The Power Of A Wig Or Two: Reviewing ‘Catwoman’ #70

With the streets of Gotham far behind, Selina Kyle digs into her past and a mysterious plot against her life. Sounds like something right up the alley of a master thief cat burglar living within the world of vigilantism.

More of the pieces of the puzzle are revealed in Catwoman #70 as Torunn Grønbekk, Fabiana Mascolo, Patricio Delpeche, and Steve Wands continue their new run.

Despite the mention of how Catwoman dabbles in the vigilante stuff, what with her being part of the Bat-Family (like an extended cousin at times), she works best on her own in an overall storytelling sense. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy stories with her bouncing off the Bat-family (there are some great stories there), but there is just something better about her in the middle of some real noir stuff without the net of Batman and company.

It’s one of the things I really enjoyed about the beginning of the previous run and the entirety of the run before that. Grønbekk picks up on all that and runs with it here.

All the stuff with the contract being put out, following the process that the contracts are picked up, and the inner workings of those coming for Selina was intriguing. While this character naturally predates the whole concept, and I hate comparing two things from separate media, I couldn’t help but get some real John Wick–style energy here. It just scratches a similar itch– this shady world and the more ‘heroic’ character mired in it that we follow.

There is a great balance between the actual dialogue and artwork, and how much the narration captions are telling us. It can be easy to want to allow the captions or dialogue to do too much work, just overwhelming the pages in a very verbose way. Together, Grønbekk and Wands balance this quite well, giving just enough words and then placing them on the pages in the best flowing precise way possible. All the noir and street level energy is clear and loud in how the words are presented.

These things build up the intrigue, danger, and mystery with every single letter that hits the page.

Similarly, the way that Mascolo lays out the panels is just spot on in doing the same sort of work, shifting up our point-of-view, keeping things in tightly at times while also extending them out, and just giving the spaces and characters a weightier feeling. Breathing life into the space in a way that feels both smooth and a tiny bit rough, with just enough sharp edges to the whole affair.

As noted in the previous issue review, there is a sort of beautiful simplicity mixed with depth that Mascolo has mastered. She’s able to pick up on whatever energy the present story might need and reflect it back ten-fold. Perfect for this heavy and darker type of noir story realms.

Darkness is key and plays a big role in the color palette that Delpeche brings into play. Plenty of really light, almost toned down, colors fill the space to bring the right lighting or livelier feeling to various spaces. The shadows and darker tones bring it all home, helping extend that depth and weight. At the same time, there are flashes of more vibrant, out there colors, used to play into the more fantastical aspect of this world that Selina dabbles within. Noir, but also a story still set in the world of supers and flashy costumed folks.

Catwoman #70 is now available from DC Comics.