If there ever was a time the shark jumped in this doomed experiment of Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns, this moment is it.
So what happened to all that hard work trying to erase the bad 90s for the character? Where effort was put in make Selina Kyle more than just wholly defined by the tragedy of her doomed love between the Cat and the Bat? I guess the editors thought so much damage had already been done by the execrable Heart of Hush, they might as well finish the job.
Seriously, in the first issues of a company-wide revamp that was supposedly meant to attract new readers, you would have thought impressions would matter. Unless Guillem March plans to turn the comic into Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, you’re simply not going to get any readers that dug the kind of material on offer in Catwoman #01 to keep reading, because no one can keep up this kind of riveting plot flow without destroying the character completely. I might add that the Big 2 already have enough problems with comics having an image issue and the perception it’s a niche market catering to subterranean nerds. March attracted a lot of criticism for over-sexualizing with his art for Gotham City Sirens, but I always thought that the writing and visuals did achieve a fine line between sensuality and self-respect. Here, any illusions of restraint is pretty much non-existent.
DC is already have a lot of issues with ill-thought continuity as well as the elephant in the room, THE Barbara problem. The less said about that one, the better. Even just flipping through Birds of Prey #01 and seeing her ALTERED and interacting with Dinah is eyerolling-inducing. The last thing DC needs is self-created minefields like with Catwoman (and to a lesser extent, Starfire, but that’s another complaint in itself).