Catwoman #59

Catwoman #59 starts DC's greatest thief in a race against time and a magical mystery. This storyline sets her on a journey across the world now that the things tying her to Gotham have been reconciled. She could go anywhere and do anything, and this reviewer is confident that this stellar creative team will handle whatever happens next phenomenally well. Read Full Review

Catwoman #59 introduces an interesting story concept. Selina Kyle appears to be given a chance to close the loose ends in her life, but it definitely comes at a cost. Read Full Review

This is a fast-paced, pulpy issue that calls back to Selina's classic adventures. While it's a lot faster-paced than the previous arcs, it almost rushes through some events and setup. Read Full Review

With Catwoman once again taking off from Gotham, the character returns to an unpredictable wildness that is difficult to pinpoint, making for great stories. Catwoman #59 shows Selina Kyle at her most philosophical, making for some of the best comic book dialogie I've read in a while. Read Full Review

This issue was a pleasant surprise after giving such low scores to Howard's Gotham War segments. The art is attractive and stylistically suits my idea of Catwoman though it isn't always as consistent as I'd like. Meanwhile, the writing was enjoyable but rather slight. The new status quo has my attention as well so, all in all, I'd say I'm excited to see what the next issues have in store for me. Because I haven't had positive experiences with Tini Howard's writing before I'm still cautious but as of now, I'm going to recommend giving this story a try! Read Full Review

With "Gotham War" now in the past, Catwoman is sent down a path that's filled with potential, even at its most dated. Selina's exploration of her "nine lives" begins to unfold in a matter that perfectly blends the book's capacity for grounded and larger-than-life, and Tini Howard's script venturing out of Gotham City is a welcomed change of pace. Read Full Review

A story which feels like a classic Catwoman adventure in the making. A new era starts with a wonderful nod to Selina's past to an exciting glimpse in to her future. Read Full Review

Along with an odd tattoo, these lives provide Catwoman a chance to push the limits further than she ever has before with death not to be feared. While allowing the character to head in new directions, the concept is more than a little odd, especially with this The Cat Goddess lurking on the other side of the veil. Read Full Review

Catwoman #59 answers the question of what happened to Selina at the end of the Gotham War and the answer is downright hilarious!  Tini Howard seems intent on proving that she has no clue what makes Catwoman a great character and I don't think any Nine Lives power will be enough to save Selina or her fans! Read Full Review

LeonReadsNRates

Jan 22, 2024

Considerably more interesting and a breath of fresh air compared to the slog that was the Gotham War event. Catwoman is cursed with 9 lives, but isn't sure if the markings on her back are actually related to lost lives. This sort of reads like an inventory issue but it's light enough to keep me interested. Selina goes to meet Valmont's old lover, Paola Molina, to confront her and tell her to news that her old flame is dead. Nico Leon is off the art but his replacement, Stefano Raffaele, is no slouch and the action is sharp as a cat's scratch. Recommended.

Screaming Enigma

Dec 12, 2023

While this still isn't my favorite issue of the run or anything, I also don't hate it like others seem to. I think the premise is very interesting, but it just needs better execution. I know Howard is a fully capable writer, but this just isn't hitting like the series has in the past. Hopefully things pick up in the next issue.

derbycomics

Nov 21, 2023

What the heck was this? Catwoman lived through the end of Gotham War, which itself isn’t surprising but the way it was handled in this issue (i.e. full-speed ahead without more than a passing reference to Vandal Savage) makes it seem like the DC Editors realized how bad the event was and wanted to distance themselves from it as fast as possible. Not that the start to Selina’s next arc was much better. Howard’s set up for this new story was extremely rushed with pieces being taped together when a reasoning was needed for a specific part of the plot. Nothing made sense, from the literal cat burglary to Selina’s new scars. A chaotic start to a series that badly needs a strong arc to recalibrate things sooner rather than later.

ResearchReader

Nov 21, 2023

What is this? Seriously... what is this? So a bunch of non-sense scenes, with rushed-plot and now she has powers? Really? Tini's entire run seems to be breaking down and ruining Catwoman as much as possible. Between her falling in love with a War-criminal monster to her getting powers, what is left of Catwoman? Well I can answer that. Covers. Looking at Catwoman sales, that is the sole thing that appears to be keeping the sales going. The All-star cast of artists DC puts on the covers. Tini is an anchor and the artists are the helium balloons trying to pull up this complete waste of a series. I genuinely feel bad that such good art is being associated with this terrible writing. Nine-Lives superpowers? Please end this run. It is so pain fully cringe. more

ItsJess

Nov 21, 2023

As if tini howard can't butcher the character even more, she decides to give Catwoman powers. Then, proving how incompetent tini howard's Selina is, she immediately dies twice. On a mission to return a fucking cat. Mentioning valmont is an insta 2/10; combine that with everything else and it's a 0/10. Oh and an old lady found Selina under rubble. Guess Bruce or Dick or anyone else didn't bother checking it lmfao.

liolia

Nov 21, 2023

I feel really unkind consistently giving Howard's run poor rating, so I really tried to approach the beginning of this new arc with fresh eyes. And I still couldn't!!! This sucks. I get that Howard has ideas, but they just totally DON'T fit with what is currently happening, to the point where the inconsistencies result in a very incompetent, hypocritical, and cruel character. Here are some specific examples: Selina literally says "now that I've taught the people of Gotham everything I know about survival" when literally she was just a stump who brainlessly fell into Savage's plan and recreated the League of Shadows in Gotham and caused at least Bash and Roland to be killed and then peaced out? WTF! "To be given a gift and be expect ed to use it for good." Step 1: let's get killed twice trying to return a cat. (To be a bit more charitable, I guess the point here wasn't to return a cat, but stop a crazy serial killer, but the mechanics of how Selina accomplished that weren't clear, nor did her motivation about it really shine, since it was mired in the monologues about Valmont). "Now that I've smoothed things over with the Bat, said I love in your own, silent ways" - that's another big WTF line for me. Who does this? If they are meant to be a couple, why can't they say goodbyes using words, like normal people? Why would she trust Eiko more than Bruce? Also, the flashback scene here doesn't match the flashback scene in #139. It seems like Catwoman is written out of Batman's run, which, following the Gotham War fiasco and Howard's never-ending hold on this character, is probably for the best. The art is bogged down in this plot. Like, I think that the ideas about death and rebirth and what's worth dying for are interesting. But this just fails to tell a consistent story, either internally or in view of the entire run. more