Chaos and Order.
It’s Catwoman’s crucible moment as she takes some dangerous
risks and suffers terrible consequences.
The Batfamily are given some good moments, but it is the
Selina show – as we see her highs and lows.
The artwork starts wonky with Guera failing to capture any
of the characters, but takes a turn for the better at the halfway mark, with
others taking the place.
The plotting is a little clunky and rushed, not what you
would expect given this late stage of the series.
SPOILERS FOLLOW…………..
The new arc starts in a bad way as the artwork is horrendous
and the plotting and dialogues are all wrong.
Things through take a turn for the better at the midway
point, as Javier Garron and Meghan Hetrick rise to the occasion in the art
department.
Not one person looks like their normal self, and that proves
very distracting given we’re coming to the important portion of this journey.
Batman finally learns Jason Bard is working against him, and
tries to take Hush out of the game. But all he gets from his leads are some
holographic taunts before the building he is in blows up.
The Bat family picks him up from the debris, after Jason and
Tim pay a visit to a severely injured Alfred, who is shifted to Arkham with Dr.
Thomas Elliot’s consent, and is now under Joker’s daughter’s vigilance.
Batman tells a revamped version of Hush aka Tommy Elliot’s
past, and it is a little shorn of the parallels. Instead of him being stuck
with his mother for most of his life after Bruce’s father saves her, he is able
to kill both of his parents in a sick attempt to be like Bruce.
The only similarity is that Tommy feels Bruce should be
enjoying his freedom, but he isn’t. And that’s why Gotham
is dying – Hush can make it all better.
Stephanie pays a visit to her father in jail, but instead of
being able to enjoy the win, she finds that there is a bounty on her head. The
first hunter is Flamingo, who Batman takes out and receives a thank-you note
from Stephanie.
Meanwhile Batgirl decides to take matters into her own
hands, and taunts Bard with death before Jason aka Red Hood comes over to say
goodbye before leaving Gotham.
He manages to
make Batgirl see reason, but what’s more interesting is that Bard truly feels
like he’s saving Gotham, and I would like to
see what his motives are. Also, there is a half-hearted attempt to establish a Jason-Barbara romance here, but given he's leaving for the Outlaws, I don't expect much resolution.
Jade becomes a major player here, as child services deposits
her with her nearest relative – Ibanescu, and she is used as a bargaining chip
with Bone in exchange for Selina.
Batman continues his search for Hush, but hits a snag when
he finds that Catwoman is playing the mob crews against each other. It is an
angry parting, as chaos is the last thing Bruce needs while Selina feels like
she is all alone and it is either her way or no way.
Trouble awaits her at home, when a traumatized Jade leads Bone
straight to Selina.
Catwoman is caught and given an audience for her death, but
this leads to Croc coming looking for Jade, where all hell breaks loose. Most
of the participants are injured including Tiger Shark.
Bone forces Ivanescu to shoot Catwoman due to his own mental
impairment, but things go horribly wrong.
Ivanescu hits Jade instead of Catwoman, leading to his death
at the hands of a broken Killer Croc. When Batman attempts to apprehend him,
Selina engages him in a fit of rage and grief.
Deciding that Gotham’s
chaos needs to be stopped, Catwoman goes to the one man who can help her – her
father, the Lion.
This chapter really highlighted Selina’s attempts to escape
her past, but in the end, it dragged her down. Loosing such a valuable ally at
this stage, not to mention what may become a new obstacle, Bruce is losing Gotham to Hush.
SPOILERS END………………
The Catwoman storyline could have been handled well, but the
ending hit the mark and gave good emphasis for Selina’s change in lifestyle
choices.
The rest is a mixed bag, which isn’t helped by the fact that
the art swings wildly from downright horrible to very good.
There are some nods to obscure Batman characters here,
including one that Bruce personally takes out with little fuss, but the entire
arc feels rushed and discomforting.
So, I give it 6.0 out of 10.
+The ending to the Catwoman arc hits the right notes
+The latter artwork
-The pacing is all over the place
-Gueva’s is unable to give a good visual display initially
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