Batman Catwoman #1
DC Comics
Written by: Tom King
Art by: Clay Mann
Colors by: Tomeu Morey
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
There’s a strange thing that happens to our brains when reading comics. We want and crave something new. With indie books, for example, we get that on a weekly basis — rich new characters and stories that take us to places we’d never imagine. When it comes to the big two, however, we say we want fresh new takes on our beloved characters — but when we get one, generally, we hate it.
Enter DC Black Label.
With Black Label, we’re able to detach ourselves from the status quo, letting us embrace the journey writers take our favorite characters on. This is probably where Tom King should have started his Batman story.
Whether you loved, hated or were indifferent about King’s run on Batman, he clearly had a vision and direction he wanted to take the character in. Sometimes he hit, sometimes he didn’t — but the vision was clear, exploring the relationship between The Bat and The Cat.
Batman Catwoman #1 continues King’s exploration of the relationship between the two. When the story begins, we don’t know exactly what point in time we’re seeing Batman and Catwoman, but what we do know is they’re still very much in love. We’re catching glimpses of three different periods in time — past, present and future — which can get a little confusing at times. King is being just a little too cute with the constant time jumps.
With all of that said, I feel that there is a great foundation here for King to tell a fantastic story. Early on, we are introduced to a character that definitely raised my eyebrows. Combine that with the accompanying story line, and I’m excited to see where this story takes us. While I wasn’t blown away with Batman Catwoman #1, like I was with some of the other Black Label Batman books, I am excited to see how King decides to wrap up his plan for the caped crusader.