3
In Catwoman #65, Selina Kyle is granted another chance at life by a hesitant cat god. Unfortunately, she finds herself trapped in a black ops facility and must fight her way out to survive.
Title: Catwoman #65, Nine Lives Part 7Writer: Tini HowardArtist: Ivan ShavrinColor Artist: Ivan ShavrinMain Cover: David NakayamaVariant Covers: Pablo “Lobos” Villalobos & Rachta Lin; Otto Schmidt (1:25 Variant Cover); Eliza Ivanova (1:50)Release Date: May 21, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Catwoman #65 kicks off in Las Vegas. Viceroy receives word that Catwoman’s body has been found, but she is skeptical based on previous reports. Rosie, however, doubts that Selina Kyle could have survived. Viceroy decides to investigate.
Selina finds herself back in the other realm, surveying the wreckage, and confronted by the cat god who informs her that this is her final chance. Selina, rejecting the idea of religion and tests, angers the cat god who shows her past deaths. Despite appearing to have wasted her lives, the god eventually relents and places Selina in a sarcophagus. She awakens in a freezer.
Breaking free from her containment, Selina must now escape without her equipment. As she navigates the corridors, she realizes the need for assistance. Confronting guards, she incapacitates one, dons his attire and weapons, and sets out to erase her presence in the installation, which lacks modern technology.
Discovered by the guards, particularly a peculiarly flirtatious one, Selina’s infiltration is jeopardized when the missing guard’s gear is noticed. Finding her belongings, she stages a distraction and transforms into Catwoman, engaging the guards and eventually fleeing through a grate.
Uncovering a cache of ancient artifacts, Selina starts collecting when she is attacked by a zombie guard. Forced to fight as the guard feels no pain, she manages to set it ablaze and pursues it out of the cave.
In Brazil, Selina reunites with Scandal. After a brief confrontation, she shares her spoils and enlists Scandal’s help to confront Viceroy, requiring additional allies.
The artwork in this issue did not resonate with me. The character proportions are exaggerated, with Selina’s head appearing disproportionately large in one panel. The cartoonish style deviates from my preference, and the shift towards humor in the writing does not align with the story’s theme.
The narrative seems to trivialize the complex concepts of death and the afterlife, veering towards gore and comedy rather than deeper exploration. The presence of the cat god and the notion of reincarnation offer intriguing avenues for storytelling.
While the issue touches on the theme of death initially, Selina does not perish in this installment, a positive note considering her limited lives. Instead, the focus is on her escape and recruitment of allies to confront Viceroy’s sinister experiments with death and rebirth.
Viceroy’s disturbing actions on her soldiers, depicted with prominent blue veins, and the inclusion of a zombie in Selina’s final battle detract from my enjoyment. The overuse of zombies as shock elements in comics is a tired trope present in other series like DCeased and Marvel Zombies.
Final Thoughts
The cat god accuses Selina of wasting her lives initially, a sentiment that reflects the missed potential of the story. The narrative’s direction seems to be deteriorating, deviating from the intriguing premise.