After causing mayhem at a party of one of the Belov brothers, Selina makes her way to Japan in search of further answers. Does the location switch manage to liven up what has been a rather dull story so far?

So stop me if you’ve heard this before. Catwoman is attacked by assailants who seem to know a lot about her, she escapes to a different part of the world, and the assailants continue to pursue her. And all of this is because of something she did in her past, which has come back to bite her (or scratch at her; that’s more of a cat thing). That pretty much summarizes this issue and this run as a whole.

While there was a certain level of charm in watching Selina effortlessly disguise herself so as to blend into her surroundings, at this point, it is no longer charming because she has been discovered at every single point almost immediately. So not only are Selina’s tactics no longer working, her employing them puts civilians at risk. Especially in this issue, where she joins up with a group of girls she met on her flight to Japan just so that she can use them as cover.

This isn’t helped by the fact that the villains of this story are so…bland. Not only is it still unclear five issues into this arc what they want or how exactly Selina is involved, but visually all of them just blend into the background for me. You could put a gun to my head and ask me to name any of them accurately and I’d just ask you to pull the trigger.

Of course, it's really hard to tell if Selina is interested or cares about what’s happening in her life right now. Now, this is something that I will admit can happen a lot in Catwoman stories, but there’s a lot of depth to be mined in those appearances as Selina often puts up a wall of nonchalance to hide her feelings. She also tends to be a lot more charming in those stories. In this story, Selina is so stoic she comes off as a poorly written Batman (or like the Punisher minus the guns). She lacks her trademark dry wit, leaving her only with ass-kicking skills and determination (wow, that does sound like ChatGPT describing Batman).

I’ve praised the artwork on this series consistently for making this story bearable (helps that Ignazzi and Delpache seem to be around for the long haul), but this issue is a bit of a letdown on that front. While we have changed locations to Tokyo, outside of maybe two pages, the backgrounds and people are so generic that this comic could be taking place anywhere. I do like that Catwoman now has her whip in such a place it looks like her costume has a tail. That’s pretty neat.

Recommended If

• • You like a slow burn (man, that describes almost everything I’m reviewing)
  • You’ve liked the art of this series
  • Meow (yeah I got nothing else)

Overall

I think a lot of my problems with this comic and run is that due to a combination of it being so generic and Selina acting detached from everything around her, I’m starting to wonder if this story could be told without Catwoman at all and would work just as well with a random secret agent or former criminal trying to put their past behind them. It might even work better because, unlike a new character, Selina has actual history, which hasn’t come up in a meaningful manner throughout this run.

Score: 4/10

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