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Catwoman #6
Bridget Haines |
| Title: |
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Disguises (Part 1 of 4) |
| Cover Date: |
June 2002 |
| Story: |
Ed Brubaker |
| Pencils: |
Brad Rader |
| Inks: |
Cameron Stewart |
| Colors and Separations: |
Matt Hollingsworth |
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Synopsis: (WARNING! SPOILERS!)
A new storyarch begins for Catwoman in this
issue. It opens with Holly taking an online
compatibility test which indicates she has
lesbian tendencies, but that surprisingly,
Selina is not the object of her ardour. Grousing
that it turns out to be a chain letter, she
comes upon an robe-clad Selina having her
morning coffee. Realizing she considers sex
a drug from the estimation of the quiz, Holly
takes off upset with herself. Selina finds
the quiz sheet and seems genuinely disappointed
about being green (someone Holly will remember
the rest of her life).
Scene change to the streets of Gotham as
holly narrates about having been a junkie.
She points out the states of people she looks
at with a practiced eye as she walks to Woody's
delicatessen to see the woman she wrote in
as red (the person she really loves). She
and Karen hang out together and discuss what
it is that Holly's been so secretive about.
Holly can't tell her, but assures her it
isn't illegal.A girl name Jenni approaches
to tell Holly she has an address of the dealer
she was asking about. That makes Karen distrust
her. Karen walks away from her angry.
Holly internalizes about her
job helping
Selina and why she cant let Karen
know that
secret. She explains to Karen
in a roundabout
manner that she's gathering info
for a crimefighter,
and that no, it isn't Batman.
They make up.
Holly goes to the apartment of the dealer
and we get a flashback to her tormented childhood
with her violent alcoholic father, turning
to prostitution, turning to God, then to
drugs. She finally gets brought into the
dealer's place where a party is happening,
and she runs into an old junkie friend. She
has David G. the dealer, pegged as a cop.
That night she steals a car to follow him
as she calls Selina to tip her off. She eavesdrops
on a the undercover cop and other cops. The
cops seem corrupt as they then shoot David
G. They hear holly as she backs into some
boxes, and they go after her, guns blazing.
She is shot through the shoulder and collapses
to the ground.
Analysis:
Cover:  (1 of 5 cowls)
ARRRGH! How long are they going to let this
Paul Pope guy do covers!?!?!? They are hideously
terrible, awful, painful to look at! Holly
looks like a 50 year old bag lady for God's
sake! YUCK! ICK! PTOOOIE! That cover is enough
to insure new readers will NOT pick this
book up! If I had a 0 cowls mark it would
get it.
Story: (3 of 5 cowls)
Hrm, this story arc has some potential I
think. Though moving the focus off Selina
to Holly doesn't work as well as making Sasha
the narrative focus of 'Tec. Why? Well for
one, Sasha is likeable, Holly generally is
annoying and pitiable, but not admirable
in any way shape or form. Points deducted
for the stupid lesbian plot. It feels so
utterly contrived. Holly has been a character
for years and I never got the sense of her
being that way. Nor did I get that sense
in the first 5 issues of this series. It
feels like it was thrown in for shock value
and I find that moderately distasteful. I'm
curious to see where the crooked cop angle
leads, but so early in her new book Selina
needs to be more central.
Artwork: (3 of 5 cowls)
Brad Rader is not much of a difference from
Darwyn Cooke, but he's a slight step up.
He at least can do backgrounds, and there's
a slightly more realistic sense to his figures,
less cartoonish. I think he needs a bolder
inker though, and a different colorist, as
those two elements are dragging his work
down.
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