Book four of Catwoman: Lonely City dropped last week. It’s a title that’s been on my pull list since early this year, and the fourth and final book was finally released. I’m the guy that doesn’t trade wait-nor do I buy single comics and read them. I meet in the middle, and buy individual copies saving them to read once everything is on shelves. So, I was pretty excited to sit down and read Cliff Chiang’s take on an older Selina Kyle all at once.
Cliff Chiang-most notable for Paper Girls which got at least one season on Amazon Prime-is a one man show here, and is delivering on all fronts. He’s the writer, artist, letterer and colorist. This is very much his book. Which I admire. It’s the way I’d like to work if given the opportunity to work on a book. The art is great, the colors are beautiful, and I haven’t even told you about the story yet.
Selina Kyle is finally getting released from a 10 year stint in prison. Put there during an event dubbed “Fool’s Night” where the Joker unleashed an epic scheme to cause absolute havoc. Fool’s Night went down in Gotham history as being the night that Batman as well as Robin, Commissioner Gordon and the Joker himself died. Catwoman-blamed for Batman’s death-went to prison. Now she’s out. She’s older and wiser…and broke. But why does she care? She’s a burglar right? She can just take what she wants. But that was the old Gotham. Gotham itself has changed as well.
Batman and Batman adjacent books tend to talk a lot about Gotham City. I mean, these people really love it there. The comics always treat Gotham as some other character. Silent, brooding, grim and dirty, yet everybody thinks he’s great. Every time the comics dive into the politics of Gotham city I get bored. But, in Lonely City, not so much. Gotham’s cleaned up, and things are looking better! Thanks entirely to the Mayor-Harvey Dent, a.k.a. Two Face-who, wouldn’t ya’ know it? is up for re-election. Of course not everything that glitters is gold and that goes for Gotham as well.
Without spoiling anything, what unfolds throughout the book is Chiang’s take on the old One Last Heist trope. At the heart of everything is a mystery that lies hidden inside the bat cave. Catwoman’s unrelenting curiosity to finding out what that is. Fighting against a city that sees her as a murderer-and a city government that uses lethal protection at all costs, the stakes are high.
The treat here is that we see what some favorite Batman villains are doing with their retirement. And how Cliff Chiang can really write a story. Using flashbacks to build characters and tell the story of what really happened during Fool’s Night in juxtaposition to what people think. As well as getting lost in a fictional one off Batman story without having to know years of comics history in order to enjoy it. The trick is that book four ends this story and it’s so hard to find other comics that do things quite as well as Cliff Chiang has done here.
Catwoman Lonely City is available now in local comic shops everywhere. The collected volume will come out this December.
Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event!
On November 19th and 20th Fanboys Marketplace is hosting a Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event. VIP passes and photo tickets are available now for purchase ahead of time. Click the link here, and we’ll see you in November!
