ACW #613 – Catwoman

Action Comics Weekly #613 (Catwoman)
“The Tin Roof Club, Part 3”
Writer – Mindy Newell
Pencils – Barry Kitson
Inks – Bruce Patterson
Letters – Carrie Spiegle
Colors – Adrienne Roy
Assistant Editor – Dan Raspler
Editor – Denny O’Neil

Time to check back in with my two time (two time) Best Feature of the Week… Catwoman!  Been really enjoying this one so far… with my only complaint being, it’s only going to be with us for four-weeks.


Let’s hit it up with our penultimate chapter!


—

We pick up moments before we left off last week.  Selina realizes something’s almost definitely “up”, and attempts to pull Holly out-da-house.  Holly resists, insistent that her Arthur knows what he’s doing with the Brooch.  Then… BOOM!  Selina managed to miss much of the blast… Holly, however, did not.  The pair share a few last words, with Selina giving Holly a kiss on the forehead before skipping out of dodge… or Jersey.

We jump ahead to Selina tippin’ a bottle in her office at The Tin Roof Club.  She is interrupted by Detective George… who kinda walks the line between Officer and Friend.  He tells Selina that she’d best “dry up” and get movin’.  She claims that she killed Holly.  George waves it off.  He even goes as far as to tell her that he doesn’t know that she was at Holly’s last night… further, he doesn’t know that she stole the brooch.  And, what he doesn’t know… can’t hurt her.  Though, next time they meet… he will have a warrant.  This was a really well-written scene!

We jump ahead again… to Gotham Plaza, where Holly’s husband, Arthur is making time with, I assume, a prostitute.  Dude definitely has a “type”, doesn’t he?  Anyhoo, Catwoman bursts in… and he sends the “dumb tart” away, so they can talk.

Cool as a cucumber, Arthur laments the fact that there was a “gas leak” at he and Holly’s home.  Selina tells him to cut the crap and demands the Brooch.  She even offers him a deal.  He hands over the piece, she keeps her mouth shut about the murder.  Arthur’s response?  He calls Security to report a “cat-burglar”.

Catwoman don’t take kindly to this… and wraps her whip around Artie’s t’roat!  He motions over to the nightstand, where Selina can find the Brooch.

Turns out, he’s tellin’ the truth!  Selina admires the Kitty for a moment… but is soon blindsided by Arthur, who tosses her out the window!

—

Still lovin’ this!


Quickly, I feel like that scene between Selina and George really stole the show here.  This was some of the best-written dialogue I’ve read in a little bit.  George giving Selina enough rope to either hang herself or escape was really cool.  Digging the dynamic here.


Whatta we think about Holly?  Well, we know she’ll eventually be back… and, a mid-2000’s interview with Ed Brubaker reveals that he never even knew this story existed!  Here, take a look:

From The Comics Reporter (2004) Posted: September 2, 2006

That’s the kinda research-mindedness I love seeing from our comics’ pros!  Not sure what’s worse, the fact that Ed didn’t know… or that whoever was editing Ed didn’t know (or just didn’t wanna pipe up)!  I mean, that’s gotta be one of the reasons they’re getting paid, right?  Oh well, Zero Hour happened between her death and return, right?  Guess we can just blame Zero Hour… wouldn’t be the first time, surely won’t be the last.


I thought the death scene was… as well done as it could be, considering the circumstances.  The story needed Selina to survive, and Holly to die… with a measure of deniability for Arthur.  This way of doing it worked!


Our cliffhanger is about as “comics-cliffhangery” as possible, but, again… it worked!  It looks as though Selina dropped the Brooch as she was tackled, so, this visit to Artie might’ve been a total loss.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this all shakes out.


Tomorrow: The Fate of… that Librado guy.