War Gmes: Act 2, Part 7
Reviewer: Paul Sebert
Written By: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Paul Gulacy
Coloring: Laurie Kronenberg
Lettering: Clem Robins
Editors: Nachie Castro, Matt Idelson
Let’s see it’s that time of the month again.
No get your head out of the gutter. That’s not what I’m referring to. What I mean is it’s time to review Catwoman. You all know how this drill works. Praise Ed Brubaker’s writing, while lament the passing of Cameron Stewart’s glorious art from the book. Yeah this review is in the bag.
But well this month’s issue is part of War Games, the rather unwieldy fun-in-theory, headache inducing-in-actuality crossover that’s already worn out it’s welcome with me. In fact this is the only chapter of Part 2 I’ve read in full. But apparently after last month’s absurd “Steph accidentally caused this fiasco” plot point, Black Mask has revealed himself as the new “big bad” Bat-villain and killed Orpheus. Because really when you’re
looking for expendable characters in the DCU it makes perfect sense to kill the only Black Hero in Gotham, and a Christopher Priest character to boot. Particularly after the uproar over Judd Winnick’s handling of Black Lightening.
*Breathes deeply. and sighs.*
And don’t even get me started on these rumors that they’re going to kill Stephanie Brown AKA Spoiler, because if they do, it’ll be a good loooong time before I pick up any Bat-related books. (Gotham Central and Birds of Prey don’t count, right?)
Anyway speaking of Steph, this issue opens with the character making her best attempt at a dramatic escape from her shackles after being nearly tortured to death by Black Mask a sequence that really unnerved me as well. To be honest Galacy’s interpretation of Steph’s costume combined with his inability to draw a woman with a bra-size lower than a 34-C cup gave the sequence a really icky, exploitive feel to it.
Anyway the meat of this issue deals with Catwoman fighting off a pair of sexy assassins who I can’t quite manage to recall the names of. Meanwhile Batman takes over Oracle’s computer system in a dangerous plan to essentially have the Gotham Police department declaim Martial Law over the city under Batman’s command. Oh and we see a whole lot more pages of Steph bleeding and suffering for my tastes. Anyway the two assassins manage to get away but decline to kill Selina because they dig her style.
I must say, it deeply saddens me to see a writer of Ed Brubaker’s caliber stuck in this utter and total mess of a story. If this proves to be Brubaker’s last hurrah on Catwoman, well that only makes things all the sadder.
