Catwoman #29 (2004)
by Ed Brubaker, Paul Gulacy, & Jimmy Palmiotti

Catwoman has such good cover art that I end up buying it even when I know it's going to be time-filler at best. Nothing epic ever happens in Catwoman. Nothing particularly gritty, or real, or cool, or sexy … scratch that … okay, now I see why I buy Catwoman. Big boobs and tight leather, and an inevitable glimpse of Selina Kyle changing into or out of the Catwoman getup.

I think I need to give more consideration to the fact that this title caters to my unspoken desire to have my ass absolutely kicked by an impossibly beautiful woman who is much stronger and smarter than me. The cover of Catwoman #29 promises this … she's literally about to punch me in the face!

As for the plot: Selina trains for a final showdown with her nemesis, Zsasz, while struggling with her frayed personal relationships. It's pulp, pure and simple, and doesn't think of itself as anything more. I guess that's all I want out of it, too, since I'm too old to masturbate to the fetish-porn aspects of it. Life was much simpler when I could freely masturbate to comic books … nowadays, it takes about $5000 in high-end call girls to get the same level of excitement that could once be attained with a $2 comic. As with serial murder, these things escalate as you get older.

Review by Green-Green Yoshifoto