structure of the installment. The fight itself is pretty uninspired. The aftermath of that fight, however, lends some level of narrative bite to keep the issue from feeling altogether tedious.
Catwoman is racing across rooftops to get to her friends’ place. There aren’t enough rooftops in Villa Hermosa, so it’s a much more difficult journey to get where she’s going than it might be in a city like Gotham. Meanwhile, her friends are doing the best they can to fend off an army of zombies. She might make it in time to save them, but it might be too late anyway. The life of someone who lives in the path of danger isn’t suited for strong friendships. Selina might find herself very much alone.
The narrative flips back-and-forth between Catwoman and her friends. It is a very fluid rhythm that Jones manages, but there’s something of a disconnect between the two ends of the story. There isn’t a very strong narrative thread between the two of them until they meet up. What’s more, while the heroine races across rooftops, there isn’t a strong enough contrast to the street below to show us why it’s preferable to her to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Jones does build a clever symbolism in the lack of decent rooftops in Villa Hermosa, but it feels a bit disjointed from the rest of the story. Jones and the issue on a very romantic note. Though there hasn’t been a whole lot of time with the supporting cast, Catwoman’s evident lack of consideration for others becomes a major factor in an issue that should serve as a serious shift for the series.
The team of artists that Jones has with her on this issue is reasonably well balanced. No single artist is different enough from the others to cause a jarring shift from one mood to another. There is, however, a strong enough subtle shift in style to keep narrative from attaining the kind of rhythm that is present in Jones’ script. An artist reaches the end of particular segments in the issue, and the vanishes just when the art and writing start to build momentum. Then the book is on to the next artist, and things feel stiff again.
It’s a promising psychological turn for the title character. Some of the art in the book is very, very good. Some moments feel very poetic. Given a more choppy narrative, the multiple artist approach could have worked. A lack of consistency, though, doesn’t really set well with the overall thrust of the story.
