ACW #614 - Catwoman

Action Comics Weekly #614 (Catwoman)
"The Tin Roof Club, Part Four"
Writer - Mindy Newell
Pencils - Barry Kitson
Inks - Bruce Patterson
Letters - Carrie Spiegle
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Assistant Editor - Dan Raspler
Editor - Denny O'Neil

Can ya believe it?  We're already done with Catwoman!  I mean, done-done, she ain't comin' back!

These Showcase Presents features are short one-arc-and-done affairs.  This will be the only one for a bit... the next will be Shazam!... which begins, in ten weeks!  Save the date!

--

Remember last week?  We ended with Catwoman being tossed out a window and plummeting to her most definite doom.  Only, well.. of course she doesn't land with a splat.  After a little aerial voodoo, Selina manages to land on a flagpole sticking out from the building.  Back inside, Arthur and his Lady Friend are approached by Hotel Security.  They demand to look around, unless Artie can cough up some, uh, "charity".

And so, one of the Guards proceeds to snoop around the room (while the other keeps Arthur and Whatsherface out).  The snooping guard takes a look out the room's open window, and... well... Catwoman grabs him by the shirt, and... get this, pulls him out, dropping him to his death!  Wait, what?  She... killed him?!

Next, tired of waiting, the other Security Guard peeps out the room, leaving Arthur and his Mistress to argue, giving us the confirmation (as if there were ever any doubt) that Arthur did kill Holly... annnnd, the same thing happens!  Catwoman yanks this poor sap out the window, too!  So, in the course of two pages, Selina has killed two (relatively) innocent men!

She climbs back into the room, and... puts the Brooch back in its box... and places that box back into Arthur's nightstand.  Hmm...

Arthur and Whatsherface re-enter their Hotel Room... and just then, they find themselves swarmed by Police Officers.  Ya see, a couple of poor goons were just tossed out their window... stands to reason, Artie might know a thing or two about it!  Far as the Cops know, Arthur's the one who tossed 'em!  That's not going to be his only charge, however... they also locate the purloined Brooch in his nightstand!

So, after killing two dudes and planting some evidence, Selina Kyle wins the day!  Yay?  We wrap up back at the Tin Roof Club, where she and Detective Flannery share a drink... and a smile.

--

Well...

This certainly... uh, turned... didn't it?

Not digging the idea that Selina would kill a pair of dudes as nothing more than a means to an end.  I mean, I can't root for that!  Up to this point, Selina has been a mostly sympathetic character... I've been rooting for her throughout.  But this... this is a step too far for me.

I mean, Arthur needed to pay for what he did to Holly... but, other people didn't need to die for that to happen.  Selina should have been smarter than this.  She didn't kill those Security Guards because she "had no choice"... she chose to do it!  It was a decision she made!  I don't like that... don't like it one bit.

Really not much more to say about it.  After three very strong installments, this final chapter really... uh, pooped the bed.  I'm very disappointed.

Tomorrow: Speaking of disappointment... Black Canary!

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.

ACW #612 - Catwoman

Action Comics Weekly #612 (Catwoman)
"The Tin Roof Club, Part Two"
Writer - Mindy Newell
Pencils - Barry Kitson
Inks - Bruce Patterson
Letters - Carrie Spiegle
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Assistant Editor - Dan Raspler
Editor - Denny O'Neil

Back to our first SHOWCASE Presentation... Catwoman!  Stuff like this makes me wish Action Comics Weekly kept going more than the 42 issues it did!  Not that everything's been awesome, but I just love the idea of these short features putting a spotlight on some lower-tier (at the time) characters.

Let's do it!

--

Picking up right where we left off last week, Selina has opened the door to her office to find her Bartender wielding a gun... and suddenly, a shot is fired.  Turns out, it was actually Detective Flannery's gun that went off... Bartender Willy hits the ground.  George begins scanning the office, and isn't too terribly surprised to see it littered with kayoed gangsters.  More than that, he's unshaken to discover Selina's whip and catsuit on her desk.  He's apparently clued-in on the alter-ego, but assumed Selina "killed the cat".

Realizing that he has very little choice at the moment, Flannery goes to arrest Selina.  He only manages to get one cuff on her before she overwhelms him.  And by "overwhelms", I mean she just beats the hell out of him.  Before "suiting up" and taking her leave, she cuffs George with his own manacles.

Turns out, Catwoman is heading to New Jersey to check in with Holly... if you recall, last week she'd "gifted" her that precious cat brooch.

Catwoman sneaks into Holly's place.  Holly, is pretty surprised by this, and jokes that Selina might be there to "rob" her.  Selina asks for Holly to hand the gift over as it's too dangerous for her to have it.  Holly admits that she didn't wait until Christmas to open the package... and further admits that she'd given it to her husband, Arthur so he could drop it off at their Safe Deposit box at the bank for safe-keeping.

Selina asks to see Arthur... but he ain't home.  She asks Holly if it's weird for her husband to be out at three in the morning.  Before she can answer, however... the house explodes!

--

Wowie!  With an ending like that, it's almost like we're back reading Wild Dog again!

Really not sure how this one's going to play out.  I mean, clearly, Catwoman is going to survive the blast... but, will Holly?  I think we're meant to assume that Arthur was planning to "make off" with the brooch, and rigged his own house to blow, wife included, in order to cover his getaway?  At least that's my "hot take" on the subject.

Jumping back to the beginning of the story, I really enjoyed the back and forth between Selina and George.  I'm digging this George character an awful lot.  We can tell that he doesn't want to arrest Selina, and he's trying to be as patient as possible with her... but, in times like this, he can't really turn a blind eye.

Overall... Catwoman got my "Best of the Week" vote last week, and as of right now, it's very likely that it'll go two-in-a-row for me.  Really enjoying this... it's a shame that it's already halfway through!

Tomorrow: Some-one's in the Dump-ster with Di-nah!

ACW #611 - Catwoman

Action Comics Weekly #611 (Catwoman)
"The Tin Roof Club"
Writer - Mindy Newell
Pencils - Barry Kitson
Inks - Bruce Patterson
Letters - Carrie Spiegle
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Assistant Editor - Dan Raspler
Editor - Denny O'Neil

Consider this... DC Comics puts out a weekly anthology series, featuring a rotating cast of series'... and it's taken until the eleventh week to get anything Bat-Adjacent!  I don't think that sort of thing would happen today... would it?  I mean, not on an ongoing basis anyway!

Don't look now though, but in a couple of weeks... 1/3 of Action Comics Weekly will be Bat-Adjacent!

--

We open with Catwoman (which I'm going to type out as "Catowman" every. single. time.) stealing a precious Egyptian (cat-shaped) brooch from the Gotham City Museum of Fine Art.  We jump ahead to find out just what Selina Kyle is up to at this point in history.  Turns out, she's a pretty successful businesswoman, and owner of The Tin Roof Club, a nightclub where the elite and shady alike congregate to drink (and play) their cares away.  In one of the "shadier" rooms, the talk is all about that stolen brooch.

Selina is visited by her old pal Holly Robinson (from Year One), now a married lady living in Joisey... but written with more of a Lon-Gylund accent just the same... maybe there's crossover, I never spent much time in Jersey.  She keeps badgering Selina to come out to the 'burbs, but keeps getting run-around replies.  Selina then gives her a boxed gift... and tells her not to open it until Christmas.

As Selina asks her bartender, Willy to serve Holly a Shirley Temple, Detective George Flannery enters the Club.  Holly excitedly shows him the gift (box) that Selina had just given her, which gets his wheels ta' turnin'.  He's about 90% certain that the box contains the stolen Egyptian brooch... and heck, so am I!  He reminds her that he's let her get away with a lot over the years... but this is a bridge too far.  She maintains her innocence, before heading back to her office...

... where she realizes she probably ought to deep-six the cat suit for now.  It's not outside of the realm of possibilities for Flannery to procure a search warrant.  As she starts changing clothes (I guess she's going to wear the cat suit out under her clothes?), a trio of armed baddies burst on the scene!  Selina grabs her whip and starts fighting them off.

With the trio kayoed, Selina attempts to flee her office... only, she runs right into her bartender, Willie!  He's also holding a gun... and asks where Selina is running off to... before pulling the trigger!

--

This...

This I like.

Anytime we've come across a Mindy Newell piece here at the blog, I always walk away from it feeling like I've read a pretty darn good story.  First time I noticed her name in the credits was in that two-part Lois Lane: When it Rains, God is Crying story from 1986... and I really liked that!  This Catwoman four-parter starts off very strong as well.

In fact, my sole complaint (thus far) is that this feature will only be around for four-weeks... then it goes away forever!  It's worth noting that this feature is being promoted as a "Showcase Presents"-branded story... whatever that means.  Perhaps this was intended to launch into an ongoing series?  I know the first Catwoman miniseries (also written by Newell) will come out in 1989... so, maybe this is a lead-in to that.  It almost certainly must be... though, I've been wrong before.

SHOWCASE Presents...

Anyhoo... into the story.  It's really just a table-setting chapter, but it's done quite well.  Really, where so many of the ACW features have struggled out the gate is in straddling that line between introducing their cast and establishing their purpose.  Catwoman manages to successfully do both here.  Really looking forward to what's next.

Tomorrow: Will Black Canary finally get on with it?

JLA: Year One #1 (1998)

JLA: Year One #1 (January, 1998)
"Justice League of America, Year One"
Storytellers - Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & Barry Kitson
Letterer - Ken Lopez
Colorist - Pat Garrahy
Separations - Heroic Age
Editor - Peter Tomasi
Cover Price: $2.95

Today we're going to meet the founding members of the (post-Crisis) Justice League of America!

Get ready for Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and... Black Canary?!  Read on...

--

We open in a shadowy man... entering a shadowy room, and sitting before a bank of monitors.  Flipping them on, he sees the exploits of various young superheroes Green Lantern, Black Canary, Aquaman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter.  Apart, they are a force to be reckoned with... together, however... they might be unstoppable.  He decides it's time to investigate.

We shift scenes to Central City where Barry Allen is arriving (late) to work.  Today he and his partner, Jack are tasked with comparing some ballistics to tie a gun with a certain crime.  It just takes Barry a glance (at hyper-speed) to deduce that the bullet is a match.

An impressed Jack heads out to deliver the results... at which time Barry decides to clean his workspace, all the while wondering if his newfound powers make him something less than human.  We close out this section with Barry being introduced to a new detective by the name of Paris Jackson.

Next stop... Dinah Lance's flower shop, where she's getting a delivery from "PDQ Deliveries" (heh).  The fellas making the drop are going on and on about the new hot blonde in the fishnets making the scene... and also discuss some positions situations they wouldn't mind seeing her in.

The perverts leave, and Dinah chats with her mom.  Despite Dinah being of the ripe old age of 19, the elder-Lance still treats her like a child.  Go figure!  A man rushes in to buy flowers for the love of his life... and, I think Dinah expects him to hand them to her... but he doesn't?  Anyhoo, she gets upset at her mother... and storms off.

We next join Aquaman who is hanging out in a rather divey bar.  He's mocked for trying to pay with "doubloons" and one of the rowdy drunks dunks his head into a (conveniently placed) basin of water.  Arthur overpowers him and pushes him off.

Before a full-blown riot can break out, a man interjects and pulls Aquaman aside for a drink.

Over to Coast City where Hal Jordan is doing some very Hal Jordanny things... ya know, flying a plane to its very limits... all that jazz.  He is connected via headset to his mechanic Tom Kalamaku... who is oddly still referred to as "Pie" here.  Figure 1998 was a bit late for that to still be a thing, but whattayagonnado?

They foam down the runway... and Hal lands without going boom.  Pie rushes over to lambaste him for his daredevilry and to give him back his lantern ring.  Remember, Hal refuses to wear it when he's testing planes.

Carol Ferris approaches, along with an FAA Investigator named Lora Denton.  Carol pulls Hal aside to ask him to ixnay any talk of their sending planes up too soon.  So, of course, that's exactly what Hal tells Ms. Denton.

Finally, we join John Jones... who along with his partner Diane is staking out a potential drug deal.  When it all starts to "go down", John goes invisible and sneaks inside... and before Diane can even call in for back-up, he already has the situation under control.

We shift ahead and join the entire (not a) team (yet), who are being briefed by General Eiling (hey, we know him!) about aliens beaming in at a nearby cavern... a cavern that houses a fire giant and a big large bird.

The Just Us League hops into action... and starts fighting off the invaders.  Unfortunately, not before the fire giant is awakened!

Also, that big large bird!

This whole fight scene is really well done.  We get to see some interesting banter between the heroes wherein they (unwittingly) share some details of their powers with one another.  Hal lets it slip that he's got a problem with the color yellow... J'onn reveals his fear of fire.  Dinah tips Barry off as to how Jay Garrick would handle a certain situation... it's really such a cool scene!

Between the five of 'em, they're able to contain the situation... and take down the big-baddies.  The invaders do manage to get away though.  After Eiling and company vacate, the fivesome discuss making their association a bit more official.

... a dialogue which is being overheard by a group calling themselves Locus.

--

Man this was fun!

This came out (in trade) right around the time I was acclimating to the DC Universe, and was one of the first (full) Justice League stories I'd ever read.

I've mentioned before that when I turned to DC, I didn't exactly dip my toes in... I ran out and grabbed the Crisis on Infinite Earths trade collection... and while it didn't make a whole helluva lot of sense to me (and most/all of the dramatic moments had been spoiled for me), I enjoyed it well enough.  The other trade I picked up was JLA: Year One... which, wasn't confusing at all, and really helped me feel "caught up" on their (post-Crisis) origin.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the only thing I was confused about was Black Canary taking Wonder Woman's place.  After acquainting myself with Diana's post-Crisis origin, however, I was totally on board.  I love Dinah being a sort of link between the Justice League and Justice Society.  It gives the team that "legacy" feeling that the entire DC Universe seems built on.

This won't likely win me any "thumbs up" or anything, but I gotta say, Wonder Woman has always sort of bored me (still does!).  Replacing her with Black Canary works just fine for me! I find her to be a far more interesting character... and she just "works" in this context.  The whole League feels far less "stuffy" with her as a founder.  Her removal as an "original" during Infinite Crisis (I think it was Infinite Crisis) was one of the more lamentable things about that event.

This series is also notable for its inclusion of Hal and Barry.  In 1998, in-continuity stories featuring the two of them were something of a novelty.  Not that they could "leave them out", but it's still cool to see.  We weren't really getting them anywhere else.

I really can't say it enough... this was a lot of fun... and, really nice to look at!  Kitson has a style that is both classic and contemporary.  Also... clean, so he's a CCC.  You can look at his work at any time, and it never looks old-fashioned or dated.  It's really something else!

This is a weird one to recommend... especially for a continuity-stickler like myself.  That said... even though this story "never happened" I'd definitely suggest any fans of DC Comics give this a read.  So much good stuff here... and the novelty of this post-Crisis League is a lot of fun.  As mentioned, this has been collected in trade and is also available digitally.

--

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