In Catwoman #65, Selina Kyle is able to get one more chance at life from a reluctant cat god. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a black ops installation and has to fight her way out without getting killed.
Catwoman #65 main cover by David Nakayama
Title: Catwoman #65, Nine Lives Part 7
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Ivan Shavrin
Color Artist: Ivan Shavrin
Main Cover: David Nakayama
Variant Covers: Pablo “Lobos” Villalobos & Rachta Lin; Otto Schmidt (1:25 Variant Cover); Eliza Ivanova (1:50)
Release Date: May 21, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Catwoman #65 opens in Las Vegas. Viceroy is notified that the body of Catwoman has been located. She does not believe it, based on her prior reports. Rosie, on the other hand, does not believe that Selina Kyle could have survived the reentry. Viceroy wants to see for herself.
Selina is shown back in the other realm. She is surveying the wreckage, and the cat god shows up to tell her this is it. Selina pushes back; she doesn’t believe in religion or being tested, and this angers the cat god who snatches Selina and shows her her prior deaths. It appears that Selina squandered her lives, but the god relents and places Selina in a sarcophagus. She wakes up in a freezer.
Selina escapes the container her body was in, and now she is faced with having to get out without her gear. As she sneaks down the corridors, she realizes that she needs to find help. She runs into some guards and takes out one of the soldiers. She borrows his clothes and weapons and sets out to discover that she is not in a government installation. Everything here is analog, there is no computerization. This gives her hope that she can delete her presence in this installation.
Selina is discovered and one of the soldiers, strangely a pretty veiny guy, starts to hit on Selina. This interaction is interrupted when it is reported that the guard Selina jumped was found without his gear. Selina quickly finds the hold and discovers her gear. She pushes into an airlock and sets up a distraction with the gear she stole. Selina changes into her torn Catwoman costume, attacks the guards full on, and slips down a grate.
She discovers a treasure trove of ancient powerful artifacts. She starts collecting some of the items when she is attacked by a zombie guard. Realizing she cannot flirt her way out of this she starts to fight. This is difficult as the guard does not feel any pain. She succeeds at setting it on fire. It leaves, and Selina follows it out of the cave.
Later in Brazil, Selina meets up with Scandal. After a brief skirmish, she shows the woman her loot and enlists her help to take down Viceroy. First, they need some other recruits.
Catwoman #65 by Tini Howard, Ivan Shavrin & David Nakayama. (Credit: DC Comics)
I did not appreciate the art in this issue at all. The body proportions of the characters are way off. In one panel in particular Selina’s head looks so huge. This is a cartoony style that is not my preferred style. It also appears that the writing is shifting more to laughs and comedy, and that is not the theme of this story.
This whole story seems to explore an interesting concept of dying and the afterlife and just makes it into overall gore and comedy fest. Let’s see how we can kill Selina and make it entertaining. There is a seriousness in this topic that could and should be explored. I like the use of the cat god, it gives Hinduism vibes and even using the concept of reincarnation is worthy of exploration.
This issue in particular only deals with the death concept in the very beginning. Selina actually doesn’t die in this issue at all, which is good since, presumably, this is her last life. This issue deals with Selina’s escape and her effort to amass a team to combat Viceroy who is experimenting with death and rebirth herself.
Viceroy is doing something to her soldiers. In a number of panels, the soldiers are shown with thick blue veins in the necks and cheeks. Selina, in her final battle this issue, is with a zombie. Again, not my favorite concept in a comic. I feel that zombies are overused and sometimes they are used as a shock factor to see our favorite characters as zombies. It’s tired. I am looking at you DCeased and Marvel Zombies.
