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beccatoriaSo listen, guys, I usually like to wait a little longer before recommending a run of comics, basically just because, well, comics. Those things go off the rails in big ways sometimes. But honestly, based on what's out so far, I really think that Genevieve Valentine's Catwoman run (which started with #35) is worth looking at, even though there are only three issues and an annual so far.
Here's my pitch:
Here's my slightly more detailed pitch, including the backstory of how she got to be in such a situation (because, of course, it was in a different comic) and slightly more about Catwoman's rejection of Batman than is really necessary for a series where he's a minor supporting character, but 1) I am all about people rejecting Batman and 2) I'm trying to keep spoilers for Valentine's run to a minimum and sticking with the type of stuff you might get in a blurb, so I need SOME way of explaining to you why this run has such a perfect set up.
In Batman Eternal (the weekly comic that's running right now), bad shit is going down. One of the ongoing plot threads is Carmine Falcone's return. For those who don't know, he is traditionally the non-superpowered crime kingpin Batman takes down early in his career. Sometimes it's implied that Batman's destruction of "traditional" organised crime left a vacuum filled by the costumed villains. Falcone certainly subscribes to this and he's setting out to fix it and reclaim his territory.
The new element introduced is Selina Kyle's father - Rex Calabrese, head of the Calabrese crime family and thoroughly estranged from his daughter. It's made clear that she knows who he is, but also that he's been in prison most of her life and she doesn't care to be in contact. It doesn't look like he ever had a role in her life as much of a parent. However, she agrees to see him and then aggressively rejects his offer to back her as the new head of the Calabrese family because he thinks stuff's getting crazy out there and someone needs to bring stability.
Instead, as Catwoman, she goes on a tear, setting the gangs up against each other in an attempt to burn them down around her. Batman, in rigid, paternalistic tones, warns her that this is going to explode in her face. It does. She almost dies and she fails to save a child. I think it's important to note that the child was involved in the situation for reasons beyond Selina's control, but her plan to rescue her involved first putting her into greater danger. She tried for the hat trick: beat the bad guys, save herself, save the civilian, and it didn't work.
It's a fine line to walk - when you write women in superhero comics, well, in any heroic fiction, competence is the double standard. Women don't get to fuck up. And fucking up when Batman warned you is a particularly dicey proposition. When Catwoman's written well, though, it throws shade on Batman's hypocrisy and lack of compassion: here is a man with a revolving door of dead and traumatised sidekicks and an interpersonal style that borders on abuse. He tries to manage and control Selina and it backfires spectacularly. He tries to take it back and it's too late. The fact we see this from Selina's point of view, in her comic, matters. Her aggressive rejection of his pity because her redemption isn't about him; he doesn't understand that they're doing exactly the same thing.
Like I said, it's difficult to write well, but the fact that Catwoman is an impulsive, reckless character is important to me. She is fiercely talented but she's also self-destructive. She jumps into situations without an exit strategy and relies on guts and cunning and cleverness and sometimes blind, dumb luck to get herself back out. It's a life she's comfortable with because she's the only casualty: it's not a failure she'd ever have to live with. She teases Batman and loves danger and under it all she is furious. She is rageful and angry. That's why she walks that line of anti-heroism so well. She's out to get back at the whole damn world - that's why she's flashy, that's why she steals from people who can afford it and who'll hate her for it instead of people who can't stop her. She does what she does because the world is broken, it's just that she's not interested in fixing it. She's just interested in a giant middle finger that everyone can see.
So when she does fail - when she gets caught by the gangs and her lone operation leaves her stranded and someone else pays the price for her "throw myself out a window" exit strategy - and Batman sees her in pain and tries, clumsily, to take back what he said before? Tries to tell her it's okay, he can help her fix it, why can't she just come over to his side, why can't she just stop being a criminal, he knows she's better than that, let him fix it and her and everything by just letting him be in charge?
She pushes him the hell away and runs off tojoin run the Gotham mob. Because that is her redemption story. That is her finally deciding she can't cut and run anymore and that she has to take hold of the power that's been offered to her for the greater good. That is her deciding to be the hero Gotham deserves, even if it's not the hero that it needs. Selina Kyle's angsty self-denying superheroic alter ego is the capo di tutti capi of the Gotham mafia.
It would be a more murderous, dangerous organisation without her, but to keep herself in charge, she has to do terrible things. And damn she wants to be judged for it. But not by Batman. He could never understand that she is finally doing things "his way". He just thinks something as trivial as what side of the law she's on makes some kind of difference.
She's selling her soul, piece by piece, because what she wants, personally, matters less than the difference she could make. Even if that means letting some people think she's a monster. Even if it means using that.
No. Selina won't be judged by Bruce Wayne.
This comic has a young woman named Eiko to do that. The daughter of the head of the Hasigawa family, raised to the role but with no love for it. Living her life with discipline and hidden agendas, dreaming of the freedom someone like Catwoman has. Is she naive? Aspiring to a life that Selina finally realised could not serve her if she hoped to affect long-term change? Or is she representative of the path Selina has yet to walk: the toll of a lifetime spent hiding your true nature, spending the lives of others for ever-decreasing victories, until you're left shoring up your own position at others' expense, because you blocked all your own exit strategies?
I don't know, but I'm desperately interested to find out.
Eiko doesn't want to believe that Selina is part of the problem, not part of the solution, but her disillusionment is becoming clear. She is becoming increasingly isolated and convinced she will need to act, eventually, alone. Lone operators don't do well in head-first assaults on the criminal underworld. Selina has learned this. Selina doesn't want to hurt Eiko, but for the first time in a long time, given what she's already done in this comic, I don't know that she won't anyway.
It's thrilling.
Also featured: police investigations, tense relationships with newfound cousins, every single mobster assuming she's there to take the money then cut and run or that she's "too soft", and angry, angsty, accusatory talks with Batman on balconies.
Also featured: quotes from Elizabeth the First, Caterina Sforza and the Pillow Book (because it is as necessary as the Art of War.)
Also: Genevieve Valentine apparently writes award-winning steampunk novels? I mean, I haven't read anything else by her, but come on, that's just cool.
(No but seriously read it already.)
Here's my pitch:
Selina Kyle, convinced this is her ninth life, looking for redemption as a Gotham mob boss, selling her soul in pieces against a beautifully non-sexualised noir backdrop of business suits, shadows and late-night phosphorescent streetlights, splashed against a charcoal, pencil-sketched palette.
Here's my slightly more detailed pitch, including the backstory of how she got to be in such a situation (because, of course, it was in a different comic) and slightly more about Catwoman's rejection of Batman than is really necessary for a series where he's a minor supporting character, but 1) I am all about people rejecting Batman and 2) I'm trying to keep spoilers for Valentine's run to a minimum and sticking with the type of stuff you might get in a blurb, so I need SOME way of explaining to you why this run has such a perfect set up.
In Batman Eternal (the weekly comic that's running right now), bad shit is going down. One of the ongoing plot threads is Carmine Falcone's return. For those who don't know, he is traditionally the non-superpowered crime kingpin Batman takes down early in his career. Sometimes it's implied that Batman's destruction of "traditional" organised crime left a vacuum filled by the costumed villains. Falcone certainly subscribes to this and he's setting out to fix it and reclaim his territory.
The new element introduced is Selina Kyle's father - Rex Calabrese, head of the Calabrese crime family and thoroughly estranged from his daughter. It's made clear that she knows who he is, but also that he's been in prison most of her life and she doesn't care to be in contact. It doesn't look like he ever had a role in her life as much of a parent. However, she agrees to see him and then aggressively rejects his offer to back her as the new head of the Calabrese family because he thinks stuff's getting crazy out there and someone needs to bring stability.
Instead, as Catwoman, she goes on a tear, setting the gangs up against each other in an attempt to burn them down around her. Batman, in rigid, paternalistic tones, warns her that this is going to explode in her face. It does. She almost dies and she fails to save a child. I think it's important to note that the child was involved in the situation for reasons beyond Selina's control, but her plan to rescue her involved first putting her into greater danger. She tried for the hat trick: beat the bad guys, save herself, save the civilian, and it didn't work.
It's a fine line to walk - when you write women in superhero comics, well, in any heroic fiction, competence is the double standard. Women don't get to fuck up. And fucking up when Batman warned you is a particularly dicey proposition. When Catwoman's written well, though, it throws shade on Batman's hypocrisy and lack of compassion: here is a man with a revolving door of dead and traumatised sidekicks and an interpersonal style that borders on abuse. He tries to manage and control Selina and it backfires spectacularly. He tries to take it back and it's too late. The fact we see this from Selina's point of view, in her comic, matters. Her aggressive rejection of his pity because her redemption isn't about him; he doesn't understand that they're doing exactly the same thing.
Like I said, it's difficult to write well, but the fact that Catwoman is an impulsive, reckless character is important to me. She is fiercely talented but she's also self-destructive. She jumps into situations without an exit strategy and relies on guts and cunning and cleverness and sometimes blind, dumb luck to get herself back out. It's a life she's comfortable with because she's the only casualty: it's not a failure she'd ever have to live with. She teases Batman and loves danger and under it all she is furious. She is rageful and angry. That's why she walks that line of anti-heroism so well. She's out to get back at the whole damn world - that's why she's flashy, that's why she steals from people who can afford it and who'll hate her for it instead of people who can't stop her. She does what she does because the world is broken, it's just that she's not interested in fixing it. She's just interested in a giant middle finger that everyone can see.
So when she does fail - when she gets caught by the gangs and her lone operation leaves her stranded and someone else pays the price for her "throw myself out a window" exit strategy - and Batman sees her in pain and tries, clumsily, to take back what he said before? Tries to tell her it's okay, he can help her fix it, why can't she just come over to his side, why can't she just stop being a criminal, he knows she's better than that, let him fix it and her and everything by just letting him be in charge?
She pushes him the hell away and runs off to
It would be a more murderous, dangerous organisation without her, but to keep herself in charge, she has to do terrible things. And damn she wants to be judged for it. But not by Batman. He could never understand that she is finally doing things "his way". He just thinks something as trivial as what side of the law she's on makes some kind of difference.
She's selling her soul, piece by piece, because what she wants, personally, matters less than the difference she could make. Even if that means letting some people think she's a monster. Even if it means using that.
No. Selina won't be judged by Bruce Wayne.
This comic has a young woman named Eiko to do that. The daughter of the head of the Hasigawa family, raised to the role but with no love for it. Living her life with discipline and hidden agendas, dreaming of the freedom someone like Catwoman has. Is she naive? Aspiring to a life that Selina finally realised could not serve her if she hoped to affect long-term change? Or is she representative of the path Selina has yet to walk: the toll of a lifetime spent hiding your true nature, spending the lives of others for ever-decreasing victories, until you're left shoring up your own position at others' expense, because you blocked all your own exit strategies?
I don't know, but I'm desperately interested to find out.
Eiko doesn't want to believe that Selina is part of the problem, not part of the solution, but her disillusionment is becoming clear. She is becoming increasingly isolated and convinced she will need to act, eventually, alone. Lone operators don't do well in head-first assaults on the criminal underworld. Selina has learned this. Selina doesn't want to hurt Eiko, but for the first time in a long time, given what she's already done in this comic, I don't know that she won't anyway.
It's thrilling.
Also featured: police investigations, tense relationships with newfound cousins, every single mobster assuming she's there to take the money then cut and run or that she's "too soft", and angry, angsty, accusatory talks with Batman on balconies.
Also featured: quotes from Elizabeth the First, Caterina Sforza and the Pillow Book (because it is as necessary as the Art of War.)
Also: Genevieve Valentine apparently writes award-winning steampunk novels? I mean, I haven't read anything else by her, but come on, that's just cool.
(No but seriously read it already.)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-24 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-24 10:33 pm (UTC)But if you're interested in reading the backstory to this stuff, it mostly occurs in #23, #27 and #28. Like that's not all of it, but those are the issues that mostly focus on the events I was talking about?
The annual came out a few weeks ago (I think it's the Catwoman Annual #2?) and fits in between #37 and #38 (which comes out next week I believe). It actually mostly focuses on Eiko and her story and why she views Catwoman the way she does. I found it really useful from that perspective, but I'm not sure it'll help if the issue is getting inside Selina's head?
The Batman Eternal stuff might, though, if you go in just to understand her headspace rather than looking for amazing comics?
no subject
Date: 2015-01-25 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-27 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-26 02:56 am (UTC)All of this is really interesting, partly because between this and Brubaker, most of what I've read for Selina has had her being fed up with the limits of the Catwoman persona and/or deciding to use it for a kind of "greater good" rather than just stealing from the rich in her rage. Like she's trying to channel that rage into something better for others in her previous situation, so she's been leaning towards the hero side of the anti-hero role (not that Batman would ever see it). And while there's still a fair bit of her impulsiveness, it's often geared towards saving someone or changing some situation for the better. So I might have been missing out on the Selina who just wants to be a giant middle finger to the fucked up world. I mean I'm getting some of that, because that's still part of who she is, but it's not the main focus.
But she's still always trying for the hat trick, bless her, and sometimes it works and sometimes it...doesn't.
I CANNOT WAIT to see where they go with Eiko and Selina as they come more into direct conflict with each other, and their worldviews and views of various methods come into conflict, Selina's long game that runs the risk of making her a monster that just expects everyone to do as they're told (unless you get out at the right time) vs. Eiko's lone wolf escape hatch dressed up as a noble venture which can probably only ever ultimately be a suicide mission (unless you get out at the right time). I am loving this conflict, and I really hope they keep exploring it.
I also love Eiko's admiration for Selina and increasing disillusionment, that she expected better, and Selina rejecting that while also kind of still needing it, because she wants some people to expect better and try to hold her to it. I think she wants someone to point out the bad parts, so she can assure herself that she has those covered, that she's not doing what Eiko thinks she is; if she were, she'd be lost, but she's not so it's okay. It's just that Eiko lacks information that Selina has. But she still wants someone holding her accountable, to point out the weak spots so she can assure herself they're covered. WORDS ARE HARD but maybe that made some sense.
Anyway, this comic makes me ramble, as you well know already. I am so glad you
are ruining my life, one heroine at a timerecommended it to me!no subject
Date: 2015-01-27 11:54 am (UTC)So then the question always is: how do you allow her personal growth into someone who's more about chaotic justice than personal gain (even if both involve tearing things down and conning people) without it seeming like she's just getting "saved" by Batman? AND OH MY GOD HAVING HER JOIN THE MOB FOR REDEMPTION IS LIKE THE BEST IDEA FOR THAT EVER. Ahem.
Plus Eiko, EIIIIKKOOO, I love that the book specifically created a moral foil for her who is not Batman. And who probably shares a lot more of Batman's broader moral outlook but who has a far deeper understanding of exactly how fucked a situation they are all in.
ALL of the words made sense and I continue to be so thrilled that you like it as much as I do! <3 <3 <3
(NEW ISSUE TOMORROW ARGH.)
Thanks for the rec!
Date: 2015-04-08 12:49 pm (UTC)Also: here's an excerpt of Valentine's new scifi book (I just bought the ebook) in case you want to check that out!
Start with #34?
Date: 2015-04-08 12:54 pm (UTC)Re: Start with #34?
Date: 2015-04-08 03:27 pm (UTC)Also I'm SO THRILLED that you're enjoying it! ISN'T IT AMAZING? And you haven't even read it all yet, I'm so jealous. (Though: warning, issue #40 came out this month, but #41 isn't out til June. There's a two month hiatus from regular publishing as DC Comics moves from New York to California - they're publishing one-shots and event comics during April and May).
I am DEFINITELY interested in her novels, though I haven't bought any yet because I'm lazy and keep forgetting and haven't given up on the laughable notion that I'm gonna finish a few other unread novels before I allow myself new ones. But seriously, I'm so impressed with Valentine generally I should just start reading more of her stuff. Have you read anything else by her? Are her novels as good as her Catwoman?
Finally - I'm not sure how many comics you read, so I apologise if I'm telling you something you already know - but if you enjoy this you may enjoy Gotham Central. That comic's about ten years old by now (but available in trade) and it's about the Gotham Police Department rather than the criminal underworld? But it has a very similar art style and sense of politics/character/noir realism. It's got a rotating cast, but is one of the first series to seriously give time to Renee Montoya (a queer, latina detective and the text actively engages with that intersection) and she's like...a joy and a gift to mankind. A complicated, grumpy gift.
Re: Start with #34?
Date: 2015-04-22 06:35 pm (UTC)I should really check out Gotham Central. RENEE MONTOYA. I remember there used to be a site called Newsaic where a lawyer dissected the legal background and implications of stuff in The West Wing and The Daily Show and a few comics, including Queen & Country and Gotham Central. He had an analysis of the extent to which Batman is or is not a contractor for the Gotham PD. It sounds like I should check it out. Thanks!
Montoya!!
Date: 2015-07-07 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-23 09:15 pm (UTC)Now... I'm going to save up money for some new DC TPBs apparently. :P (But before then, I'm going to find a way to read this, because it's RIGHT. UP. MY. ALLEY! \0/