REVIEW: ‘Catwoman,’ Issue #10

Catwoman #10 is published by DC Comics, written by Joelle Jones, with art by Fernando Blanco, John Kalisz on colors and Saida Temofonte on letters. This is an issue that tosses back in forth in the scale of time, seemingly going from now and working its way back. It also is narrated by Carlos, a well-connected kid and ally to Selina Kyle while she is staying in the city of Villa Hermosa.

Carlos sets up just how the dealings of Selina, himself, and his friend James Thien, an infamous art forger, all goes haywire by working backward.He begins with Catwoman’s confrontation with the Penguin, and it seems to be at least the second conflict with the bird-loving villain from Gotham. Catwoman is after him with Carlos hiding away in Penguin’s vehicle. Then the clock goes back to how it all started.

The book focuses on a lot of moments in the past including Selina trying to care for her sister and facing hardship doing while doing so and recruiting Carlos into her scheme. The scene with Selina trying to play nurse to her sister, Magdalena, is heartfelt, and shows the difficulty of lending a loving hand to someone suffering a serious disability. Carlos then takes her across Villa Hermosa to meet James Thien.

I admit to three things: being a big Catwoman fan, hating the wedding in Batman #50, and loving the new Catwoman series, especially what Joelle Jones has brought to the table with Villa Hermosa and Selina’s supporting cast. However, I wasn’t as fond of this issue. This is the first one so far I had a problem with.

The story and conflict with Penguin are great, as is new character James Thien. I also like getting the tale from Carlos’s perspective but the backward, not so backward time skips made the story a little jumbled. The execution made me reread the book two more times to get when things were happening.

But none of that took away from the artwork. Fernando Blanco draws in a similar vein to what Joelle Jones offered in earlier issues, but he puts a grittier, sandpaper, film noirish sketch to his renderings. The browns and blacks and moody tones provided by John Kalisz give the city a dirty appeal while hyping the glamour during the auction scene. Magdalena’s song is encased in an eerie word bubble reminiscent of horror comics, so thank you to Saida Temofonte for adding that touch in the lettering, because it gave a troubling scene a touch of terror.

Overall, Catwoman #10 moved the story along and gives readers what you want from Selina Kyle. Theft, style, grimy streets, criminality, and action. I felt like the execution of it could have been more streamlined, but it doesn’t degrade the book as a whole. I’m curious to see how the war against Penguin ends up. I love this comic, as it’s one of the rare times I root for cats. Whether or not you are a fan of the Bat Family of titles, Catwoman is money well spent.

Catwoman #10 is available now at comic book stores everywhere.