[New to DCU] Book Club: Smaller Characters: Week One: (Catwoman: Copycats) - Catwoman (2018)#1-6

Nathan.Payson · January 4, 2020, 6:13am

Hey Everyone Click here for my Weekly Note!

Hey everyone! Welcome to our humble abode!! Thanks to everyone who joined us last week and anyone joining us for the first time this week! This club is for those who WANT to get into current comics that are just arriving on DCU. This is the first week of Unit 2: Smaller Characters. I can confirm that Unit 3 is Bendis’s Superman.

January: Smaller Characters

Week 1: Catwoman: Copycats

Week 2: Green Arrow: Citizen’s Arrest

Week 3: Batgirl: Art of Crime

Week 4: Teen Titans: Full Throttle

Week 5: Hawkman: Awakening

February will focus on Superman

Remember: Every week, you get to vote on which stories to keep reading and which ones to drop.

So let’s talk about Catwoman: Copycats

Official Description

But soon after moving, she discovers her new neighborhood already has a Catwoman–and the impostor is wanted by the local police! Selina barely has time to settle in before she’s the subject of a citywide manhunt, after eyewitnesses place Catwoman at the center of a brutal crime spree.

Still reeling from the aftermath of the wedding-that-wasn’t, Catwoman will have to put off processing her feelings about her breakup while she instead figures out who’s been stealing her look–and why. If she can’t catch the copycat and clear her name, this former villain might end up behind bars–but for someone else’s crimes!

Catwoman Vol. 1: Copycats collects the first six issues of the stunning new ongoing series, written and drawn by Eisner Award nominee Joëlle Jones (Supergirl: Being Super, Batman).

WHAT TO READ

Catwoman (2018-) #1-6

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Is this your first time reading Catwoman: Copycats
What was the best moment in the story?
How do you feel about Joelle Jones both writing and doing the art? How do the two blend together?
Describe Catwoman’s state of mind in the volume
Do you like Creel so far?
Should we keep reading this series?

Yes
No

0 voters

I would love to hear your general reactions to the story as well!

When: 2020-01-03T08:00:00Z → 2020-01-10T08:00:00Z

Primer TBD

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parasite_knight · January 5, 2020, 9:24pm

I just finished issue 6 last night and walked away wanting more! This series was on my read list for a while ever since I discovered it takes place directly after both Selina and Bruce call off the wedding, and since I’m a fan of what King has done with Batman and Catwoman in the main series, but Joelle Jones completely blew this out the water!!!

Anyone who can both write as well as draw, well, has amazing talent and should be praised for being able to pull off something so difficult. I’m a huge fan of Tony Daniel, who been doing it for a while and I’m happy to add someone else.

I really like Creel as a villain so far. I think she completely disgusting and vile. Both physically as well as internal. How she’s able to Convince her son to willingly take toxic/dangerous drugs and how she lies about the “death of her new caretakers” all while she’s about to kill her husband…yea she’s cold.

I’m looking forward to the future of this series as well as what Tom King has in store for Bruce and Selina, now that Batman #85 is done.

Jay_Kay · January 5, 2020, 10:50pm

I read this a while back when I got the trade for sale, but this is definitely a great arc and introduction to the series. I’m definitely going to have to flip back through it if not just for Joelle Jones’ gorgeous artwork.

Jay_Kay · January 7, 2020, 6:53am

One thing, I really like the cover for the first issue, love it when covers go meta like this. Kind of reminds me of one of the more iconic covers for John Byrne’s She-Hulk:

And then for her last issue:

Nathan.Payson · January 7, 2020, 6:54am

John Bryne ALERT John Bryne ALERT (I don’t like hearing his name because he’s well, (Look it up))

Jay_Kay · January 7, 2020, 6:57am

Oh, I agree, total A-hole. Sorry, it was just the first example of that kind of thing that came to mind.

Jay_Kay · January 7, 2020, 7:22am

On a hopefully less controversial note. I just noticed the solicit for the first issue shown on the page:

The wedding night’s barely over, but Catwoman’s back on the streets, this time to expose a copycat who’s pulling heists around Gotham City. As Selina cracks the whip on her former criminal cohorts, she’s attracting unwanted attention from one of Gotham’s most dangerous groups. The mob? Nope. Try the GCPD. And as if the Bat-Bride didn’t have enough problems, don’t miss the debut of an all-new villain determined to make trouble for all nine of Selina’s lives. Don’t miss the start of an all-new monthly series written and illustrated by Eisner Award-nominee Joelle Jones!

Well, there is an all-new villain, and it is written and illustrated by Joelle Jones. Other than that, though…

AlexanderKnox · January 7, 2020, 7:24am

I wasn’t all that interested in the plot (not to say that it was bad), but the art was just gorgeous. I’d already loved Jones’s work on King’s Batman run, so I appreciate the visual continuity.

Jay_Kay · January 7, 2020, 7:33am

I remember thinking the plot was…servicable, but made better with good characters around Selina, especially the main villain. Jones’ art does feel like a highlight, though.

Speaking of, fun fact about Jones’ work on King’s Batman run: part of the reason why Jones wanted to work on the title was because she wanted to design Selina’s wedding dress. Apparently she was tired of comic artists always drawing the same basic white dress and felt Selina wouldn’t be caught dead in one and had to make sure that didn’t happen. King and editorial, like most guys around weddings, just smile and nodded and let her choose everything.

Smart thing too, because I think despite the fact that the wedding didn’t happen as planned, I think that dress is quickly becoming one of Selina’s more iconic outfits.

Nathan.Payson · January 8, 2020, 2:52am

That dress is SO amazing!

JLWWSM · January 9, 2020, 8:13pm

First time reading! I got this as a Christmas present in trade, so this was perfect timing for me.
Creel’s backstory was told in a compelling way. It felt so creepy - and that’s exactly how it should’ve felt! Excellent villain backstory.
I’m not sure how they blend together, it felt seamless to me. I loved the story and the art. I especially love how she draws Catwoman when she’s fighting and doing gymnastics.

Yes - I like her. Great villain. And another memorable moment is when she starts taking off all of her make-up and stuff. Wow, what a transformation!

I’ll absolutely read more of this series. I like that it dealt with her breakup in a realistic way (the box of belongs from Alfred hurt! ). And I like that the breakup wasn’t the main story.

Also, the moment with all the Catwomen in the same room was pretty cool!

JLWWSM · January 9, 2020, 8:14pm

Those are stunning!

RufusPentecost · January 11, 2020, 7:04am

I didn’t even know there was a book club for this. I just got DCU a few days ago. I stumbled across a reading challenge thread asking folks to read 5 comics from each letter of the alphabet. So far, I have made it through the letter “D”. When I skimmed through the comics available for “C”, I thought I would try out the newer Catwoman series and I ended up reading “Copycats”.

Years ago, I had read some old graphic novel with art by Joelle Jones, but I didn’t really remember being blown away by it. This Catwoman story blew me away.

There is a fashion model vibe to the art style that makes me think of the Glamourpuss comic that was put out a few years ago by Dave Sims of Cerebus fame. In that comic, as I recall, Sims was educating his audience about a particular sub-set in the panorama of Western comic art that exhibited a keen eye toward the world of fashion. The art I see in this story made me think of that, with such a fine eye toward not just the clothes, but even the building interiors. None of that was necessarily relevant to the finely-crafted plot, but the dressing of the story carried more than its expected share of the story’s charm, at least by my reckoning.

I was quite happy to discover this thread talking about the same story I stumbled upon earlier this very evening.

nu52 · January 11, 2020, 7:15am

Is this your first time reading Catwoman: Copycats

Yep!

What was the best moment in the story?

The moment I realized Catwoman’s outfit isn’t missing the armpits. When I tell you I was shook to see it was a sleeveless undershirt with a tiny hoodie on top. I mean it’s a cowl attached to a little jacket and this entire time I was like, “Why are only her armpits exposed,” thinking it was a unitard. The covers are deceiving, but the interiors told me the truth.

How do you feel about Joelle Jones both writing and doing the art? How do the two blend together?

I don’t believe I’ve ever read any of her work. I thought the tone of the writing matched well with the art. The art reminded me of Long Halloween and When in Rome, but not as successful in the execution. The art definitely improved/ I liked it more as the series went on. I did appreciate Joelle Jones’s ability to have distinctive faces. One of the characters looked like Josh Segarra.

Selina’s vibrant eyes, smokey eye shadow, and pristine lip gloss game was really well done.

Her grasp on action scenes is another positive. Some of her silhouette work at the start of the run wasn’t really working for me, but it improved vastly.

The story, like the art, was so-so, but improved a lot toward the end. I just felt like, for as many pages as these six issues contained, I didn’t get much story. This could easily have been told in 2-3 issues.

Describe Catwoman’s state of mind in the volume

I didn’t read the wedding or the prelude stuff, or anything King did. I know enough to understand why Catwoman is off her game. Amateur actresses were getting the jump on her. She should have been able to handle them easy peasy, but she can’t sleep. She’s struggling physically, emotionally, and mentally. I don’t know exactly what state her mind is in, but it’s clear she’s going through a lot. Selina had to go back to her sister (Was she really her sister or just a friend? I don’t remember) just to feel some sort of connection?

Do you like Creel so far?

Which one? It’s a family affair. I didn’t really care for the mom, but she had cool moments like when she took her face off and and was left with a big hole instead of a nose.

The way she took out her husbands was a bit ludicrous. From where she shot her first husband, no way anyone would look at that and conclude it was a suicide. I suppose she could have paid off the authorities since we saw she’d been doing that in present time. When she force fed her son that drug (which, I still have no idea what the point of it was), I felt her come into her own as a villain.

Should we keep reading this series?

There was enough there where I’d be interested in continuing with this book.

nu52 · January 11, 2020, 7:34am

I found my new lock screen!

This book has some of the best covers.

This image was really sad.

This one made me chuckle. I’m imagining her trying to be all stealthy, but her costume keeps squeaking

nu52 · January 11, 2020, 7:36am

Welcome to DC Universe @cosnerama.86780 Hope you’re enjoying it

Jay_Kay · January 11, 2020, 11:55pm

First off, totally agreed, it’s a costume that looks weird at first until you see more of it. What’s funny is that at first I thought of it as a latex-like stocking for the arms, shoulders and neck and the cowl goes over that at the neck until I saw your post calling it a hoodie. I don’t think it’s as classic a look as the Darwyn Cooke design, but it’s definitely not bad.

I can see what you’re saying about the amount of story vs art in this. A while back I actually picked up the creator owned book she did for Dark Horse called “Lady Killer,” which is about a 50s housewife who secretly moonlights as a contract killer. I liked the story and art of it as well, but while it had some fun hooks and interesting characters, I finished that initial miniseries wanting more of the story of how she got to that place. I don’t think that’s necessarily a BAD thing, but it did feel a little empty in that way.

But if you liked this story, I’d definitely give it a shot, though as the name implies, it is WAY gorier than her Catwoman, just an FYI.

Yep, that’s Selina’s sister, Maggie. She was introduced in Post-Crisis in her first mini-series, and she would later become a part of Brubaker’s run of Catwoman. In fact, a lot of the dialogue in the flashbacks in the church, Selina meeting Maggie’s husband and the torture from Black Mask in #4 at least are straight out of those original series.

Jay_Kay · January 12, 2020, 3:45am

Is this your first time reading Catwoman: Copycats?

I read it from digital trade not that long ago, and I really enjoyed it then, and even now when I planned to just thumb through it to reacquaint myself, I found myself reading it again.

What was the best moment in the story?

I’d go with the fight with all the “copycats.” I like how it starts with her inner thoughts: “3AM…if I work this right…maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight.”

How do you feel about Joelle Jones both writing and doing the art? How do the two blend together?

Overall I like it. I get the feeling that Jones might focus more on the art end and is leaving some of the character and plot in the visuals, which can throw some people, including myself off.

Describe Catwoman’s state of mind in the volume

How would you feel if you were convinced that in order for the one you love to be who they are, you can’t be with them? And compound that with growing up in a loveless home, and your sister being horrifically tortured just because she was related to you?

She’s hurt, she’s restless, she can’t sleep and isn’t thinking straight. She’s not at the top of her game and can easily get herself hurt, and I think part of her really doesn’t care. It’s a bad place, and I hope in this series we see the process of how she gets out of that cycle.

Do you like Creel so far?

Well, “likable” is a hard way to describe such a despicable woman, but she’s shown to be a good villain so far. Like any good villain, she is both comparable to our protagonist and yet different. Much like Selina, Creel came from a poor home and had to steal to survive. But unlike Selina, Creel relied less on the skill of thieving and more on deceit and murder.

Nathan.Payson · January 12, 2020, 8:17am

@nu52 has all the art!! haha. Everyone! Next Reading is Green Arrow: Citizens Arrest. Green Arrow’s entrance into Phase 2.