‘Catwoman Annual #1’ (review)

Written by Joelle Jone
Illustrated by Elena Casagrande,
Hugh Petrus and Scott Godlewski
Published by DC Comics

The regular Catwoman series has been pretty okay thus far. There have been some decent stories and some that weren’t so hot. That being said, this annual was a whole lot better than I thought it was going to be.  It may be because it’s a self contained story unto itself, and it’s one that really does work well.

In the beginning of the story, there are seemingly random acts of violence happening. People are being killed, and they are being made up to look like that they have committed suicide.

We see people getting interviewed on camera. And one of the people interviewed is none other than Selina Kyle herself.

So, we get to see a flashback of how Selina comes to take part in the story. We get to see Selina basically meet a bunch of girls and train them to be criminals.

It’s a bunch of fun and there are some definite enjoyable moments. Selina even calls the whole endeavor a kind of “vocational school” with the girls which made me laugh out loud.

We get to see the girls eventually be led by Selina to go do some criminal acts. It all seems rather kooky at first.

Then, the girls encounter a guy named “Morty” and that is when some of the ladies start getting killed. The tone of the book changes and the transition are really handled well.

Jones has written a story about consequences and it may be some of her strongest work to date. The writing is a little straightforward, but  Jones does have a twist that really is powerful. It leads to Catwoman fighting Morty and it also leads to a rather  twisty ending. It’s all very exciting and well handled.

Jones really knows how to write for other artists. She does a great job making the art by the three artists here seamless into the story she is telling. This is a good annual and a good self contained story that has impact. Well done.

RATING: B+