There’s a roller derby in South Gotham. Selina is late for the match. She’s supposed to be the all-important jammer for the South Gotham Sirens. She’s being detained in the locker room by a towering woman who has her in a rough spot that’s only going to get rougher in Catwoman #44. Writer Tini Howard continues Catwoman’s enjoyably-paced journey with Harley Quinn. Artist Bengal Amari delivers drama, action, and plenty of immersive atmosphere with the aid of colorist Jordie Bellaire. Howard and company pull Catwoman out of her comfort zone and into an appealing juxtaposition between master thief and something new.

Red Claw has been hired to kill Catwoman. Catwoman is on vacation with Harley Quinn. It’s going to be a frustrating encounter for everyone involved, and a lot of people are going to be in the line of fire. Selina knows that Red Claw doesn’t care how many people she has to take down to kill her. So she’s going to have a hell of a time evacuating the roller derby in time to get everyone to safety. If she can do that, there’s still the small matter of a dangerous pursuit along the highway outside of Gotham City. 

Howard cleverly directs the flow of action and drama in an issue that has a genuinely impressive curve coming in the final pages. Catwoman could simply stop Red Claw, but there’s a lot to consider as there’s a price on her head. The complexity of the dramatic dynamic between Harley and Catwoman and Red Claw is surprisingly intricate and sophisticated for an issue that features quite as much action as Catwoman #44. There’s quite a lot of deep emotional development going on in the middle of all the violence that also manages to make a kind of a tight political statement at the same time. Tini Howard has everything brilliantly balanced. 

Bengal Amari gives nearly every character in the story some kind of appealing glow. Even the villain mastermind who is trying to kill Catwoman has kind of an appealing presence on the page. Bengal’s supple sense of kinetics and motion serve the issue well, whether the action is shooting around on roller skates in South Gotham or rocketing along the highway under the power of a few different engines. Bellaire splashes the action with deeply visceral splashes of color. Bellaire has a fluid grasp of what works in a visual world that doesn’t include a great deal of background. It’s beautiful stuff.

After all of the cramped clutter of the large ensemble that appeared in Catwoman prior to the appearance of Harley, Tini Howard’s latest arc with Selina feels a lot like a fast-paced summer vacation. Bengal’s wide sweeps of action hit the page with Bellaire’s bright, beautiful colors. The fact that there happens to be a hell of a lot of depth beneath it all is quite impressive given the fact that Howard and company have delivered a story with the pulse and humor of an action-adventure comic.

Grade: A