Overview: Catwoman faces the consequences and the gainings of having stolen a file that can compromise all of the crime families of Villa Hermosa.
Synopsis (spoilers ahead): The issue opens with Catwoman dealing with her injuries from the previous issue – being shot by a sniper and falling into the bay. All properly bandaged, she goes out to investigate where the orders to murder her came from.
She breaks into a surveillance room, believing to be following a lead. She finds herself inside a trap though, a set up by Lock-Up. A metal box, with the walls closing in, plus a couple of grenades thrown into to make things more difficult. She manages to escape through the same route that he used to get out – clever he is not, it seems. After escaping, she gets a hold of Lock-Up and kindly convinces him to tell her who put a price on her head.
Later, a meeting of some highly rich, highly suspicious folks is taking place in one of the top floors of the Emperor’s Jewel, a fancy hotel in Villa Hermosa. The group of five people – minus Raina Creel – is discussing how the funds from their dinner went to a very good cause: having Catwoman killed. Or at least that is what they believe they will have achieved before dinner is over. Except, before they even finish their main course, she breaks into the meeting.
Selina comes into the room and throws the robotic arm of their bodyguard on the dining table together with her demands: no more coming after her, they’re all now playing by her books. She has the file with all of their money trail and she’s not afraid to use it.
After the showdown, Selina goes into the open sky and sits on a rooftop, thinking. She shares the space with a stray cat while thinking how Batman would have handled the situation, and how she prefers it her way. Mark her territory, not necessarily deliver justice per se.
Later that night, Selina, with the help of Gentleman Ghost, sets a trap to find out who was the sniper that shot her in the previous issue. Turns out it was False-Face (yet another old-school obscure villain) who posed as Ms. Rain to get Selina to find the files for him.
Analysis: The first issue of this two-part story arc was already proof enough that it would be a worthwhile intermission to read, and its second and final issue sets it in stone. While this week’s Batman #78 might steal the limelight when it comes to Bat-Cat, Catwoman #15 is without a single doubt a fun issue for fans of the character to read. No compromises made, no need to be following the current events – except for prior knowledge of the on-and-off engagement thing. Still, even with the non-compromising nature of the storyline, this is one of the most respectful tie-ins this particular reviewer has ever read.
It not only stands on its own – as stated in our previous review, – it adds to the current Catwoman lore being built by Joëlle Jones and Fernando Blanco. In this, Ram V took all of the major elements of Villa Hermosa and gave them a little taste of Gotham, while Mirka Andolfo’s art works perfectly well with the current Catwoman design and aesthetic. Not only that, they manage to build a relatively intricate story in only two issues, and, by the end of it, not leave a single thread flying out of their storytelling rope.
Even then, this is still a tie-in, eliciting not much emotional investment from the reader. We know, in the end, it will all go back to the previous status quo. The merits here lie in the fact that the creative team used this in their favor. But that’s not all, no sir. What really makes this a fun read is the casual use of obscure villains from Batman history. For nerds like (most of) us, there is nothing more refreshing than having to do a bit of research to check if those characters actually exist or not. And, must I say, False-Face could be easily mistaken for one of the Faceless Men from A Song of Ice and Fire, more popularly known as Game of Thrones: “I am False Face. I am everyone and no one. And I have many faces beneath this one.” Gotta love a mystery.
Final Thoughts: With some new and some obscure characters sprinkled here and there, Catwoman #15 is the perfect final act for this thrilling and fun tie-in.
