Review by Ian Keogh
From the looks of the cover the bad old days of the exploitative 1990s are back, and indeed Catwoman’s wearing that costume inside the book again, while under new artist Stefano Raffaele her breasts have grown since Duchess of Gotham.
The title obviously refers to the old adage of cats having nine lives, but is seemingly being literally applied by Tini Howard, causing nine scars to appear on Catwoman’s back, which has the sniff of bolted on continuity for the sake of a story. It’s not the only narrative concern near the start, as we’re introduced to a strutting princess who kills her staff instead of firing them. It’s the sort of glib statement that reads well until given a moment’s consideration.
Having introduced the idea of nine lives, Howard then proceeds to have Catwoman deliberately take on assignments endangering those lives, and whereas previously she’d have somehow have emerged unscathed, now lives are being chalked off. Yes, there’s some wooly mysticism behind it, but it all seems very contrived until Howard eventually comes up with a more plausible reason than originally suggested, but it’s a long time coming. Beyond the idea of nine lives, Howard has Catwoman tidying up a succession of loose ends, some from her previous three volumes and some newly revealed tasks. They cover matters as diverse as returning a cat to repaying a debt to Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad.
The bulk of the art is from Carmine Di Giandomenico who’s very good, but with an anonymous efficiency avoiding Raffaele’s slightly sleazy portrayal of Catwoman over the opening chapters. Di Giandomenico’s also a very adaptable artist, convincing whether Catwoman’s undersea, out in space or battling Black Adam, and always supplies backgrounds. Ivan Shavrin is a cartoonist, and his very different looking pages in the middle of the run are an inappropriate contrast, especially when the art switches back to Di Giandomenico in the same chapter.
Due to the diversity of purpose, there’s considerable variety to the missions undertaken, but a big drawback is Howard’s new characters not being of interest allied with an inexplicable fondness for loser villains from the DC back catalogue. The Demolition Team? Really? It leads to a feeling of postponing the inevitable, but when that arrives Howard comes through. The final two chapters are a rollercoaster ride pulling all threads together well, but it’s a little too late for the volume as a whole.
Torunn Grønbekk inherits Catwoman from here, beginning with Who is Selina Kyle?
