Batman Catwoman #2 is published by DC Comics under the Black Label imprint, written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann, colors by Tomeu Morey, and letters by Clayton Cowles. With the Phantasm on the hunt, it seems to be an exceptionally bad day to be one of the Joker’s henchmen. With the bodies piling up, Batman and Catwoman are struggling to catch up. While in the future, Selina’s reunion with the Joker continues.
With issue one behind us, we can talk about the future aspects of this book, which sees an elderly Selina visiting a retired Joker at his home in Florida. This quiet, living out of the autumn of his years seems particularly strange to me. While I certainly can’t blame King for trying something new, the fact that the man made so famous for being as far from normal as one can get being the average retiree just doesn’t jive quite right. He even mentions he has grandchildren he regularly interacts with.
The only thing about this sequence that really seems to make sense is Selina’s purpose there. Namely, to kill the Joker now that Bruce has passed. How King writes this future Selina feels much more spot-on in a lot of ways. And as this interaction continues into Batman Catwoman #2, the scene, hard-to-believe setup aside, does flow with a good sense of pacing and character delivery.
While Selina and Joker’s reunion continues unabated in the future, in the present, Andrea, having donned the Mask of the Phantasm, is quickly racking up an impressive kill count. As she systematically targets former henchmen of the Joker, her vendetta seems perfectly clear. Even with this clarity of purpose, however; our dynamic duo seems to be stuck one step behind Andrea. With so many minions across Gotham, though one would think the number of people willing to work for the Joker would be smaller than it apparently is, pinpointing precisely where a corpse will turn up could be a tough riddle to crack.
And while Batman is singularly focused on stopping the killings, Selina’s purpose seems to be a bit more split. As she attempts to play a more complicated game, how well she can manage the steps remains to be seen. So far, Selina is the highlight of this story, as King’s writing does a good job of delivering the cool and street-savvy cat burglar with a great sense of nuance.
The art of Batman Catwoman #2 delivers its narrative well. It opens extremely strong with a gorgeous full-page reveal of the Phantasm and really doesn’t look back from there. Mann’s portrayal of both past and future, of sheer terror, and subtle interaction deliver everything the story asks.
The color work here matches the versatility of the art. The story times its transfers between times and places well and the colors take full advantage of these switches to highlight contrasting palettes, keeping the scenes feeling strikingly different in visual presentation from each other.
Lastly, we have the lettering. Cowles’s work with the lettering here does a great job of delivering the story to the reader. It flows smoothly, allowing the narrative to be uninterrupted by any confusion in dialogue placement.
When all is said and done, Batman Catwoman #2 delivers a solid continuation of its storyline. Things are happening in the book at a greater speed than I expected, and hopefully, they will come together to pay off in the end.
Batman Catwoman #2 is available January 19th wherever comics are sold.
TL;DR
When all is said and done, Batman Catwoman #2 delivers a solid continuation of its storyline. Things are happening in the book at a greater speed than I expected, and hopefully, they will come together to pay off in the end.
