Overview: In Catwoman #60, Catwoman seeks to steal an idol from Eduardo Flamingo.
Title: Catwoman #60: Nine Lives Part 2
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Stefani Raffaele
Colors: Veronica Gandini
Letterer: Lucas Gattoni
Main Cover: Tirso Cons & Jorge Fornes
Variant Covers: Lucio Parrillo (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom); Dani (1:25); Tirso Cons (1:50)
Release Date: December 19, 2023
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Today, Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is in Croatia. She is following up on research she gathered from Eduardo Flamingo, another thief with a desire to kill Selina. He was presumably killed in their last encounter; she is here to search for the Idol of Bacchus. Flamingo supposedly bequeathed it to the Producer of the Theater of Death.
Catwoman is here for the show, but she soon finds out that she is the show. Flamingo is not dead, and the two end up in a brawl in the middle of the theater. She beats Flamingo, but the Producer comes up behind her and injects her with a poison. She dreams she is in an alley dressed up as a jester talking with a strange cat-eyed clown.
She wakes up chained up. She easily slips the chains and finds Flamingo again, attacking him. After a scuffle, he tells Selina about the idol and that the Producer has it. He asks her to steal it, but it is a trap. Catwoman slips the trap and takes the idol.
Back at the theater, Catwoman rescues a terrified girl and slips Flamingo, leading him in a bike chase. She ditches her bike, losing the idol, and escapes in a pickup truck, leaving Flamingo presumably dead again. Selina realizes that she did not lose a life in this mission, and she is elated.
Catwoman #60 Tirso Cons variant cover
Unfortunately this story is all over the place. It is stated that she has these 9 lives, so she can complete missions that are impossible to come out alive. Who or what is the mission? Here it is not clear. Is the mission to steal the idol, or is it to kill Flamingo? Throughout the narrative, this is never clear. Selina does lament losing the score in the end, but it is quickly shown to not matter to her. She thinks she loses a life, but in the end she discovers that she did not, so the mission is a success?
What is the point of this story? We get flashbacks here and in the previous issue (Catwoman #59), and those seem to center on individual characters Selina Kyle has encountered in the past who are worse than her. Is she supposed to get retribution against these people? Again the answer is not clear to me.
The art here is very detailed, and I love the clown that appears a couple of times in this issue. He is very unique in that some panels show him with cat eyes. Selina even thinks that this being may have given her these extra lives, but that is just a passing comment.
The coloration gives a great feel that this story is a nighttime story. The colors are muted but vibrant at the same time. I admit that I love the purple Catwoman costume from the nineties, this time with some added improvements in the gloves. A tiny saw in Catwoman’s gloved finger, nice touch.
I like the concept that Selina has 9 lives, but again, what is the point?
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
