It pains me to write this review, because Catwoman has been one of my favorite books since Ed Brubaker took over. However, this issue marks a significant change in art style, away from the stylized work of Darwyn Cooke, Cameron Stewart, Brad Rader and the like and into a fairly generic super-hero style by Gulacy and Palmiotti. Brubaker's story also feels a little bit less stylish than his previous tales, with less of the personal involvement that drove the best stories in this book previously. Rather than a story that revolves around the damaged lives of the protagonists as much as the sleazy villain, we have a crime needing retribution that feels more like the kind of thing Batman would be up for, and combined with the change in artwork, it feels like the book is making a pretty deliberate change in direction rather than just gaining a new art team.
My biggest disappointment here comes from the art, and it's not a surprising disappointment. The artwork isn't terrible, it's just a complete shift away from what I've seen before, and none of the characters look right as a result. Selina goes from a compact gymnast build to a lanky sexpot with Asian features, Slam Bradley goes from pug ex-boxer type to generic tough guy schlub and Holly... well, Holly looks about twelve years old. Combine this change in characters with a set of ordinary panel layouts and you've got a very drastic and unfortunate change of style on the book.
Perhaps most disappointing isn't even that the style is an unfortunate change, but that Gulacy's work here isn't even as strong as some of his recent work on Reload or Master of Kung-Fu. The fight sequence between Catwoman and some thugs is completely generic, and there's a lascivious look to the panels of Selina getting dressed that confirm my fears that this book might be heading in a more popular T & A direction rather than the noir direction which has defined it so far.
It's not just the change of art that is noticeable in this issue, though. Certainly the scenes of Selina getting dressed could be attributed to the script as much as to the art, for instance. While Brubaker maintains a darker tone than you'd find in the Batman books (at least, before Azzarello and Risso came by to make their mark on Batman), but this definitely feels more like a Batman story than a Catwoman one. I won't deny that the brutality of the crime is effective, or that Selina's method of revenge is more over-the-top than Batman's would be, but when even one of the other characters is noticing that it feels like Selina's in a Batman story, something is wrong. I'm also disappointed in the choice of the big bad villain brought in to deal with Selina, not just because the big bad villain being brought in to deal with the hero is such a cliche, but because that particular villain doesn't really come off as threatening or interesting in my view.
Honestly, I can't blame DC for wanting to go in a slightly different direction for Catwoman. It's no secret that the book hasn't exactly been burning up the sales charts. However, in their quest for a larger audience, I'm afraid they may have sacrificed the smaller one that they had. I'm fairly certain that unless there's another art change, my interest in the book may fall away.
