DCU Comic Book Reviews

CATWOMAN #55

The Replacements:  Part Three

July 2006

Written by Will Pfeifer

Pencils by David Lopez

Inks by Alvaro Lopez

Cover by Adam Hughes

Synopsis

Then...Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) returns a little old lady’s purse, but she realizes that she needs to stop because she has other obligations.  Now...Holly is the new Catwoman and getting some training lessons from Ted Grant (aka Wild Cat).  Elsewhere, Slam Bradley and Selina share a meal while Selina makes sure Slam is okay.  Meanwhile, Detective Jim Lenhan of the GCPD stops by to get a copy of Catwoman footage from the Film Freak Edison, who gives the detective a copy, not the original.  Angelo Bend (aka Angle Man) is getting impatient for his return battle with Catwoman, but Edison tells him now is not the time.  Later, Selina hires a nanny (thanks to the in-depth check made by Bruce Wayne) to watch Helena at night.  Selina then dons her Catwoman garb and heads out into the night.  Standing on the rooftops, Selina calls her nanny, but the call is interrupted by a thug whom Holly had stopped the previous night.  Before the thug can fire his gun, Holly stops him again.  While the two Catwoman clean up the mess, Edison gets a call from his photographer, who is filming both Catwoman at that very moment.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

All right.  I am confused.  I am not sure if that is a good thing.  Part of the change that occurred due to the “One Year Later” shift in the title was that the old Catwoman (Selina) had retired and a new Catwoman (Holly) had taken her place.  I had originally thought that if Holly were not permanent she would have been killed fairly quickly.  But she is still alive.  And now Selina is in costume.  So, will the real Catwoman please stand up?  I am confused, I suppose less by the book (which remains good) and more by DC’s marketing scheme.  If Holly really is the new Catwoman, then putting Selina back into the costume undermines the ability to effectively make the transition from the old to the new.  However, if the intent was to get Selina back to being Catwoman, then I am....annoyed.  Not so much that I prefer Holly over Selina, but simply because DC either never gave Holly a chance or never intended to give Holly a chance.  Either way, I feel foolish in believing DC would actually make a “real” change like this.  I am not necessarily saying all comic books or comic characters must go through “real” change, but if you are going to promote it, then at least stick to you guns.  But in a universe in which death really is not death (see:  Jason Todd) I guess I was expecting too much.

As someone who loves film and loves all films regardless of when they were made, I like the Film Freak and find him an interesting villain.  I also heartily recommend all of the films he mentioned, especially “The Detective” with Kirk Douglas which is a hard hitting drama. 

The Film Freak and the Angle Man go to the theater to watch a Val Lewton film festival.  Lewton was a film producer at RKO studies in the 40s who produced, among other films, “Cat People” and its sequel, “Curse Of The Cat People.”  Selina’s alias of Irena Dubrovna comes from the lead character in “Cat People.”

 

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