Beyond awful. Since when is Catwoman a mafia Don? The motivations in this book make no sense. And the book is beyond boring. Garry Brown's artwork is scratchy and crude. It doesn't help this book at all. This book needs to get back to its Ed Brubaker / Darwyn Cook roots. That's the only time Catwoman has been interesting in her own book.

No more sexploitation. Good start, yeah?So why does this book feel so somber, like I'm reading a tragedy instead of a crime thriller?Maybe it's the off-kilter quotes peppered throughout the story (usually drawn from the writers of female leaders from centuries past):"You may see whether I keep the serpent that poisons me when they confess to have reward." What the hairy hell does that even mean? I get going literary - sometimes I feel very clever with myself when I can remember that one line fro...

Better...but not by much...bad in another way...at least it tries.Oh man, I can't even explain how much a disappointment the Catwoman series has been since the New52 relaunch. Gone were the days of the amazing and strong antihero that was Selina Kyle, gone were the days of amazing writers giving her a unique and special voice like Brubaker and Cooke what we are left with is simply put...garbage.With the change from Nocenti (which was very disappointing) to Valentine I thought we would get someth...

3.5 starsWow! Ok, first off, this is leaps and bound above whatever crap they were peddling in the last few volumes!I only wish Jae Lee was doing more than just the cover art... Selina Kyle is finally getting decent treatment in her title!Genevieve Valentine is doing her justice, and writing her as the smart, street savvy character that she should have been all along. Bless you, kind woman!Ok, having said all that, I wasn't actually in love with the story. I know, right?! What's wrong with me?We...

From where Noncenti left the character when I stopped reading after Vol. 3, it was near rock bottom, and apparently got worse...So when I read Batman Eternal and saw the direction they took Selina, I actually had a renewed interest.Writer Genevieve Valentine has saved a character that was relegated to S&M sex object masturbatory fantasy joke and turned her into a powerful player in Gotham's crime family world.Discovering that she was, in fact, the daughter of Leo Calabrese, the former head of Go...

Wow! Selina Kyle! Goodness! And Catwoman! How do I even begin to gush about this volume? I really like Brubaker's run, but Valentine takes Selina to a whole new level, putting aside the suit and getting her to lead a crime family. It was a big risk, and my goodness did it pay off. With a similar feel to Brubaker's run (but more political and intense), Selina's navigating Gotham's crime world from a different angle, and it's highly intriguing. A new woman slips on the Cat suit and Selina has to d...

I keep going because I'm a dumb idiot sucker who loved Volume 1. The story here was muddled and the art was atrocious. Worse than A.N. Thats hard to do.

I got a little bogged down by some of the strategy stuff but overall I liked seeing Selina be a BOSS. And the art was stunning. So many perfect shots of Selina in the shadows, long coat whipping behind her. Such good shadows. Beautiful whip work all around. And Eiko! Eiko. That is all.

(C+) 66% | Almost SatisfactoryNotes: Meetings, lots of meetings! jawing faction versus faction: it's dry as chalk, just talk, talk, talk, with seldom any action.

This series really took a dive after the first few strong volumes. Ann Nocenti's run was confusing and just not very enjoyable, so I was hoping the new writer would be a step up. However, it remained just as confusing. This series ties into Batman: Eternal which I haven't read yet, and has Catwoman assuming control of a crime family in Gotham. This isn't really a Catwoman story, however, as it reads like someone doing a cheap Godfather imitation. Maybe it was me, but I was lost for most of the s...

This link here says it best: http://beccatoria.dreamwidth.org/1835..."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 sty...

A little meandering but way more interesting and character-driven than any of the other Catwoman solo titles I've read.

Selina Kyle has inherited the mantle of leader of the Calebrese Family and overlord-ship of the crime families of Gotham. There's a new Catwoman filling the gap she no longer can indulge.

After three volumes of Ann Nocenti, a kick in the face would have been a welcome improvement, but luckily, a new creative team is even better. Comics newcomer Genevieve Valentine joins artist Garry Brown to take Catwoman into the events of Batman Eternal. This sees her becoming Gotham's leading crime boss after the revelation that her father is Rex Calabrese, and so Selina hangs up her tights in order to try and fix Gotham her own way.Valentine's story flits around the different crime families v...

I’d have put money on Genevieve Valentine’s Catwoman being head and shoulders above Ann Nocenti’s appalling run because nothing - nothing - could be THAT bad… and I’d have lost that money - Catwoman still sucks!In Batman Eternal, Selina Kyle discovered she was related to the Calabrese crime family and now she’s the head and trying to run all the crime families in Gotham. The book follows the in-fighting that goes with all mob stories with Batman villains Black Mask and Penguin doing stuff in the...

I really liked the cover art, the inside art was sketchy, though not bad, just not to my taste. The story was the same. If you like crime stories, this is a good one. I did like the characterizations better in this, it did not feel like different characters from those I knew, and none seamed pathetic either.

I don't know where I stand on this yet. Objectively, it's a very good story, though I can imagine it'd be boring if you don't like mob stories. Me, I love the complicated, layered storytelling in this, and the way Selina was shown to be damn smart at what she did, even while it was killing her soul.But. Is it a Catwoman story? I'm not sure. Even after reading this and seeing Selina's reasoning -- to build a better Gotham -- I still don't know that I buy that Selina would have made the choice to

The New 52 has not been kind to the sly thief. Between Judd Winick's pale imitation of a cheap HBO drama without the plot, and Ann Nocenti's unspeakable mess, the Catwoman title has been stuck at the bottom of the DC barrel for quite some time, sharing space with the likes of Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Titans, and the post-Robinson Earth 2. Thankfully, novelist and AV Club writer Genevieve Valentine has found a new direction for this troubled character, and has instantly spun a previous emba...

Catwoman: Keeper of the Castle picks up where the previous volume left off collecting the next six issues (Catwoman #35–40) of the 2011 on-going series with Catwoman Annual #2 and collects seven interconnecting one-issue stories.From the aftermath of the events in Batman: Eternal, Selina Kyle has accepted the family mantle of being the Boss of the Calabrese Family – an organized crime family. As Boss, she no longer be Catwoman and hung up that identity. As head of the Calabrese Family, she faces...

I didn't really find this all that compelling but that's because I'm not really a fan of mob dramas. The Godfather makes me want to snooze.I do, however, think that Valentine did a stellar job at making Selina the strong, ruthless leader that she is in this issue. She was always in Batman's shadow as his sexy lover, as the one whom he always tries to save. But here, she shows Bruce that she doesn't need saving, that she can handle her own problems. This is a huge change from the very first issue...