Warning: Spoilers for Catwoman #70!Catwoman He has played with many alter egos over the years. From Gotham’s rogue to Batman’s love interest, from antihero to cat goddess Bast’s avatar, Catwoman is a mutable and difficult-to-define figure. But deep down, Selina Kyle is a thief through and through, and the new Catwoman the creative team is finally returning it to those roots, with no superpowers, no Batman – and nothing but a good, heartwarming story.
In Catwoman #70 by Torunn Grønbekk, Fabiana Mascolo, Patricio Delpeche and Steve Wands, Catwoman – one of Batman’s best villains – is returning to her criminal ways when dealing with assassins and clandestine organizations outside of Batman. She’s surrounded by a cast of human characters without superpowers, and she depends on your own criminal skills to survive.
With beats like her disguising herself, showing off her acrobatic skills, as well as solving a harrowing mystery, after just two problems, this run feels like a genuinely essential Catwoman story.
Catwoman begins a new era for DC that takes it back to its roots
Catwoman #70 Main Cover by Sebastián Fiumara
1940s Batman #1 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane saw the debut of Catwoman, then called “the Cat,” and she was just a jewel thief. Luckily, Catwoman is finally out of Gotham and is sporting a new costume in a story where she’s been framed for a murder – that is, one of her alter egos. Grønbekk and Mascolo’s Selina Kyle is a far cry from the cosmic crime boss adventure she had recently, before the “soft” relaunch that arrived as part of the larger DC All In initiative. Comparatively, this new Catwoman run is a genre shift to a slow-paced thrillerwhich is much more suited to Catwoman’s style.
Selina Kyle is a master of disguise – and by solving the mystery of her own setup, she may end up being as good a detective as Batman himself.
It’s also important to note that Catwoman shines alone in this new story. Without Gotham and without Batman, Catwoman can truly be herself, whoever she is, and as a thief, she works best in this obscurity. In this edition, his experience with infiltration is finally exposed in addition to his usual bank robbery plans. She’s one of the Bat-Family’s best fighters, but more importantly, Selina Kyle is a master of disguise – and by solving the mystery of her own setup, she may end up being as good a detective as Batman himself.
Catwoman is finding her feet outside of Batman thanks to a new creative team
Catwoman #70 variant cover by W. Scott Forbes
The best thing about this new story arc is that Catwoman no longer has superpowers, which was a fantastic change from her thief character. As DC continues to become more fantastical, it looks like Selina Kyle is sticking to her core principles of theft and criminal associations. This creative team’s new journey is much more practical, with ingenious action sequences and an emerging mystery to be solved.
This story is Catwoman at her best. She doesn’t belong in the fantasy world of Batman, but in a slow-burn crime thriller. From its origin in Batman #1, she was a criminal, and Selina Kyle was always destined to return to this underworld. She belongs on this side of the fence, at odds with the vigilantes and far from any superhero antics. Catwomanlike her namesake, she is elusive as a character, and this run shows her at her best – with all her alter egos on display.
Catwoman #70 is now available from DC Comics!