Extra Lives Without Purpose: Reviewing ‘Catwoman’ #60

Imagine what life would be like if things were more like a video game, chiefly the part with extra lives. Plenty of little hearts that let you try and try again, before reaching the end of all things. Selina Kyle doesn’t have to wonder anymore, living the mythical nine lives of a cat.

With a few lives down, the cat burglar is ready for her next dangerous mission in Catwoman #60 by Tini Howard, Stefano Raffaele, Veronica Gandini, and Lucas Gattoni.

Events are a mixed bag in comics, both in their concept and execution. Another way they can be mixed is in how they affect any title going forward that was touched by said event. Catwoman was right in the middle of the Gotham War event since it was a Batman and Catwoman-focused story. It was an entirely uneven event, and unfortunately what was a solid title before the event is now just as uneven.

Character beats were a large part of this series previously, as Howard carried on and built upon energy the series has embodied for years. Plenty of eccentric and diverse supporting cast members to bounce off of along the way. All of that was left behind with this new plot, leaving Selina on her own doing more and dangerous stuff only thinking about these missions and how many lives are dwindling.

I hate having to say this about this book in particular, but I was extremely bored. An underground death/fight theater and a face-eating thief should be interesting, but I just can’t muster up the care. Various lines were repeated as Selina’s captions kept returning to mentions of her dwindling lives and how dangerous her missions will be. That panel showing off the diminishing lives on the tattoos on Selina’s back from the previous issue is recycled multiple times.

Beyond that artistically the issue is fine. Raffaele has a good eye for composition and allows the characters to move and exist, with plenty of kinetic energy. There is a bit of roughness inherent in every panel, befitting the story tone. Most of the spaces where the story takes place are pretty basic so there isn’t a ton of room for more unique comic book-style energy. That’s fine, as there is weight and presence to all things despite that.

A normal cityscape means plenty of very toned-down natural colors from Gandini. Some of the more out-there elements in the theatre and city allow for pops of color, Selina being back in the 90s purple costume helps with this. Plenty of shadows are mixed in to create some depth and add to that roughness mentioned in Raffaele’s artwork. I like the choices for the flashbacks to drain them of most color, giving them that old film or memory sort of feeling.

While the supporting cast and most of the character development is missing, we feel some of that energy in the lettering. Gattoni infuses each caption box and dialogue bubble with plenty of all that. There are some fun font additions on the page, like the echoing sounds from the underground theater (before we see it) drifting across the page with layered mirrored backdrops.

Catwoman #60 is now available from DC Comics.