Comics: Catwoman 0

Ann Nocenti brings Selina Kyle back to her roots in "Catwoman #0"

Selina Kyle has always been a survivor. She does not know exactly who she is or what her focus in life is. However as of late, she’s been a career criminal. She works with some conspicuous characters, and that leads her into some dark corners that impact her.

She is recruited off the streets by a government program called “Second Chance,” akin to the Nolan “Clean-Slate” program as seen in The Dark Knight Rises. Essentially, she gets a clean slate to start her life over. However, she is not able to find her real name, and apparently her name is Russian. She finds this as she searches for her brother who she grew up with in a group home. She begins to develop a friendship with the man who rescued her, and then we are brought into her thievery past where the reader learns of her mistakes on her heists and how she learned from them. Her friendship with her mysterious rescuer proves fatal, and a scene out of Batman Returns occurs which will upset many Catwoman fans. Yes, she is licked (presumably) back to life by cats. She then begins to search for any past signs of who she truly is.

Ann Nocenti begins her run with this zero issue. While I liked the issue, I found a few difficulties with some things. I am left wondering why she is all of a sudden Russian and why she was licked back to life by cats…. While I have no problem with the issue as a whole, I wonder why her Italian heritage could not have stayed and what the licking by the cats is really about. Overall though, I am interested to see where she goes. It is definitely an interesting start to her run.

Adriana Melo does a fantastic job. I always loves when she fills in for Guillem March, and she is definitely the artist to have on Catwoman. She knows who the character is, and can play around with that character quite a lot. Knowing she is only around for this issue, I look forward to what Rafa Sandoval will do after her. He’s got big shoes to fill…

All in all, an interesting if not controversial start to a new and mysterious Catwoman run.

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Tommy Zimmer is an upcoming writer of short stories, comic books, journalism/media reviews, screenplays, and anything related to writing. On zimmert101.wordpress.com, you can view his latest work, and see what exciting things he is currently doing!!