Overview: In Catwoman #51, with Selina behind bars, Dario and Eiko try to make her stay as pleasant as possible while helping her make allies within.
Synopsis (spoilers ahead): As Catwoman #51 begins, correctional officers wake Selina up at six, clearly enjoying causing her discomfort. Selina’s roommate Mimi warns her not to make trouble, but Catwoman plots away, from breakfast to headcount, to fighting for a phone call with Dario (Tomcat).
Tomcat and Eiko Hasigawa (Catwoman II) deliver snacks to Selina in prison as trading/social power, though Selina accepts a beating as part of her calculations. Redheaded Marquise helps her out, but she continues to act out to get herself thrown in solitary, where she takes a breath, takes comfort from petting her cat Duchess (inherited from Valmont, and sneaking around the prison’s air shafts), and plans some more.
Eiko and Dario continue to deliver supplies for Selina, which Duchess delivers to Selina’s solitary cell. After getting out of solitary, Selina uses her contraband snacks to make friends, but she is surprised by a visit from Ventura Fremont, who demands to be her legal counsel despite Selina’s refusal.
Analysis: Tini Howard and artist Sami Basri start Selina’s prison arc in Catwoman #51 with a fairly mundane issue, despite Basri’s trademark polished and appealing art, much stronger than normal series artist Nico Leon. Though some elements are nicely handled, like clarifying how Selina killed Valmont and her reaction to that killing, Howard’s plotting continues to flounder completely, relying on risible hilarity like a pampered cat enjoying delivering things through prison air vents (though, to be fair to Howard, cats doing human things for Catwoman isn’t new at all). But elements like how long Selina stays in solitary confinement, how she sends messages through the toilets, and how she smuggles an enormous pile of snack food out of solitary continue to display how much Howard relies on vibes over plausibility.
The introduction of a large number of inmates and the mysterious new legal counsel promise at least some plot developments, but this issue wastes twenty-one pages that could have cut to the end of the issue as its opening, especially after the radical change in direction in the last several issues from Catwoman vs. Black Mask/the Five Families to Catwoman vs. Punchline/prison plotline. None of the new characters have a personality yet, despite Basri’s able efforts, and Dario and Eiko’s shenanigans outside the prison have the air of a minor prank rather than anything the head of Gotham’s Yakuza and the disowned heir to one of the Famiglia would be up to.
New main cover artist David Nakayama takes over from Jeff Dekal with a style that is as polished and appealing but a lot more cartoony and “cute” than Dekal’s more sleek and sexy look. This main cover (also available in a foil virgin variant in some markets, apparently) shows Catwoman in full costume, extremely shiny, behind bars with a key in her mouth and a mischievous expression on her face (not very appropriate to the comic’s overall tone, though more in the character of Selina in general). Joshua Sway’s painted cardstock cover B (also used as the foil incentive 1:50 variant, sadly) shows a sad-looking Catwoman draped in pearls, a stand in her mouth, with blue pearls behind her – much more suited to the somber nature of the story inside. Sweeney Boo (who will soon join Howard on interiors for the Harley Quinn title) provides cover C, a gorgeous purple and white confection showing Selina flanked by two black cats in front of a tall window, a very dramatic and intense composition, quite appealing despite having nothing to do with the interior. Lastly, original interior artist Nico Leon provides an Eiko Hasigawa Catwoman costume design incentive 1:25 cover.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
Catwoman #51
Overall Score
2.5/5
After an incoherent but at least action-packed and eventful fiftieth issue, Tini Howard, joined by excellent guest artist Sami Basri, turns in a "first day back in prison" issue that takes a nap on a bed of cliches and implausibilities.
