The issue opens on a rainy night in front of the Calabrese Townhouse in Gotham City. A door opens and Antonia runs out to find a bloody and barely alive Nick lying in front of the townhouse with a note pinned to his chest, “you might want to seal your leak.”
We then cut to The Egyptian casino where we see Selina approach Aiden Mason and the two politely spar with words before Mason makes his exit…Selina gathers that whatever Mason is planning has already been put into motion and she will have to deal with the aftermath. The phone on her desk rings and we cut to Selina back at the townhouse and rushing to where Nick is being looked after. Ward informs her that a betrayal to this extent can’t be forgiven or else Selina will be perceived as being weak to the rest of the families. Selina then meets privately with Nick and he explains that he didn’t leak any information under torture from Black Mask…but did inform the GCPD about the drugs.
We then cut to Black Mask and the head of the Hasigawa family talking about the leak within the Calabrese crime family, as well as whether Hasigawa will join up with the other families or with Black Mask himself. Sionis leaves and Hasigawa discusses the information leak with his daughter and asks her to watch Selina and see how she handles the situation.
We then cut back to Selina who meets briefly with the other families and informs them that she will handle the situation immediately. Selina leaves and informs Ward to bring Antonia to her. The two women meet and discuss Nick’s fate…ending with Selina informing Antonia to deal with her brother. Selina then informs the families of everything that had transpired and how she has dealt with the mole. Selina briefly talks with Eiko Hasigawa about the events and she informs her that she did what she had to do, but she will make Black Mask pay for it.
We then cut to a lakeside house where Antonia has driven Nick to. They discuss some memories from their childhood…it is all cut short when Antonia pulls a gun on her brother and executes him. Antonia then brings Nick’s bloody sweater to Selina as proof of his death.
The issue ends with Black Mask and Mason discussing Selina’s decision over Nick Calabrese and even admit that they didn’t think she would go through with it; finally we see Selina entering the GCPD and informing Detective Alvarez that Nick has “cancelled his appointments.” She then leaves and walks off into the streets, blending with the crowd.
I don’t think I can talk about how much I am thoroughly enjoying this new story. The rapid change from cat burglar to underworld Queen-Pin is amazing. Selina Kyle (for me) has never been more interesting and intriguing. We get to see some serious consequences this issue for what she allowed to happen last month. With the betrayal of Nick Calabrese made public, Selina is forced to have him killed! And to top everything off she gets his sister to pull the trigger! And what is even more amazing is how conflicted Selina is over the decision she needs to make…and how she states that Black Mask will pay for making her kill Nick. Maybe we will get to see Selina take out Roman Sionis a second time???
The writing is definitely top notch and I highly recommend this book to any bat fan who wants to see our femme fatale basically act like the Godfather. I look forward now to having Catwoman in my pull each month to see what will happen to Selina and the families.
I also need to point out the covers for this series so far…simple white backgrounds with the logo on top and then a simply image of Selina, the first on her own, then we had her fighting the new Catwoman and now we get Selina fighting against Black Mask…definitely foreshadowing what could be coming up.
Overall if you’re not reading this book, definitely get it. It is an excellent read and it’s story is constantly evolving each month and growing in depth.
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