The Cat's Meow: Catwoman #34

It's All My Fault!!!! I Started the War!

You can't judge a cat by the different ways to skin it. Okay, maybe I mixed my metaphors up a bit, but despite the recent thud of ONE Catwoman at the box office, the Catwoman in DC's Catwoman #34 (by Ed Brubaker and Paul Gulacy) is pretty entertaining.

This issue continues the War Games story running through the Batman titles. It is still confusingly labeled as Act One, Part 7 of 8, but the book stands just fine all by itself. As someone who is not a regular Batman reader, I have been impressed by the way these books stand on their own while also adding a piece to the bigger story.

The out of control crime of the titular War Games has spilled into Catwoman's territory. This does not make her a happy kitty. She takes the fight to the gangs with surprising ferocity. Never, ever mess with an angry, whip-wielding, defender of Gotham's East End. Catwoman makes this point quite clear to the gang members who face her wrath. She is even forced to take to the streets in her "outfit" during the daylight hours, which catwomen try to avoid at all costs. (Or so I am told.)

Along the way, she takes on a major Batman villain, meets an occasional Robin, and gets a pretty good idea how the whole Gang War actually got started. And, of course, she wears skin-tight black leather and tends to bend over a lot. If you like that sort of thing.

If you like your super-heroes with a bit of a gritty edge, if you enjoy crime comics, Batman, or catwomen in general, you can't go wrong trying out Four Color Fantasies' Guaranteed Book of the Week-Catwoman #34!