The Source has announced that current Green Arrow scribe Ann Nocenti will be taking over writing duties on Catwoman beginning in September with the zero issue. Comic Book Resources, Newsarama, Comic Vine and iFanboy all posted interviews with Nocenti about the announcement. Here are the highlights:
CBR: Looking at the book, you're writing her from the #0 issue onwards. What's your take on Catwoman? Is there a specific look or era you're pulling influence from?
Ann Nocenti: I really like continuity, I like working on what somebody just did before and honoring the tone. I think what's been set up — I read the first nine issues — and they're really fast, they're really electric and very exciting, and I think it would be a mistake to shift off that tone. So you want to, like a musician coming in when there's already a riff being played, you want to ease into it and use whatever notes the musicians have down. You basically want to make sure there's this fast kind of recklessness, which the previous writer gave her — which I guess she always had, but he's emphasizing that, he's bringing that out.
iFanboy: Is your story going to be a clean start or are you going to be building on or continuing anything that was established in Judd Winick’s time on the book?
Ann Nocenti: Well, I think I’m going to do a clean break, do some new stories and then go back and look at what was established in the first 12 issues. It’s almost like, if you want to bring something back that’s been in a story, you want to have a new angle on it, you want to have an interesting twist on it. Actually, to a certain degree there’s not a lot of threads dangling, you know? She has this wonderful friend Lola but now she’s dead, and she has this relationship with a car thief but then he turned on her, so there’s like a beginning, middle, and an end to those storylines, so you don’t really want to rush into pulling something out of there until the time feels right.
Comic Vine: What are some qualities that get you excited about her character?
Ann Nocenti: I like every variation on the double identity world. It's kind of unrealistic, yet it's so beautiful. This tension between people with two identities. I'm really intrigued by her particular almost schism between Selina Kyle and Catwoman. Think of people that have a double life; it's like a compulsion they can't stop. That is in many ways derailing their lives.
Newsarama: Will she be operating in Gotham? And how much of a role will the setting play in Gotham?
Ann Nocenti: I was influenced in this by my editor, Rachel, who said "why not start making her a little more jet-setting?" So she's in Gotham, but basically, inspired by something Rachel said, I'm going to start shooting her around the world a little bit, to sexy climates. Not necessarily danger climates, but sexy climates, like in the south.
CBR: Are you going to be working with Guillem March, the artist who has been doing the ongoing series, or is "Green Arrow" artist Harvey Tolibao or a completely new artist going to be joining you on the title?
Ann Nocenti: I like the artists who have been on "Catwoman" so I'd be happy if either of them took it over, I think they matched the exciting pacing, and I think she was cute, which is important!
Newsarama: Have you started working with the artist?
Ann Nocenti: I haven't. But ideally, it will be someone with a range of styles, so that if you wanted Selina Kyle to bop into a situation where there's kind of a pop art side of her, it would be quite different from the funky, dark rooftop Catwoman. I guess you'd want an artist that could have a couple different styles.
Be sure to check out all of the interviews at the respected sites. The Source also revealed the cover to Catwoman #13 with art by Andy Clarke, which can be seen above. Catwoman #0 begins Nocenti's run on the title and will hit stores this September.
Posted by Dustin Fritschel
