Catwoman #23 Review

Bad Kitty

Catwoman is taking Tinderbox through Gotham's underworld to stop a war.  You see, Tinderbox is the daughter of Dr. Phosphorous and he hopes to make peace with his rival, Warhog by marrying his daughter to Warhog's son..  We learn that Warhog is a bio engineer who has developed a plan to save mankind from a biological attack using...a biological toxin??  Believe me, his explanation doesn't make anymore sense then you would hope.  The marriage doesn't work out and Catwoman has to fight her way out of Warhog's bunker only to run into Joker's Daughter.

Ann Nocenti (with script help by Scott McDaniel) has given us another confusing issue.  Maybe infuriating is more the word I'm looking for.  Catwoman just doesn't seem right.  It may be her detective-like observations, her awful dialogue or both.  This Catwoman is not likable at all.  Throw in Tinderbox, a one dimensional brat and overall awful person and I wanted to slap them both.  Which leads me to one of the worst panels I've seen in years.  Catwoman spanking Tinderbox.  Was it supposed to be provocative and sexy?  Who knows.  It comes off as ridiculous and totally out of character.  Shame on you Ann.

So what was good about the issue?  Rafa Sandoval's art is good.  The coloring of Sonia Oback is good as well.  Also, we are introduced to Joker's Daughter in a setup for Villains Month.  That's about it.

Ann Nocenti's Catwoman run has not been good.  In fact, it's been pretty horrible.  With that said, this is one of her better issues so far.  It doesn't make much sense, the plot is cliched and the dialogue is laughable...but it still is one of the better issues.  Take that for what it's worth.

3.5/10