We’ve finally reached the penultimate chapter of “Nine Lives.” Assuming the cover text doesn’t turn you away completely, maybe you’re wondering if Tini Howard can build to a satisfying ending after so many months of setup? Well, I know I was, so let’s get right into it!

This issue is a lot of fighting and arguing. Still, it does bring things to a boiling point and this story arc feels more than ready to wrap up. So, points there, but it doesn’t change that this comic has become very boring and this month, with less plot than ever and no Ivan Shavrin, I can’t find anything to praise. Many months ago this arc had potential but that has long since been squandered and all that is left is the dregs of a story that should have been half the length it turned out to be. I would say the break next month for Gotham City Sirens will be a relief but it means another month until this story finally ends and that feels like a priority to me. 

Since there is so little to address plot-wise, I’ll move on to the art. Carmine Di Giandomenico is covering the whole book again and, unfortunately, the work is looking worse rather than better. There are so many instances of unintentionally funny faces and even though certain panels look pretty good, the quality is inconsistent enough that it feels worse looking at the bad ones.

Overall the art is just not working for me and it’s regrettable to have that problem on top of the poor writing. 

That’s all I have to say about the content of this issue. Anything more and I’d only be repeating my previous reviews. However, there is one other matter to discuss here. You may not have known, but this release marks the 300th issue of Catwoman. DC never bothered to announce that or market it as such. On the one hand, you might call this a positive that they aren’t using gimmicks to try and inflate sales but, on the other hand, I think it simply illustrates the problem with this title. They just don’t seem to care, though they certainly should. Excepting the very short-lived Joker and Man-Bat series from the mid-70s, Catwoman was the first Batman supporting character to get her own title. Before any Robin or Batgirl, Catwoman had a miniseries and an ongoing. Even today, as DC struggles (and has apparently stopped trying) to keep a Robin series on the market, Catwoman has continued monthly for six years uninterrupted. It’s no small achievement to reach a milestone like this but it’s just par for the course that there’s no fanfare around it. This title has been saddled with a writer who is not up to the task for years now, despite weak sales. The best art featured in these pages recently has been from the pens of fill-in artists. It's crazy to think that three years ago this title had perhaps the best creative team then working at DC. I just can’t understand the lack of regard for this title and character who arguably comes in behind only Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman in the discussion of "most popular female comic book characters." It’s a shame.

Recommended if…

• If you’ve already sunk eight months into reading this story, you might as well finish it

Overall

This arc started out with a few strong issues but has fallen hard. It doesn’t feel like DC has much respect for the title either and with how inconsequential everything feels, it’s difficult for me to either. One issue left and we get a new creative team. Hopefully, the quality of this book can rebound at that point because it certainly won’t be happening in the next and final part of “Nine Lives.”

Score: 3.5/10

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