Catwoman #76 // Review
He asks her how she feels. She says that it feels like she’s been dead for 27 hours and she doesn’t mind telling him as much. She asked and he came for her. He told her he always would and he did. She’s got a lot more to have to deal with, though, in Catwoman #76. Writer Torunn Gronbekk continues a story that is brought to page and panel by Patricio Delpeche. And though the crime thriller story is pretty interesting, it’s not exaclt engaging the unique personality of Catwoman in a way that feels like a particularly close walk with her, so it falls a bit flat.
She wasn’t ready for him when she was waking-up. She was stll suffering from the kid of disorientation that was going to make it difficult for her to do much of anything at all that wasn’t reflex. So as he came-by to see how she was doing, she instinctively grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby table and slashed at him...only to fund a sudden pain in her stomach that let her know that she was still recovering from injuries. She asks him why he’s still willing to help her out after all these years. He tells her that honesty will only annoy her and she DOES still have his scissors so...y’know...there’s still some danger.
Gronbekk hands are very sharp understanding of the basic elements of crime fiction. This sort of international flavor of it really works very well in her hands. However, this isn't necessarily a story that really feels like it's engaging the Catwoman aspect of the title character all that well. She's not in her home of Gotham City and she doesn’t NEED to be, but there needs to be a little bit more to tie the story into her specific personality and abilities. And the author isn't really allowing her that.
Delpeche does a really good job with overall action. And there's a lot of really dramatic angles that seem to work quite well on the page. The overall flow of action across the page and the intensity of the dramas feel really well realized. However, so much of the detail seems lost in the gloopiness of the darkness of the shadow and that sort of thing. Doesn't really feel as vivid as it could. That's really too bad. Because, the overall of it is presented on page could have more impact if the detail was just a little bit more tight.
It's not like this sort of story isn't interesting. It's just not terribly interesting as a Catwoman story. She's a really fascinating character and in order to really do her justice you need to be able to have a balance between the criminal aspect of the character and her nearly supernatural temperament and capabilities. Gronbekk occasionally allows her a moment of extreme cleverness here or there, but it’s not nearly enough to be able to make it feel like a fully satisfying Catwoman story.
