Welcome to One-Shots, a weekly book club where we read and discuss a single issue with little to no context needed! It’s been on hiatus for a while, but now it’s officially back! To celebrate, I think it’s only fitting that this week’s story is also about someone returning after being away for a while…
This week we’ll be reading Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score, a 94 page long one-shot by the legendary Darwyn Cooke. You can find it here: DC Universe
The discussion will remain open until August 7, 2019.
Discussion Questions:
1.)Catwoman has an interesting history. Sometimes she’s a villain, other times she’s a hero. Because of this, the many writers who’ve worked on her series have tried many different things. Do you think this story works well for the character? Or do you prefer a different style/genre for a Catwoman story?
2.)No heist is complete without a cast of interesting characters! Besides Catwoman herself, who is your favorite?
3.)Give this story a rating on a scale of 1 to 10. This score will factor into something later down the line…
BONUS HINT: Do you know what we’re going to read next week? If you think you do, say in the comments. But be vewy vewy quiet…
And stay tuned for next Saturday for the premiere of a new Book Club.
I was able to get it to work. What I did was I read a couple of pages on my laptop, then went to the app and the comic was available on the “dive back in” section. Couldn’t download it, however.
I think this book works very well as a Catwoman story. It takes the best parts of hero and villain and blends them into a single vision.
My favorite side character is Slam Bradley. Of COURSE.
10/10. Easily. It’s in my top ten comics of all time for a reason. Good art, good storytelling, good characters, right plotting, and you kind of have to give “perfect” status to something you read weekly.
Wow! What a ride this evening reading this tribute to the noir 40s and 50s tough shady detective movies of yore.! Thanks for choosing it, Amazing_Squid: it’s easy to understand now why so many join your fanatical cults, your literary tastes are esquisite and debonaire!
I’ll share some of my fav panels in a sec, but wow does Cooke ever do research on how to draw his locales! The images just pop; off the page (I’ll have to check later if he did the coloring too).
This very very bittersweet story for sure leaves the reader thinking “while I would of course love to have $24 million cash free and clear, no taxes, the odds apparently are that I would be kinda dead in a violent way if I so tried…” And living with yourself, forgiving yourself as the only survivor…wow…
What do I thinks of this version of Catwoman, sans famous costume etc? I was entertained in a way I seldom am reading her stories. Frankly as some may have caught on, I’m a bit puritanical when it comes to comfort level of seeing comic book characters wearing clothes that look more like they were spray painted on, male or female. Very very few people run around dressed like that in real life that have careers or are gainfully employed, and for sure soldiers, cops and meds don’t, all of which our Batmen and Batwomen are.
The way she was presented was stylish, the art style is of course a bit unique and “cartoony”, not hyper realistic, and it set the mood just fine. Very very few closeups, which made the reader feel like they are watching from a safe distance while this tragedy unfurls…
Stark certainly was the classic bad guy that I believe resembled that Parker fellow’s bad guy that Cooke also drew (per my ancient recollection). But the Canadians made for a unique fun twist; at my job, I deal remotely with Quebec Canadians who for sure leave you feeling the morality north of us is just different than how us USAers see things…
I give it an 11. Top notch. This is not the usual “we gotta grind out the hamburger” kind of comic book fare we are are constantly exposed to…the stuff that no one ever reads again years later. In a word, art. It is art.
@Don-El Yeah, that’s Darwyn Cooke for you. Everything I’ve read of his is pure art. Not that other comics aren’t in a way, but his stuff rises above the typical comics.
And I do find it interesting that Selina never really becomes Catwoman in the series. I think she only wears the suit like once or twice in some flashbacks. But it works really well without it. Actually, I can’t imagine Selina as Catwoman for most of this story. Cooke made the right call.