Review: Catwoman #12

“Untitled”

Writer: Joëlle Jones
Artists: Fernando Blanco and Hugo Petrus
Color Artist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Saida Temofonte

Review by Adam Ray

The myth around the strange artifact grows to new proportions. Catwoman #12 continues the high speed chase that this entire arc has been based on. The tone going forward leads towards a theme few would expect. I trust Joëlle Jones to be able to handle this “other side” of the DC universe. This issue is her showing how well she can handle two different layers of story – something a lot more ambitious than most other titles out there right now.

It could feel a little disconcerting jumping from story to story in one issue, “You can’t ride two horses with one butt”, to paraphrase my mother. Jones is able to give us the deliberate and methodical story of Catwoman in her thievery element, whilst also delivering the thrills of a high speed chase, without a single word of dialogue. The bold pacing throughout this issue confounds our expectations. It draws us into the story the same way they do in Hollywood. So many other titles play it along the edge, but this recent run has been able to switch channels masterfully.

It’s important to note that the art helps immensely. Each shot mirrors the tone of the script perfectly. The Intense chase at the beginning of the issue give us the sharp cuts, strange angles, and shaky-cam of today’s action movies, all done with clipped, perfectly managed panels. While the slower, storytelling moments roll through each other.

Conclusion

This may not be the ground breaking, pioneering of the comics medium that we got in the late 80s, I don’t think anything could be, but Catwoman #12 is what comics these days should be. Brave enough to tell its own story, but with respect to the ongoing arc. High stakes action alongside deep prose narrative. This is masterful stuff right here.

Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment

(This review originally appeared on the Dark Knight News website on June 13th 2019)