Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Batman #44

By Hervé St-Louis
April 7, 2018 - 14:18

Catwoman buys a wedding dress and doing so, we are offered a chance to reflect on the various first encounters between her and Batman, when they wore new suits.  Which new dress will Catwoman pick for her wedding with Batman?

Tom King is systematic in his Batman epic, leaving no details behind. Yes, he turns every stone giving us glimpse of Batman and Catwoman’s lives until the special day. At this pace, he could write a hundred issues of Batman and still have things to say. King appears to be writing a story of everyday living in Batman’s and Catwoman’s lives but as philosopher Georg Simmel would remind us about adventures, and this wedding is one, we are dealing with an event that is unusual and not frequent.



What makes Catwoman buying a dress appear so banal, is the systematic study of the act. It seems almost like something that she would do everyday as the story relates various moments in her and Batman’s lives which when thinking about it is pretty banal when it comes to the super hero world. And this is how King excels by making the super hero appear banal and human. Banal is not an insult as I use it to describe what we humans do. And humans buy wedding dresses all the time, even though for each woman, this dress is particular and special. Well, for Catwoman, even picking a wedding dress is an event. There are no bridesmaids and best friends. It’s just her, a mirror, and her memories of past encounters with Batman.

Mikel Janín and Joëlle Jones split the art this week. Janín takes care of the super heroics. Jones covers the dress shopping. It’s a good split and each artist is suited for the task at hand. Rarely does one see a split so well done with one comic. Janín is establishing Catwoman as a green-eye person. I love it. Jones’ Catwoman is silky and well inked. The work would work well in black and white.

Rating: 10 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12