Catwoman #64 follows up the ending of the previous issue with Veronica Viceroy’s crime coalition planning to take down our feline protagonist. Meanwhile, she's plotting a way to avoid their surveillance. That means it’s time to go to space and knock out a spy satellite. Ludicrous? Sure. Entertaining? Let’s find out!

I’ve definitely soured on this run since Stefano Raffaele left the book. This issue is no different. While it isn’t the worst chapter of “Nine Lives,” it settles for mediocre and in the end it barely kept my attention. The biggest problem here is that the story breaks my suspension of disbelief. Catwoman going to space seems like a mistake from the beginning. It’s so far outside what I would expect for Catwoman (just like last month) I have to wonder why someone else is the main character. Howard does at least justify Catwoman's desire to take out the spy satellite. With it removed, her future heists can’t be monitored. But the fact that the spy satellite is monitoring her to begin with, seems difficult to believe and out of place in a Catwoman story. Then we also have to believe that she can steal a spaceplane and fly it. She also apparently knows how to spacewalk and how to break satellites, alone in the void of space. All in all, this is an action comic, but when the “actions“ she’s taking are impossible to buy into, it essentially breaks the comic.

But, like I said, I didn’t hate it. The “Aquaman“ issue was significantly worse as was the Suicide Squad issue. This is because, while entirely ridiculous, there was a consistent narrative direction here. Catwoman has a goal, she takes steps to achieve that goal, runs into a few roadblocks, succeeds, and we’re left with a fun cliffhanger. So, the pacing is good and the story is simple and to the point. While I didn’t buy the story, it never got on my nerves much either. In the end, it’s just forgettable and while that’s not high praise, things could be much worse.

Unfortunately, after seeing some improvement in the art last month, I think there’s been a step back down here. I never noted any stand-out panels or pages this month and in fact, there were a few glaringly bad ones.

What is going on with the eyes here? Maybe this is partially a coloring error but the lines are still a mess. What is eye and what is face? Besides this, however, the art, like the writing, is simply unremarkable. It gets the job done and I can tell what’s happening in every panel but I certainly never turned the page in anticipation of what Di Giandomenico was drawing next.

Recommended if…

• You like being a little bored
• Any space story does it for you
• You'd like the incredible Jim Lee variant cover in your collection

Overall

I hate to say it, but as much as I was enjoying the beginning of this arc, I’m ready for it to be over. For a few months now, we’ve been sitting comfortably at this crossroads between poorly thought-out stories and boring stories. Things don’t seem to be getting better but I do still think there’s potential here to finish strong. Hopefully, Tini Howard proves me right.

Score: 5.5/10

DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.