In this review of Catwoman #68, as Catwoman’s forces battle the White Glove for the docks, Batman and Catwoman fight for her survival against Hush and Flamingo.
Catwoman #68 main cover by David Nakayama
Catwoman #68
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors: Veronica Gandini
Main Cover: David Nakayama
Variant Covers: Rachta Lin, Rose Besch, Nicola Scott, Marcio Takara, Tirso
Release Date: September 18, 2024
This review contains spoilers
Catwoman #68 begins as Catwoman’s allies battle the White Glove, Hush operates on the meteorite in Selina’s brain, and bullies her group to protect him from Batman. Meanwhile, he promises her face to Flamingo to eat. Eiko Hasigawa Catwoman agrees reluctantly, along with Dario Tomcat, as Batman watches the conflagration at the docks from above.
In her dreams, Selina sees Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess, who says she has come to love Catwoman, and offers Selina her life back if she can find her way through the desert.
Eiko Catwoman confronts Batman on the rooftops, and Batman vows to watch over (but not protect) Selina through Hush’s surgery.
In Selina’s dream, her cat Duchess leads her to Valmont, and they say goodbye to each other. She hears Batman’s voice, appearing as a bat-god of justice, as he radios through her tooth fillings. Batman tells her to wake up and strike as soon as Hush sews her skull back up while he takes care of Flamingo. Batman takes the unconscious Hush and holds off the police as Selina takes command of her forces in the fight. She forces the White Glove leader and survivors to retreat, then helps her supporter Hoops to the hospital. As she walks with Hoops, she repeats the goddess Bast’s words to the city of Gotham – she loves it, and cats don’t choose idly.
Analysis
I return for Catwoman #68, at the turn of the creative teams! After a blessed break from reviewing Tini Howard’s run, I’m coming back to review the book when Torunn Gronbekk’s tenure starts next month, and jumped in to cover this finale before that. For the most part Tini Howard seems to craft a finale where all of her heroes get some fun stuff to do (though Tomcat probably gets least to do, which given his awful costume design, is understandable, but it’s kind of a bummer given the rich setup he got in the first half of the run).
Though the way she writes Batman as being hypersensitive about stepping on Selina’s toes, as if she’s a toddler who will melt down if he helps her, is more than a bit annoying. It’s nice to see the passion Howard injects into Batman and Catwoman’s communications and scenes, even while Catwoman says goodbye to the most inexplicable love interest ever, Valmont.
Howard falls into some of the traps she set for herself in the first half of the run here, too. First, having Selina be constantly talked about as a huge powerful force, but then when she is actually on page, she fails as often as she succeeds. Her victory against the White Gloves is just forcing a retreat, she spends the first half of the book asleep going through a speed-run rehash of Ram V’s desert spirit quest for Batman in Detective Comics, and instead of ending the comic with an iconic character like Batman or Eiko Catwoman or even the new original character Dario, she walks off to the hospital with Hoops, who only showed up a year ago.
Not to mention, though Howard has laid off the “all men are evil or pathetic, all women help each other”, since the White Glove is led by a very evil woman, and Batman and Dario both appear as “approved” allies, Selina still chooses to say that “I’d do it for any woman” instead of “I’d do it for anyone who needed it.” All in all, the Tini Howard who started this run is still here in the end. I appreciate her classy post on her subtract saying farewell, not farming for trolls but just saying goodbye to fans and haters alike. But I have to say that I’m glad we’re turning the page.
Carmine Di Giandonmenico once again turns in fantastic work. His spikey lines and strong expressions really work in this epic finale issue. The work he does with the vision of Batman as a bat-god in Selina’s dream is very striking indeed. Veronica Gandini’s colors are rich, full of light and dark, and exciting – just as such an action, destruction, mysticism, and romance issue demands. It’s nice to see the run end on a high note artistically, for sure. Looking forward to what Gronbekk and artist Fabiana Mascolo give us next month!
David Nakayama finishes up his run as the main cover artist for this part of Tini Howard’s run with an image of Catwoman, in her squeaky-shiny purple suit, exiting through a window into a flaming Gotham, winking and holding a white cat, with a farewell postcard. Humorous and appealing, and appropriate for a final issue of a run. Rachta Lin’s variant shows Catwoman putting on a crown in an art gallery, aided by little burglar cats – again leaning into the humorous, in a style reminiscent of Peach Momoko or Rose Besch. Speaking of Besch, her variant for this issue shows an extremely cute pair of Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and a cat with a red bow, plus some post it note decorations.
As part of her Artist Spotlight Costume Variant series, Nicola Scott gives us a gorgeous array of Catwomans. Marcio Takara’s 1 in 25 incentive variant shows a smirking Catwoman leaping through the air following a black cat, their huge necklaces flowing into the orange sky behind them. Lastly, the 1 in 50 incentive variant by Tirso Cons shows a Selina lounging in shorts and tank top, reading with cats piled around her – a cute domestic portrait, an interesting contrast to the rest of the covers.
It will be quite interesting seeing how the new main cover artist, Sebastian Fiumara, coming off of a run of incentive variants for Detective Comics (and before that, some gorgeous variants for Robert Venditti’s truly excellent Hawkman series), handles the upcoming run by Torunn Gronbekk. In addition to Fiumara, DC will continue to provide 25 issue and 50 issue incentive cover schemes. We’ll be here next month to find out!
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Final Thoughts
As Tini Howard wraps up her run with Catwoman #68, she manages to avoid some of the pitfalls that have plagued it since her first issue, but overall still turns in an incoherent, messy finale, albeit one with gorgeous art by Carmine Di Giandomenico.
Editor’s Note: You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
