Happy Friday! For today's post I am covering a Catwoman one-shot that came out in 2016. Catwoman: Election Night was written by Meredith Finch, the issue even includes a bonus story from Prez, another series that was written by Mark Russell. If you want to get more info on these two writers, feel free to click their names to check out their Twitter. Now let's go see what is going on in Gotham!
Several years ago on a rainy night in Gotham a poor lady cannot find her cat. In a laundry room a young Selina is talking to said cat. Two mean looking girls come down and want to 'play' (it is pretty clear that is not a good thing). Selina tries to get away but one grabs her while the other pulls out a box cutter. One girl cuts Selina's face, but before this can get too far, the cat jumps on her, giving Selina a chance to get free. We see young Selina real back to punch the girl.
Jump to now, where Catwoman is punching a punk looking guy in the face. Catwoman is thinking about Miss Kitty's Home for Wayward Girls (the place she grew up and had to deal with those very intense other girls). Seems the punk had been trying to shake down a little old lady and Catwoman is just not cool with that. The punk throws out that he works for Penguin and that she is going to regret messing with him. (Quick note: In the flashback, I think the woman looking for the cat is Miss Kitty and I think the old lady being rescued is again Miss Kitty. I am basing this on the fact that both say the same line.)
The following morning Selina is reading the morning news and it is announced that Cobblepot, aka Penguin is running for mayor. In fact they seem to be endorsing him (fun nod to Vicki Vale in the by line). A little later in the day there is a rally happening for Cobblepot. The speech he is giving is hard to read. It is clear it is meant to be poking at Trump, even mentioning a wall (hurts a little since this came out November 6, 2016 and Trump went on to be elected just two days later on the 8th) as a worried Selina watches from the crowd.
We flash back again to a young Selina watching Miss Kitty talk to a police officer. Kelly (one of the bullies) is missing and she was about to be taken in by a nice family. Once inside Selina asks why Miss Kitty is upset that Kelly deserves whatever happened to her, but she hates Jamie more (the bully who cut her). Miss Kitty tells her none of that talk and that she need not worry about Jamie, the family who was going to take Kelly took Jamie instead (this seems messed up to me, but okay).
The person running against Cobblepot is Constance Hill. At her campaign headquarters we hear her talking on the phone about a house that she will not let Penguin tear down. The house being of course Miss Kitty's. Her assistant comes in to tell her that she needs to get ready for the policemen's union dinner and also that Penguin is ahead of her by ten points. Right as Constance is about to leave, the lights go out and Catwoman asks her why she cares about an old house. In her thoughts, Catwoman shares that she doesn't trust Constance. Constance tells Catwoman she will do whatever it takes to save that house and to not let men like Penguin build walls.
Later that evening, Catwoman sneaks into the Iceberg Lounge (the workplace of Penguin). She makes it up to his office and is greeted by a waiting Batman. He seems to be there mostly just to tell her that she shouldn't be there. While arguing they set off an alarm that released chlorine gas. Catwoman jumps out the window and dramatically lands. She is mad at Batman for ruining her chance of finding out why Penguin wants Miss Kitty's house. Batman of course knows why she is there and offers to help. Before she can blow him off, he gives her a file of Penguin's recent real estate transactions. Now before she can ask how he knows about Miss Kitty, he jets (in his Batman way).
In the evening that never ends, Catwoman is slinking around Miss Kitty's house, when the woman comes outside and tells Selina to come in for tea. Miss Kitty thanks her for being her guardian and that Selina is not the only one of her girls looking out for her. Miss Kitty brings up Jamie and Selina flashes back to another interaction with her bully.
Jamie comes out of the laundry room with a lot of blood on her (like way too much blood). Selina assumes Jamie is bleeding and Jamie says something about slipping and landing on a nail (dude...way too much blood for that to be true). Jamie then tells Selina to clean it up and to be scarce the next day because a family is coming. Young Selina does go down and clean up the mess, even wondering why so much blood. She also finds the box cutter that Jamie had used on her before, but assumes it was on the floor from that incident. Selina puts the box cutter away in a tool box by the washing machine.
In the present Miss Kitty explains that Jamie changed her name to Constance and that she came and redid the basement laundry floor for Miss Kitty. Catwoman leaves Miss Kitty thinking that only in Gotham would the options for Mayor be a convicted felon or cold-blooded killer.
The never ending night continues (I guess more time could have passed but this feels like it was all one night). There is a debate happening between Constance and Cobblepot or maybe it is just a rehearsal because there appears to be no crowd. Catwoman confronts Constance with her old name and tells that Gotham PD is at Miss Kitty's house now digging up that concrete. Constance is not worried until Catwoman pulls out the box cutter, which we are to assume still has blood and prints and was never used again. It is enough to make Constance lose it and admit everything. Gordon is there to arrest her, there is also a tiny thought bubble about how the Penguin was also breaking the law extorting people, so Bat took care of him.
Back in her home Miss Kitty turns off the tv, telling the girl (Beth) sitting next to her that that is enough politics for one night. Beth promises that when she grows up, she will be president so nothing like that ever happens again.
Thoughts: I was pondering recapping the short story but it is literally called Trigger Warnings and it includes a mass shooting and issues surrounding female reproductive rights. I just don't have it in me to be reminded about how things have not changed in 6 years and have in fact gotten worse. So I will just move on, but if you have the DC unlimited app, give it a read.
As far as the Catwoman story, I liked it. I am always happy to see Catwoman standing up for people she cares about. I would have liked more banter between her and Batman, but I get there was not really time for that. This was a fun stand alone and I am sure when it came out, at least for two days, some people got to enjoy parts of it...until it became too real.
There were a lot of artists for this comic so to give them all credit I will share a shot of all the names. I do want to highlight David Finch and Jordie Bellaire because I really love the variant cover they made.
My favorite line goes to Miss Kitty. She is a wise woman.
Last Post: Harley Quinn: Joker Loves Harley, Part 3
Next Week: Cyborg Volume 1: The Imitation of Life
Note: All images belong to DC™
Comments
Post a Comment