Catwoman #2 Review

Writer/Artist: Joelle Jones

Colourist: Laura Allred

Letterer: Josh Reed

Joelle Jones impressed me with her Batman run and I was excited by what we were given in the first issue of this new series. An upcoming solicitation makes it known that she won’t exactly be able to draw the whole series, which is understandable given the fact that both writing and drawing a monthly title is an exhausting experience, no matter which side of the fence a creator finds themselves on. With this, I found myself paying more attention to the quality of the writing itself rather than the whole package.

I do think that this book is in great hands despite the artist. While Batman may be going through his own personal hell in his own book, there IS another side to this after all. Selina felt like she HAD to leave Batman, and that’s clearly taking an emotional toll on her. Jones approaches this inner turmoil visually as I expected and it’s simple and well done. I love Jones’ linework and Laura Allred’s colours really provide a different flavour than Jordie Bellaire’s did in Batman. Bellaire’s work was mostly warm while Allred’s work is more colourful but more flat, which reflects in the story.

I like the overall plot that Jones is building. While there is some political intrigue, it doesn’t feel invasive enough to be annoying and there’s a solid mystery with some weird freak of nature woman behind it. The mystery of the dozen women dressed as Catwoman seems to be connected to this, as evidenced by the absolutely gorgeous cover for this issue.

In terms of flaws, there are a couple. While the action is exciting, I had a hard time distinguishing between the various Catwomen at certain points. While the differences are sometimes made obvious by the exposed underarms of her new suit, most of the time they weren’t in view and I had to do some double takes and going back to other pages to judge what was going on.

Jones and Allred continue to impress. The story is slowly building and Jones shines a bit more light on Selina’s perspective on the wedding. The art and colouring are excellent and, for me, are enough to check this book out.