Catwoman #27 Review

Written by: Ann Nocenti
Art by: Patrick Olliffe and Cliff Richards

Quaterbacks Throw the Damn Ball, Ann

I am not a horrible man.  I have five boys, I work a full time job and I try to be as nice as I can be.  I love comic books and that love is what drove me to write reviews.  So what I'm about to write is not meant as a personal attack.  I don't know Ann Nocenti.  I'm sure she is a lovely woman.  Ok, now you know a little about me and where I'm coming from I will begin this review.

Someone needs to fire Ann Nocenti.  Not a Month from now.  Not a week from now.  Now.  She made Katana a laughing stock, almost ruined Green Arrow and is quickly doing the same to Catwoman.

Catwoman #27 is a Gothtopia tie-in.  Catwoman is now Catbird.  Her and Batman fight the little crime left during the day and at night get busy together.  At least that's how the book starts.  After Selina gets a job at a suicide prevention clinic, Batman is hauled away to the loony bin for being too violent.  This is so out of the blue that I actually thought my issue was missing pages.  One page Cat(bird)woman is kissing Batman, two pages later she is glad he is finally being taken away. WTF?!  Then she tells her cat how much she adores trash cans.  Then she has a vision about ravens, tells us she hates bugs and crowbats.  Crowbats.

Then, in a twist that a middle schooler would think is cliche, Catbird fights Catwoman over whose life is real.  She fights off Catwoman and then has to deal with Steeljacket, a thief always second fiddle to the real Catwoman.  He tells her Gothtopia isn't real and kind of explains how she busted Batman.  Then she sees Gotham for what it is...a violent dump.  And Fin.

This issue was horrible, but one part in particular sums up why I hate Nocenti's writing.  Selena is talking to a guy who just attempted suicide and he says, "I'm an awesome Quarterback.  Toss me the ball and it's down."  Let that sink in for a moment.  "Toss me the ball and it's down."  What the hell does that mean?  If you are not a fan of American Football, let me tell you.  It doesn't mean anything.  It makes no sense.  It will never make sense.  Why did she put this in the book?  She obviously knows nothing about the subject, but still puts it in the book.  Why?  Because DC allows her.  She seems to have free reign to write whatever she wants.  This includes horrible dialogue and nonsense.

As far as art, I really liked this issue.  In fact, it's one of the better looking Catwoman issues in quite some time.  Kudos to Patrick Olliffe and Cliff Richards.

Bits and Pieces:

Catwoman #27 is a horribly written mess.  Usually I get a laugh out of Nocenti's awful dialogue and plot lines, but this issue infuriated me.  However, the art is really good, but I the phrase "shinning a turd" comes to mind.  Give this issue a wide berth.  The score below is strictly for art because the writing is a zero.

3.5/10