Story: Tini Howard
Art: Nico Leon and Veronica Gandini
32 pages, 3.99
DC

What It Is: Part three of the current “Gotham War” mini-event that kicked-off in BATMAN/CATWOMAN: GOTHAM WAR – BATTLELINES and runs through a couple months of BATMAN and CATWOMAN issues.

The Good: The inciting conflict between Catwoman and Batman is a solid one and dropping in wildcards and other rogue elements (beyond the scope of Bat-Family members, which everyone saw coming) to take advantage of the fray provides intrigue and is handled deftly. The war is a murky premise with shaky alliances perfect for the street-level vibe of the Gotham titles.

Leon and Gandini’s art sings. Top-notch figure work draped in moody and shadowy city atmosphere—just the right look for this supervillain book. I don’t know how it’ll feel in the inevitable trade, ping-ponging back and forth between this art and Jorge Jimenez more stylized BATMAN issues, but that’s somebody else’s problem.

The Bad: The coordination between the two writers of the titles is apricated, but this is CATWOMAN #57, maybe she should get page one of her own book?

Does anyone care about this Dawn of DC labeling nonsense? Is it the dawn of anything when it’s slapped above the logo of a series that debuted in 2018 and is on its 57th issue? While we’re discussing the cover, you might expect from the imagery that there would be some kind of cool Catwoman/Batman shared scenes. Well, no spoilers but you might be disappointed.

It’s a middle chapter and it feels like one, but there are some confluences from previous issues and even a revelation or two. If middle chapter syndrome is such a bother, might as well avoid event comics altogether.

The Score: 8 out of 10 capes.

Further Reading: The above mentioned BATMAN/CATWOMAN: GOTHAM WAR – BATTLELINES is most likely still sitting on the shelf at you local comic book store so give that if a read to see if this is for you.