Written by Louise Simonson
Art by Samantha Dodge
Based on the book by Sarah J. Maas
Published by DC Comics
Okay, now this is what I’ve been saying for years.
When you have a good story to tell with a character, do a graphic novel. Done in one. No need to have memorized decades of back continuity!
Everything required to know about the good guys and the bad guys is contained right here.
This isn’t the version of Catwoman I’ve known most of my life but that’s my point! Tell YOUR Catwoman story!
Make it recognizable enough that it IS Catwoman, but please, whatever you do, do NOT feel compelled to adhere to any or all the variants of the character’s nine lives that came before.
Although toplining bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, and based on her 2018 young adult novel, Catwoman: Soulstealer is actually adapted by Louise Simonson, one of the most indispensable and yet unsung women in the history of comic books. From her early roles in helping her then-husband Jeff Jones with scripts, to posing for Bernie Wrightson on that first Swamp Thing appearance cover, to editing the Warren horror/sci-fi/fantasy line of black and white mags, editing Star Wars and X-Men for Marvel as well as creating Power Pack, and then writing many of the best Superman stories of the 1990s, she’s shown she can do it all.
The basic plot here has young Selina Kyle, her disabled kid sister’s protector and champion, taken away from Gotham by the League of Assassins before she ever becomes Catwoman. She returns in a new identity a few years later after being thoroughly trained in the League’s precision killing methods, only she’s gone rogue and NOW she’s become Catwoman. She teams up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn for a series of daring robberies while at the same time purposely taunting the Bat—which in this case is Luke Fox as Batwing, Bruce Wayne being said to be out of town on a long-term mission. Turns out, though, that Selina is working all of the above toward her own ends.
The characters, as I said, are recognizable, yet new. The plot is intricate—and a tad confusing at times—but it all comes together at the climax.
The mostly grey toned art, courtesy of Samantha Dodge, is a definite highlight, even though she resorts at times to what I have referred to in the past as the creative use of color bursts and here, that usage often seems indiscriminate. A major exception to that is that Luke’s thoughts are consistently shown in blue boxes, whilst Selina’s are in lavender boxes. As the pair play cat and mouse—or cat and bat, a different type of rodent—infatuation blossoms.
Billed as another DC Young Adult novel, Catwoman: Soulstealer has some four-letter words, some explicit violence, and at least mentions of sex. Young adult graphic novels today would never have gotten past the Comics Code. A darkly fun read, though, with bad guys too complex to be just bad guys, and a good guy with issues. Not just for young adults, I think open-minded fans of any age will like this new version of Catwoman and her friends and foes.
Booksteve recommends.
