Catwoman 38: “The Serpent”

In which things get noir as hell.

In the wake of Events in the last issue, Selina truly has descended, and this issue is her setting up a Hail Mary pass to do the right thing, about anything, and hoping she can remember the reasons she took on the job to begin with. Plus, we begin to realize she’s up against more than just Black Mask.

Here are the covers! Dig the sinister almost-alive cape on Batman in Jae Lee’s, and the adorable retro cover by Ty Templeton, in which Flash is preventing Catwoman from raining hurt on Robin (which seems rude, but maybe Robin was being horrible! It happened!).

This issue also saw some action, since in the last issue the only action was a single gunshot and the only wrestling was with feelings, and we were kind of overdue for a huge fight! Batman comes to stop the deal, only to run into Selina, who’s trying to stop the deal, and Catwoman, who’s…well.

The composition and colors in this panel could not make me any happier; when this issue goes noir it really commits, and when it goes Full Comics I just love it more.

There’s a lot of setup going on in the background of these issues, and I’m so excited to be heading toward the end of this arc, where some of the hints will pay off and Selina will face new enemies, and some more historical quotes. This month’s quote is back to Elizabeth, taken from a letter she wrote to James about the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots after her treason was discovered. One of the things I didn’t expect to be doing when I signed on for Catwoman is spending so much time looking into powerful women of the past and understanding all over again just how much of their contributions have been ignored or destroyed; how many times the stories of men have simply erased them. The final issue references Cleopatra, and I chose Plutarch for my quotations, which means that the closing moments of this arc are veritably awash in irony, because good lord, if you want to start a fire, throw Cleopatra’s name into the room.

As always, it’s a pleasure to be writing Selina Kyle; I hope to continue, for however a little while, just to see where she goes.

(The issue just came out, so reviews are still coming in, but if you’re curious or just want to read slightly spoilery but thoughtful reviews, you can head to Emma Houxbois at Rainbow Hub.)