Catwoman #35 // Review
Selina has to say goodbye to her sister. She can’t protect her anymore. And judging from the state of things in Alleytown, she’s not doing a terribly good job protecting anyone else either. She’s upset, though. She’s not cornered. She’s in Alleytown. Writer Ram V enters another chapter in the life of a thief in Catwoman #35. Artist Nina Vakueva beings the darkness to the page with the aid of some beautiful work by colorist Jordie Bellaire. As a piece of a larger storyline, the issue in question might actually be pretty good. As an individual chapter in the life of Selina Kyle? It feels too much like a victim of old echoes from the character’s past to feel like anything new.
Catwoman sees her sister off on a boat. She’ll probably be fine. The armored blue agents of peace assert their will over the oppressed living in Gotham City’s Alleytown. They’re after Catwoman. Sinister forces align around the edges of Kyle’s life. She’s going to have to take on everything face-to-face if she’s going to be able to survive. That’s going to involve running right into the mess of it all and offering herself up as a target.
“Loving you is like loving the sun, Selina. Most of us can’t get close without burning up.” Ugh. Ram V has done MUCH better writing than this, and he’s done it recently. So much of the narration in this issue is really, really bad, though. Thankfully, Selina is at least bothering to show up a little bit in this issue, though Ram V aims page-and-panel much more closely at the surrounding panorama of the Fear State crossover that this issue is a part of. Oracle is telling everyone that Catwoman’s boyfriend is dead. There are sinister-looking storm troopers asserting themselves across Alleytown as Scarecrow continues to blanket the city with fear.
Vakueva does an outstanding job with the action...everything slides across the page beautifully when action is called for. Moodier emotion is more of the domain of color than form. Ram V isn’t giving Kyle a whole lot to do in the more reflective moments. Vakueva dutifully puts those moments on the page as Kyle hunches over the hellscape that is Alleytown. Bellaire does the rest...and she does it so very, very well. She’s painting the panels in the blood-red skies of strife and the gentle-muted purples of a tense evening on the edge of the action.
One gets the impression that Ram V might have been able to do a bit more outside the oppressive weight of a massive crossover event that’s come to infect all of the titles lorded over by Catwoman’s boyfriend. She really should be a bit more oriented towards the center of her own title. Still, editorial concerns are always going to draw everything into the massive orbit of a planned crossover event. If Ram V had just a bit more control, maybe even the narration would be a little better and not, ”...getting too close without burning up...” Ugh.
