Review: Catwoman Vol. 4- Gotham Underground

Quick Summary

Pros: Catwoman’s role as a gang protector is a nice, though short-lived, change of pace. The first half of the book is moderately interesting.

Cons: A majority of the book is simply not entertaining. Logical leaps break suspension of disbelief. The storyline jumps all over the place and leaves plot threads unresolved. Many characters are written terriblely, occasionally undermining their purpose in the story.

Overall: There may be a few positives in this collection, but they are hidden under so many negatives that it is tremendously hard to appreciate them. This book is a chaotic mess where logic and entertainment give way to chaos and confusion at the drop of a hat. Poor structure, a below average story, and awful characters put the final nail in this collection’s reputation and make this a volume even hardcore Catwoman fans should avoid.

Story

Catwoman Vol. 4: Gotham Underground, by Ann Nocenti, takes the already poor Catwoman series to new depths. This is a messy volume who’s chaos makes it hard to enjoy any of the book’s few positives. The narrative is boring, the majority of the characters are written poorly, and numerous plotlines are created only to be abandoned before being resolved. This is not a good volume and is not one we would recommend to any comic reader.

(spoilers start here)

The book starts out with a tie-in to the Justice League of America series, in which Catwoman is a big player. Though not a fantastic issue, it is interesting enough and proves to be one of the better points in this collection. The biggest problem here is that readers unfamiliar with Catwoman’s role in the League will likely be confused.

The next portion of the story follows Catwoman’s war against the Penguin. At its core, this storyline has a number of positives that could make it entertaining; the police investigation has some potential, Catwoman’s role as a gang protector is a refreshing change of pace, and the tactics she uses against Penguin are smart. However, none of these positives are able to make up for the massive number of negatives (which we’ll discuss later on).

This portion of the story meets an abrupt end when Penguin suddenly decides that the gang war is over. The rest of the book now focuses on Catwoman’s attempt to find her friend in the Gotham Underground, while stopping multiple supervillains along the way. Not only is this an abrupt change of pace, it is also a chaotically structured mess that offers even less positives than the prior story.

So now let’s dig into exactly what these negatives are. First off, the story has a number of illogical moments that push the limits on suspension of disbelief. This can include things that are left unexplained, like how Catwoman is able to defeat a demon, or things that just don’t make sense, like why Catwoman lets Penguin free when she knows he will retaliate against her. Errors like these are small, but become significant when found throughout the collection.

Another major problem is how haphazardly assembled this book feels. The narrative jumps from a gang war to an underground exploration with little time to recover. Plus, a number of storylines are randomly started and stopped throughout the volume. The mystery of Black Mask’s hidden treasure, the implication that Detective Keyes is corrupt, the entire police investigation, and anything to do with Catwoman’s friends from the last volume; these are all story elements hinted at but never fully realized. There is a chance some will be addressed in the following volume, but even this would be too little too late, especially since most of these threads were abandoned for so long.

Finally, there is a big problem with how nearly all of the characters are written. Detective Keyes has no motivation outside of capturing Catwoman, Tinderbox has the intelligence of a cartoon character, and Penguin shifts personalities constantly. The worst example though, is Joker’s Daughter. Her storyline sees her free the women in a patriarchal society. Yet she is presented as a delusional villain, while the male tribe leader is presented as a gentle soul simply trying to do his best. It undermines the purpose of the story and comes across as sexist while doing so.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Rafa Sandoval’s pencils and Jordi Tarragona’s inks give Gotham Underground a number of visual ups and downs. In some places, their work is creative and shows scenery and backdrops full of detail. This is the case for many portions set in the titular Underground, giving a new level of interest to an otherwise unappealing portion of the book. However, in other places, their work is exaggerated to a point where it makes the book feel like a silly cartoon rather than a serious comic book. This is particularly noticeable when characters make intense facial expressions or when characters try to preform more acrobatic feats. This turns the collection into a pretty average work overall, one that manages to avoid both offending and impressing.

Continuity

Catwoman Vol. 4: Gotham Underground continues the story from Catwoman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).

The story here continues in Catwoman Vol. 5: Race of Thieves (Review).

This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• The story starts with a tie-in to the Justice League of America series. Specifically, this tie-in takes place during Justice League of America #3, which is collected in Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous (Review).
• Joker’s Daughter is seen wearing Joker’s face. Joker cut off his face in Detective Comics Vol. 1: Faces of Death (Review).