Catwoman Appreciation 2021

[godisawesome]

I don't get this pining for a nostalgic era. Sale gets props for giving Selina some muscle and definition whose body fits the kind of work she does but around the same period where Long Halloween came out, Catwoman was being drawn by Jim Balent who often got criticism for the extremely sexualized way he drew her in her book.

I've never read Catwoman's 90 series with Balent, I just mainly like Sale went against the usual physique one gives Selina even if I prefer something closer to Cooke.

There’s basically two eras to the Balent era of Catwoman - the first, where the “measurements” were somewhat ridiculous but not that far from the standard of the era (it was the 90’s after all), and where Balent’s facial expressions for Selina and other characters were generally pretty good... then the second, where Balent’s style degenerated so badly the “measurements” became absolutely ludicrous even for the 90’s and the style was ridiculous even beyond that point.

One thing that gets forgotten sometimes, though, is that there were a number of strong writers who managed to make the “charming rogue and cat burglar” aspect of the character work very well. Dixon, Ostrander, and Grayson were pretty good at making good heist stories and giving her a personality that, if I can be honest, I sometimes find more interesting than the Brubaker run.

But the purple spandex suit was pretty much ground zero for the “Most Common Superpower” trope being over-applied to the character. I still *like* the dark purple color and the overall design, but much more when it’s got details and gear.