Review by Sabrina TVBand

In the eyes of many comic fans, “Catwoman worth reading” begins with Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke’s 2002 reboot of the character. The preceding Catwoman material, illustrated predominantly by Jim Balent, is dismissed as little more than DC’s take on the 1990s “bad girl” comic movement, yet Balent’s run should challenge the perception that Catwoman before Brubaker was inessential. Unfortunately, not necessarily the material contained in this specific volume.

It contains almost all of Jo Duffy’s run as writer of Catwoman. Duffy disposes of a previously introduced supporting character, relocates Catwoman to a skyscraper apartment, gives her a new supporting cast and starts spinning a serialised narrative.

Unfortunately Duffy makes a lot of misguided creative decisions, not least having Catwoman surprisingly bad at stealing things. Worse, her Catwoman is a “thief with a heart of gold” who doesn’t feel self-interested enough. This is taken to an almost parodic extreme when Catwoman does some work for a group of environmentalists . . . for free.

Duffy’s better material includes a two-parter in which Catwoman faces off against a woman named Zephyr, which feels like closest to what Duffy wanted from her run: telling a solid story featuring a new villain while also being immersed in Catwoman’s status quo.

Part of the reason Duffy rarely reaches this level is that the serialised Catwoman comics collected here were released during a period when the Batman line was highly interwoven. Stories would start in one series and conclude in another. This book exclusively collects the Catwoman portions of these mutli-parters, with mixed results. Two are not included in full here, and even stories not tying-in to other events still take time to gesture towards what was happening in Batman.

Balent’s pencils are what gives much of this volume life. There are giveaways that Balent was a 1990s comic artist, not least Catwoman’s breasts going up a few sizes under Balent’s pencil, but Balent demonstrates far more foundational skill and ability than many of his peers. He doesn’t skimp on backgrounds, showing ability depicting both ritzy skyscrapers and seedy Gotham streets.

A special nod must be given to colourist Buzz Setzer, who gives the ongoing series a unique visual identity. He colours Gotham in shades of purple, green, grey, and amber. Setzer is the secret sauce of 1990s Catwoman.

In the hands of Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon the quality of Catwoman would improve as seen in Book Two. This opening volume avoids being painful to read, but it’s nothing special either. It’s not unusual for an ongoing series to take some time to find its footing, and Catwoman was no exception.

It’s worth noting that this specific reprint line was discontinued with its second volume. The contents of both volumes have been collected in the DC Finest: Catwoman volumes Life Lines and Vengeance and Vindication. The Life Lines volume also contains all late 1980s Catwoman material preceding this ongoing series.