Immortality, It’s Yours For The Taking!: Reviewing ‘Catwoman’ #58

The war between the Bat and the Cat intensifies as the penultimate chapter of their heartbreaking event brings new threats. Will they walk away with any semblance of their love intact, or is this the end of one of the most storied romances?

Find out that and far more in Catwoman #58, a story by Tini Howard, Nico Leon, Veronica Gandini, and Tom Gattoni.

Comics love to tell stories that put characters in emotional or philosophical divides. Pulling all those dramatic strings, seeing how the characters dance. The problem is, they also never tire of pulling back the curtain to derail it all with some actual big bad reveal. No surprise that this event is no different than many others who tread this same ground well before.

Yes, Vandal Savage is trying to gain items to stay immortal and is pulling villain strings and a bunch of other stuff that pretty much just washes away the Bat/Cat war stuff. Doesn’t help how disjointed all that stuff was at the same time.

Disjointed how, you ask? Basically, in how Batman is presented. Over in his book he’s battling his mental self and doing horrific monstrous things, showing how broken he is. The tone is cold logic and far more unforgivable. Over here he’s much more pitiable and while his actions are monstrous, they feel ‘forgivable’ by how others react.

You could say maybe it’s based on the point of view of the title character. Their emotions are different, and their views of Batman’s actions are different. Could also be that the two writers have styles that are hard to mesh together. Most likely it could be the fact that they are trying to stuff twenty pounds of content into a two-pound bag and it’s showing.

I’ve been covering this series for years. Both during and before Howard took over as writer. Glancing at any of the reviews will show that I’m very in favor of the series and find it quite a delight. Sadly, this issue breaks that streak.

Howard still handles the characters well, continues to build her own plots and characters out, and other solid moves. How it derails the overall debate and basically washes away Batman’s actions somewhat because they all must fight Vandal just feels off. What also feels off is Scandal Savage, who has been hiding amongst Selina’s crew for months.

It’s been a long while since the character was running around regularly at DC, so things change. Yet, her being so in on her father’s plans and craving that immortality doesn’t feel right at all.

As the tensions ramp up, the artwork continues to bring solid life and dynamic energy to everything. Leon just seems to really capture the space, emotion, and how the characters move so well. Choosing panel styles and page layouts that maximize that feeling of true movement.

Even as I stare at Batman in disgust, I still feel some pity and sympathy because of the raw emotion that Leon pours onto the page. These are two characters with a complicated relationship, yet the love is still clear. They all care about one another and Gotham, even if one of them has made truly awful choices.

A slickness runs through the work that is complimented by Gandini’s color choices. Gotham is a city that on the surface is very gray and monotone yet is also so very unique and colorful. We get that here as the city is dark, shadowy, and a character on its own with everything mostly being sort of mid-level tones. Allowing some of the bigger bits, and settings, to ramp things up into far more vibrant tones. It keeps the book grounded yet fun at the same time.

Emotions and moments range from personal quiet ones to far louder dire ones. All the artwork cycles through these moments, including the lettering. Gattoni always nails these things by making sure we feel every beat in the words. Crystalizing the voices we’re creating in our heads, dropping font shifts into play which shoot the perceived volume up or down. Dropping colorful bits and pieces into dialogue, or even incorporating SFX-style elements right into the bubbles themselves as well as the scenes.

Catwoman #58 is now available from DC Comics.