Review by Ian Keogh

Since returning to Gotham, Catwoman has been attempting to control the excesses of the city’s four criminal families through coercion and manipulation. It was working nicely until she was caught and jailed at the end of Cat International. It’s led to the unpredicted scenario of one of those bosses, Eiko, acting as Catwoman while Selina Kyle is in jail, and jail is where Tini Howard opens this collection, and indeed spends a fair portion of it.

Howard’s jail sections are instructional, used to provide an insight into Selina’s character, as for her it’s just another set of problems to be overcome, only with greater restrictions on her movement. An enjoyable couple of chapters drawn by Sami Basri sees Selina establish who’s the top cat among the felons, and then Howard’s bigger plan kicks into action. You’ll think it’s going to be a standard jailbreak plot, but it’s more complicated than that.

Nico Leon draws more pages than anyone else (sample art), but it’s still only half the book, and there’s a distinct change to his art, which is now brighter with the people more stylised. While the colouring of Veronica Gandini is fine, it doesn’t make Leon’s art sparkle the way Jordie Bellaire’s did. Basri is also very good, tending to focus more on the people than the action. Marcus To and Marco Santucci share the art on the final chapter, and while fewer artists on a continued six chapter story would be preferable, neither is so far from divorced from the previous art to impair the continuity, and they bring the story home in style.

All Howard’s Catwoman has an emotional undercurrent, but it’s stronger here with three characters having to come to terms with what they are and what their future will be. One of them is Dario, whose progress throughout has been an unexpected delight from a not greatly promising start.

What Selina arranges here will be put to the test in the next volume, and you’ll want to be around for it.