By Will Pfeifer, David Lopez & Alvaro Lopez
(DC Comics)Â ISBN 1-84576-426-9
After the never-ending calamity of the DC Infinite Crisis event of 2005-2006, the company re-set the time line of all their publications to begin one year later. This enabled them to refit their characters as they saw fit, provide a jumping on point for new converts, and also give themselves some narrative wiggle-room. Now read on…
Gotham City is a much changed place one year later. Batman and crew have been absent, crime seems down and Catwoman has also changed. Depending on your point of view, she’s either a completely different person or a single mum just trying to get by as best she can.
It transpires that for the last twelve months Selina Kyle has been living under an assumed identity while she brings to term, and gives birth to, a bonny baby girl. The father remains, for us, unknown, but plenty of likely prospects are presented in the course of events, from Batman and Slam Bradley on down. Wisely, the creators are keeping this one a secret for a while longer.
Of more relevance is the fact that Selina has asked her old sidekick Holly to take over as masked protector of her beloved East End of Gotham City. Despite help and training from a number of veteran crime-fighters such as Wildcat, she’s not quite up the job yet. Selina’s old enemy Angle Man wants revenge, and teams with the truly demented late night TV pundit Film Freak to exact it. Initially, he’s as unaware as the police (who still want ‘Catwoman’ for the murder of crime boss Black Mask) that somebody else is wearing the leather and wielding the whip these days.
It might sound confusing, but this is actually a sharp little revenge-mystery with plenty of spills and chills, full of tense moments and well observed comedy breaks. Obviously there’s a point at which the ‘real’ Catwoman takes over, but the inevitable is well leavened by the ingenious, and even old know-it-alls will acknowledge that this is a plot that’s been tweaked by masters. The Replacements (which collects Catwoman issues #53-58) is good storytelling, and I certainly look forward to the next volume.
© 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.