The second arc of Catwoman concludes with the same great writing and art I've come to expect, but a change in colorists mars what would otherwise be another near-perfect issue. This story has been more of a con game than a cat burglary, with a lot in common with good heist or con movies like Ocean's 11 or The Sting, and the final issue brings all the characters together for a final showdown of sorts. Brubaker plays up the tension and levels of mistrust and trust, as Rader provides the same animated and yet gritty look that has been the defining visual for the relaunched Catwoman.
Post-No Man's Land, the cops in Gotham have become a lot more interesting, as the creators added to the already-established cops like Montoya and Bullock with Detective Allen, a former Metropolis cop with a reputation for the straight and narrow. Putting this "by the book" cop into a position where he has to collaborate with the definitely off the books Catwoman made for some strong storytelling, and ended up giving Allen as much characterization and fleshing out as Catwoman, Holly and Slam have gotten in this story. By far my favorite character element has been a fairly subtle one, however, the growing affection between Selina and Slam, manifested most clearly in her reaction to Slam being shot.
While Brubaker is writing the book in discrete four-issue arcs, he has also clearly been building a larger backstory, and the finale of the story makes it clear that there's more to come tying into these events. Catwoman's view of the corrupt cops and why it's not that important to take them down is a sobering realization about both the way Catwoman's goals differ from Batman and the way her methods are going to differ, and while Holly gets a nice happy ending, there are definitely dire portents on the way for Selina and her friends.
The story continues to have a noir charm, which comes partly from the dialogue and the characters, all of whom are the sort of damaged and dangerous types you'd find in a pulp novel, and even more from the artwork. Rader is skilled at handling the multiple small panel style that gives this book it's cinematic feel, and he can convey bruising, bullying and action well enough to give the sense of the violent world that Selina is in. It's a shame, then, that the artwork didn't get Hollingsworth's trademark nuanced coloring, instead getting an overly dark and one-tone look from the usually excellent Lee Loughridge. The book looks muddy and dank, not stylish and dark.
Leaving aside an unfortunate coloring problem, which affects the aesthetics far more than the clarity of the storytelling, Brubaker's Catwoman seems to be cruising along nicely. It exists on the fringes of Batman's universe, making use of his colorful city and cast of characters but reading more like a pure crime comic than a super-hero book, and it's exactly the kind of thing that convinces me that a Catwoman monthly actually is a good idea.
