Gangsters is using Poison Ivy to make drugs somehow - Catwoman to the rescue! Meanwhile, her rule of Alleytown has made her a target and two new assassins are after her: Wight Witch, who has a honeycomb mask for no reason, and Valley, a steampunk dude whose name is in the title.
Ram V takes over from Joelle Jones as the new main Catwoman writer but isn’t much better unfortunately. The Ivy storyline is only ever dull - Catwoman effortlessly heists away in unremarkable fashion - as are the assassins going after Selina, who effortlessly bats them away in unremarkable fashion.
Wight Witch (an arbitrary name and design) seemed derivative of that Ghost character from the second Ant-Man movie, with her phasing ability, while Valley (again, name arbitrarily linked to Jean-Paul Valley, aka Azrael, and again, arbitrary steampunk design) seems derivative of the villain in The Da Vinci Code, quoting scripture and lashing himself in supplication. I’m sure it won’t be that noticeable as hardly anyone read that novel…
However this book does boast a gaggle of super-talented artists. Fernando Blanco is the main artist and has an uncannily similar style to Joelle Jones’, which is both appealing and gives the book a continued “look” for the audience following the series. I was also pleased to see Kyle Hotz and Juan Ferreyra contributing pages as their work is always excellent, and it was again here, and Evan Cagle’s artwork was good too.
Still, the art doesn’t make the book worth reading. Ram V’s uninspired and forgettable writing, combined with the art team’s work, turns Catwoman, Volume 5: Valley of the Shadow of Death, into a very boring, albeit pretty, book.
No comments:
Post a Comment