Batman/Catwoman is the coda to Tom King’s Batman run - or, perhaps more accurately, a lengthy and increasingly dull victory lap that amounts to 12 issues (13, if we count the bumper special) of back-patting!
There are two overlapping storylines: in the present, Phantasm is hunting Joker and Bat and Cat are involved; in the future, Bruce is recently deceased so Selina decides to do what always needed to be done and kill Joker, much to the dismay of her daughter, Helena, aka the new Batman of Gotham, who takes it upon herself to bring Joker’s killer to justice.
I really enjoyed King’s Batman run so I wanted to like Batman/Catwoman but there’s so little to it. Honestly, I’d so often put down an issue and wonder, so what happened in that issue again? Oh right - NOTHING.
I’ll say SPOILERS at this point as I do mention some things that some readers might prefer to be left as surprises when/if they read this one, though there isn’t really a story to spoil. And if you’re going ahead with this one, while I’m not recommending it, I’d say to keep those expectations really, really low going in - it’s not great, unfortunately.
King brings Phantasm/Andrea Beaumont into the DC main comics universe - she was the other villain in the 1993 Batman: The Animated Series movie, Mask of the Phantasm. It’s an unusual and unexpected choice but not an inspired one either. She kills a bunch of Joker henchmen - nothing too exciting to really warrant her significance in the story.
One of the bugbears of King’s critics is his overuse of songs/poems in his comics and that cliche is in full effect here with each issue opening, and often closing, with the lyrics to various Christmas carols. It never really bothered me before but I’m beginning to see why it’s annoying after this book. It’s too much.
I’m struggling to remember what actually happened. Bat and Cat talk a bunch, Cat and Joker talk a bunch, Cat and Helena talk a bunch. It’s definitely more of a Catwoman book than a Batman one, though I’m not sure what we’re meant to be taking away from it all. Selina had a tough life and she’s a tough, complicated lady. Or something? 13 issues, guys.
I really don’t get this “Black Label” label. I thought it meant “grown-up” so the comics would print swears and show violence and bewbs and such, like in the Vertigo days. But despite being “Black Label” all the swears are blanked out, so that’s a pointless label to have!
Of course there’s some decent stuff to be had here. Clay Mann’s art is superb as always and the scenes early on between Selina and Joker, particularly the pages leading up to Joker’s murder, are genuinely chilling. It’s a shame Mann doesn’t draw all 12 issues - Liam Sharp takes over 3 issues in the middle and the comparison is not flattering. Sharp’s art becomes quite Sienkiewicz-ian at times, particularly when he draws Joker, and I’m not a fan of that style.
It was interesting to see future Gotham with Helena and Dick succeeding Bruce and Gordon. Joker’s death is a good scene, and there’s the famous wedding that was teased in King’s run but got faked-out - we finally get that for realsies, for whatever that’s worth, assuming anyone cares at this point.
I think that’s it - painfully little that’s worth noting.
If you’re a fan of King’s Batman run like me then you’ll read this one anyway, but don’t expect the same highs achieved in that series with this book. Batman/Catwoman is a disappointingly unimpressive way to close out an otherwise remarkable run on Batman.
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