Catwoman #43 // Review
Selina has had a really rough go of it lately. Things have been a struggle against the Gotham City underworld, so she’s due for a vacation. Perhaps a road trip with a pleasantly crazy clown girl will help. Or maybe it’s the last thing she needs. Either way, she’ll find out in Catwoman # 43. Writer Tini Howard continues a satisfying run with an issue brought to the page by French artist Bengal. Colorist Jordie Bellaire adds a stylish atmosphere and visual personality to adventure. The departure from Selina’s latest adventures in Gotham is a refreshing juxtaposition between Harley and Catwoman that makes for a fun opening to a whole new story for Howard.
Selina Kyle really needs to get out of town. As luck would have it, Harley Quinn is interested in a road trip with her. The queen of thieves and a crazy clown girl are headed out of Gotham City in a convertible. What could possibly go wrong? Well...Black Mask has just been defeated by Catwoman, and he wants revenge. As luck would have it (for him), there’s a scum lord in Gotham who is willing to pay Mask to go after her. Selina just wants out of town with a cute friend who “smells like cotton candy and girl sweat.” She’s not looking for the danger that’s clearly looking for her.
Howard has a remarkably clever sense of pacing in an issue that feels well-balanced throughout. The movement in a road trip story is important. Howard understands this quite well. The framing of the action is familiar enough to feel comfortable. She’s got a deft understanding of the distinct personality of a resourcefully clever Kyle and the impish Id of Quinn. It all comes together quite well in a story that casts the title character in a fresh perspective...on roller skates. (As the cover would suggest, Harley pushes Selina into a South Gotham roller derby team.) So much of what Howard has been doing has been a matter of contrasting her personality against everyone else who comes across her path. Choose the right contrasting personality (say...Harley Quinn), and the script becomes really interesting.
The issue opens a summer vacation sort of a feel for Selina. Even the art feels like a vacation from the rigidly and richly atmospheric depth of the past few issues of the series. Bengal’s art has a breeze intensity about it that plays to the vacation vibe of the story. The action hits the page at skewed and interesting angles as Bellaire embellishes the mood with laid-back pastels highlighted by stretches of Zipatone dot screens. Bengal plays it loose and free with the lighter end of the drama. When things get intense, the action tumbles gracefully across the page.
Howard throws in quite a few sharp, little details as swift and lightly fun as the issue is. Her treatment of Harley is clever. It’s been established that the character knows the reader is there. There’s more than one instance of her subtly brushing up against that wall in the course of a really, really enjoyable issue. There isn’t a whole lot of thematic depth to what’s going on, but it’s a fun, little journey that Howard is embarking on in Catwoman’s latest.
