- Title: Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (One-shot)
- Comic Vine: link
- Writers: Ann Nocenti, Will Pfeifer, Tom King, Ed Brubaker, Paul Dini, Jeff Parker, Chuck Dixon, Ram V, Mindy Newell
- Artists: Ty Templeton, Jonathan Case, Steve Rude, Lee Garbett, Tim Sale, Pia Guerra, Kelley Jones, Fernando Blanco, Robson Rocha, Jim Balent, Emanuela Lupacchino, Tula Lotay, Mikel Janin, Cameron Stewart
Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular is the latest DC over-sized one-shot to bring in several artists and writers to feature a character in a series of short tales. It’s on par with the Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular fans of Catwoman may wish to pick up, but there’s nothing here that’s a must-see.
My three favorite stories of the collection are the extremely meta “Conventional Wisdom” in which Selina finds herself signing autographs at BatCon while being confused with the various costumed fans (all of which is caused by Dr. Destiny), “Art of Picking a Lock” which features narration of story from Selina’s past while she is currently saving Slam Bradley from Joker henchmen, and “Helena” which features an unprepared Catwoman dealing with pregnancy (in a bit of a throwback to Earth-2’s Huntress origins).
While the collection doesn’t feature a Batman: The Animated Series story, the collection of art does feature an entry by Ty Templeton featuring my favorite version of Catwoman’s costume along with looks at her various costumes over the years.
“Catwoman of Earth” features the Julie Newmar version of the character from the television series fighting off an alien invasion. “Cat of Nine Tales” features Catwoman toying with a guard, eventually frightening him into unconsciousness by the ways in which their encounter could play out. And “Little Bird” features Catwoman stealing a piece with deep ties to her past.
We also get Catwoman going up against Clayface in “Born to Kiln,” escaping a trap by the Taxidermist in “Save the Cat,” and dealing with a crooked rent-a-cop in “Now You See Me,” And, as with the other collections we’ve seen, the story included from the current timeline, “Addicted to Trouble,” featuring Catwoman on the road proves to be one of the lesser entries.
[DC, $9.99]