Catwoman #32 Review

 

Tell Me Everything That's Not Important

Writer: Ram V

Artist: Evan Cagle

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 15, 2021

Ram V has done a damn good job of making this book feel important.  I love Selina, and I love any time she gets more eyes on her book, and tying it into the Magistrate stuff going on is sure to do that.  It also doesn't hurt that it's been a good book on its own as well.  So, do things ramp up even more, this issue?  Let's find out...

The issue opens with Father Valley continuing his torture of Leo, and while I am still not sold on Valley just yet, I was hoping to get a little more information on him this issue.  Well, that didn't happen. But, again, that was just a hope and nothing that would affect my enjoyment or review score much.  However, what did affect my score was the silly and forced setup to essentially give us a clip-show issue that only served to remind readers of Catwoman that she is pretty cool and badass.  I don't know about you, but I didn't need a refresher course on that in the least!

So, Father Valley tells Leo his prey is the Catwoman and wants to hear "everything he knows about Selina Kyle"  I am certainly not Father Valley (Even I have better taste in clothing!  Hey Valley, the Crow, and Trent Reznor called, and they both want their wardrobe back!), but I think he means anything but a flashback story of how Leo and Selina met.  The story doesn't play out in any way that would be useful to Valley but instead begins the issue's theme - don't mess with Selina Kyle.

You can argue with me about the stories worth all you want, but the biggest bit of nonsense here is Father Valley sits and listens to it.  Even worse, he doesn't ask him anything else afterward!  Spoiler Alert - Valley has no other use for Leo and will leave him for dead at the end of the issue.  We will have to wait to see if that's part of the plan, but as it stands, Valley just wasted a ton of time, and page space, to get a story that means nothing.  Seriously, who knows if Leo is even telling the truth.

This is all part of Ram V's attempt to give this issue a cinematic feel, but let's be honest here, it fails when looked at closely. 

I guess if we went on to something different, I could overlook it a bit, but we repeat the same type of thing when the GCPD start taking down the Strays in Alleytown and Rich Kollak (you know, the corrupt cop who looks like an even lower-rent Bruce Willis) threatens to beat up the youngsters (with news cameras rolling no less) if Shoes doesn't "tell me everything you know about Selina Kyle."  Cue another flashback story showing that Selina is a badass.  Why would a piece of shit like Kollak sit and listen to this?!?! 

After jumping back to Father Valley and Leo for a second, it's off to see what Dean Hadley is doing.  Guess what?  He is talking to Maggie and wants to know, "everything about Selina Kyle."  At this point, I thought Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out and tell me I was being punk'd!  After yet another Flashback story showing Selina is a badass, we end with Father Valley leaving Leo to be saved later.  I don't know, and at this point, I could care less.

This issue was a bullshit filler issue with Ram V trying to be clever more than anything else.  I understand what he was going for, but a vicious hitman and a corrupt police officer aren't going to sit around listening as their victims walk down memory lane in a way that is not at all relevant to anything they have going on.  This was a lame mechanic to give little tidbits about Selina's past than do something to progress the overall story.  I liked the art, and that's pretty much every point of my score below.

Bits and Pieces:

This is the worst kind of issue of any book...one that a reader can skip entirely without any consequence.  We hear some stories of Selina's past to let us know she is a badass, but the way Ram V gets to them is a joke.  I have enjoyed this Catwoman series more and more each month, but this one is a stinker.  Save yourself the time and money and just come back next month, where hopefully we get back to some story progression.

4.0/10