Batman/Catwoman Special #1 Preview

[Hypo]

Batman/Catwoman Special #1 Preview
Writer: Tom King
Artists: John Paul Leon, Bernard Chang, Shawn Crystal and Mitch Gerads
Writers (Essays): Michael Davis and Kurt Busiek
Artists (Pinups): Lee Bermejo, Deny Cowan, Becky Cloonan, Klaus Janson & Dave Stewart, Rick Leonardi & Dave Stewart, Chris Batista, Dani & Tamra Bonvillain, Ibrahim Moustafa, Clay Mann & Seth Mann, Vanesa del Rey, Dave Johnson, Joëlle Jones, Shawn Martinborough & Chris Sotomayor, Khary Rhandolph & Emilio Lopez, Tula Lotay, Dave Gibbons, Walter Simonson & Laura Martin, Jon Bogdanove & Sian Mandrake

The BATMAN/CATWOMAN series has been showing us the romance between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle as it has changed over their lives, but what about their connections from BEFORE they became costumed adventurers? The upcoming Batman/Catwoman Special (on shelves Tuesday January 25) traces the life of Selina Kyle from its earliest days to her entry into the criminal underworld and reveals that Bruce was a presence in her life all along. Whether fate or coincidence, it’s even more of a reason why the Bat/Cat romance is one of the most enduring love affairs in all of comics.

Now expanded to celebrate the legacy of iconic artist John Paul Leon, whose untimely passing after a long battle with cancer shocked the comics world this past May, this special will feature the work Leon completed for the original story plus tributes to the renowned artist created in his name by some of his closest friends and admirers. Bernard Chang, Shawn Crystal, Mitch Gerads and Dave Stewart will bring the original story to its conclusion, lettered by Clayton Cowles, while comics’ top artists gather to celebrate Leon’s creative legacy through pin-up pages and essays in the special, including Lee Bermejo, Denys Cowan, Joëlle Jones, Dave Gibbons, Walter Simonson, and more.

[Hypo]

Oh look it's coming out like DC said it would.

[Frontier]

I think I remember in a King monologue Selina talking about how she imprinted on a picture of Bruce.

Also, Selina brought cats to Wayne Manor .

[superduperman]

I kind of want to get this just for JPL. It's his last work. And I do loves me some JPL.

[Bad Witch]

When does this come out?

[Batman Begins 2005]

Any good? Only thing I liked from Tom King's Batman run, the annuals.

[exile001]

Awesome stuff, pity it's not out for the Xmas break but something to look forward to in the dullness of late-January.

[Hypo]

When does this come out?

January 25th/26th depending on if your LCS does new DC books on Tuesdays.

[Hypo]

Batman/Catwoman Special #1 Preview
Writer: Tom King
Artists: John Paul Leon, Bernard Chang, Shawn Crystal and Mitch Gerads
Writers (Essays): Michael Davis and Kurt Busiek
Artists (Pinups): Lee Bermejo, Deny Cowan, Becky Cloonan, Klaus Janson & Dave Stewart, Rick Leonardi & Dave Stewart, Chris Batista, Dani & Tamra Bonvillain, Ibrahim Moustafa, Clay Mann & Seth Mann, Vanesa del Rey, Dave Johnson, Joëlle Jones, Shawn Martinborough & Chris Sotomayor, Khary Rhandolph & Emilio Lopez, Tula Lotay, Dave Gibbons, Walter Simonson & Laura Martin, Jon Bogdanove & Sian Mandrake

[Frontier]

I'm just going to take this as Tom Kings' origin for his Selina because there is a variety of reasons why this wouldn't work in normal continuity (like, where's Maggie?).

This kind of makes her seem a tad obsessive...

[exile001]

Damn, that was perfect.

Tying up Selina's whole life up by intertwining it with Bruce's tragedy in such a brutal and honest way. Catwoman wouldn't exist without Batman both literally (as in she was created in a Batman comic) and figuratively, tying her life around Bruce's family and tragedy, was heartbreakingly perfect. Even taking into account the contemporary (and history ignoring) arguments that Catwoman was always a standout, independent character outside of Batman (something touched on in the 70's but only really proved in the now regrettable Balent era from the 90's) by giving her independence and agency throughout the entire book but ultimately falling to the same fate as Bruce's parents.

I love that she is the one who can consistently beat Joker, punctuated by her killing him is the early issues.

And it still left Helena Wayne's Huntress free to be a character in her own right in a way that she has never been accomplished before.

[millernumber1]

Damn, that was perfect.

Tying up Selina's whole life up by intertwining it with Bruce's tragedy in such a brutal and honest way. Catwoman wouldn't exist without Batman both literally (as in she was created in a Batman comic) and figuratively, tying her life around Bruce's family and tragedy, was heartbreakingly perfect. Even taking into account the contemporary (and history ignoring) arguments that Catwoman was always a standout, independent character outside of Batman (something touched on in the 70's but only really proved in the now regrettable Balent era from the 90's) by giving her independence and agency throughout the entire book but ultimately falling to the same fate as Bruce's parents.

I love that she is the one who can consistently beat Joker, punctuated by her killing him is the early issues.

And it still left Helena Wayne's Huntress free to be a character in her own right in a way that she has never been accomplished before.

Well said! This was such an emotional and well crafted issue for me. I'm thinking whenever issue 12 drops, I'm going to have to do a pretty big Tom King Batman reread...

[Matt Rat]

This has been out for a while, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it

I haven't been that impressed with the regular series, at times it feels like Tom King has been doing his best to put together the worst take on the Bat/Cat relationship there's been in decades. It's been disheartening to find so many readers are now loudly proclaiming the Bruce and Selina romance has had it's day or that it's irreversibly damaged. I get that, and it hurts to see.

But then you get a book like this, and it's as if it's a completely different beast separate from what King has been piecing together over in the maxi-series. This special works so well, it reaffirms and broadens the Bat/Cat relationship so well. Like all unions, it has it's upsides as well as downsides, it has the sincerity and the spark between the two, you see Bruce as the 'straight man' to the more eccentric Selina. It is she that has the most trouble, and the most triumph, adjusting to family life and as a viable partner. The two are prone to arguments as well as moments of comradery and togetherness. When the two are joined by Helena that connection deepens and we really get to see Selina's heart on her sleeve.

The format is also great, telling simple everyday snapshots of a family in a series of one page stories, each advancing them in years and experience. The page with an elderly Selina helping out a dementia-riddled Riddler is low-key eisner worthy and exactly what we expect any well written take on Selina to respond to.

Selina reminds me in this special very much of Helga Pataki from Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold, right down to the childhood infatuation with Bruce. He is her 'football head' and she doesn't relinquish her more prickly personality to satisfy him or anyone. She has moments where she mellows out though, and by the end, by Bruce's end, you see how broken she is without him and has to adjust.

Selina's fate at the end of the special is something that won't be spoken about very often, because it's one of many possible futures and by no means ever the 'definitive' way one could imagine her going out on...but it's the perfect means by which to close her story in King's interpretation of her life choices. She spends so much of the series critiquing herself, critiquing Bruce and her own sense of self, and in the end she goes out still critiquing how truly amateur crime can be.

Tom King is not always at his best with Batman, but when he is, I'd trust him far more with closing the book on Batman's future and life story more than I do Bruce Timm and the DCAU.

[HsssH]

Is this stand alone story or should I be aware of what happened in King's Batman and Batman/Catwoman?

[Matt Rat]

Is this stand alone story or should I be aware of what happened in King's Batman and Batman/Catwoman?

It's canon to Batman/Catwoman, but doesn't spoil any developments in the series (other than how things end for Selina). It can be enjoyed as it's own thing. I'd even say it makes Batman/Catwoman look largely unneccersary.