[World of Bats] Catwoman Vol 5 #1-6 "Copycats" (April 12-17)

Welcome back to another edition of World of Bats, the Batman Book Club!

We’re continuing our deep dive with the feline fatale Catwoman with “Copycats,” the six-issue arc of the 2018 volume, written and drawn by Joelle Jones, with additional art by Fernando Blanco!

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 Joëlle Jones!

Here are the links for these six issues:

Catwoman: Copycats

Catwoman #1
Catwoman #2
Catwoman #3
Catwoman #4
Catwoman #5
Catwoman #6

Any thoughts or questions are welcome, of course, and here are some discussion questions to help out:

  1. This story famously takes place after the “wedding” of Batman and Catwoman from Tom King’s run on Batman. How do you think this affects Selina’s state of mind and the events of this tale?

  2. This story also gives Catwoman a new costume. What do you think of it and how it compares to previous outfits?

  3. Every good story tends to require a good villain, what do you think of Raina Creel and her crime family? Are they a good match against Catwoman?

  4. The old standby: What was your favorite moment in these six issues?

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And if you have any questions concerning the club or how to get a good night of sleep, you can contact @Jay_Kay, @JeepersItsTheJamags and @Aquamon.

Hope you enjoy, and Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates!

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The story is decent enough, but the art is the real draw. The new costume evokes the Batman Returns look without being a carbon copy. Oh, and Maggie is here, pretty much in the same state where we left her last week. Do we know yet if she became Sister Zero in this revised continuity?

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Oh, and for those who haven’t noticed, we are going to get a Q&A with Joelle Jones here on the community on Tuesday! So get to reading and maybe throw some questions her way! :slight_smile:

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I never thought of that, but I can definitely see it, especially in the corset – which on the onset seems a little impractical, but then she used to pull heists in a purple dress and a green cape. Eighty years of AESTHETIC.

We don’t exactly see that story in the flashbacks, so possibly not. If I’m thinking of the same thing, I don’t remember really caring for that story, so I wouldn’t be too sad if it wasn’t.

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Selina is a loner by nature and even more so with a broken heart. She really, really, really wants to be left alone so she can lick her wounds, so when she gets messed with for no reason it gets her goat even more than it would normally.

Overall, I like the new costume, like an updated throwback, however I would like it better without the armpit holes. That shouldn’t be a thing.

They’re “okay.” Nothing real special about Creel at this point except for her actual appearance. She could grow into a great villain for Catwoman with time to grow.

The fight with the old folk.

Overall, the art really stood out in these issues more than the story, and I’m really okay with that.

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I always hear that, but to be clear, there actually aren’t specifically holes in the armpits, but rather the mask, shoulder and arm parts are a separate garment she puts on over the rest of the outfit. You can see it clearly in the cover for issue #12.

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Okay, then, let’s get rid of the jacket. :slight_smile:

Hi! New to the community here but I love this series and saw the link in the Jones Q&A forum so I wanted to join.

  1. Re: Selina’s state of mind… I think this series nailed the very unique emotion of regret-- and anger at the fact that you feel regret. Selina is someone who usually makes bold choices, supported by her signature confidence. I love that Jones explores the messy feelings of being unsure if you made the right choice. Jones draws emotions like no other artist can.

  2. Re: Costume… It’s probably my favorite Cat costume. Obviously love the Returns tribute. I think Joelle broke the mold of relying on a Catsuit as the base by making it a costume of separates while still maintaining the iconic silhouette. Her love of fashion shines as this is easily the most “stylish” of Cat’s costumes. I know this discussion is only about the first 6 but I like that later Jones introduces references to other costumes. I think it’s appropriate that Selina wears what she wants to and celebrates all her different iconic looks. I hope other artists try that approach.

  3. Re: Raina. Loved this villain. I think a major theme of this series is self-destruction. Selina is lost in her guilt over her self-destructive choices and how they harm people around her. Raina is literally a woman who destroys her body and doesn’t care how it hurts other people around her… until she loses the one thing she cares about! I like Raina as a sort of Lex Luthor meets the villain from the terrible Catwoman movie. She’s a great mirror to Selina.

  4. Re: fav issue… It’s #5 for sure! It’s Jones at her most violent and Selina at her most vulnerable. I love to see Selina fail and truly fear that she may lose her sister. The stakes felt high while the story remained intimate and small. It’s also my favorite cover. The double page spread of Raina might be some of my favorite work from Jones-- very Lady Killer.

I’d also like to shout out the brilliant use of Maggie. I think it was very powerful to showcase a story of taking care of a debilitated family member. That’s a very real situation for many people. It’s not easy, and Jones didn’t make it seem easy, but still she showcased the real love.

I also love that she set the story in Villa Hermosa which sort of alluded to Cat’s Latinx heritage. We got a brief glimpse of her mom in #4 and not much else specifically about Cat’s background. Selina is sometimes shown to be Latina even though she is white passing in this series. I think Jones did a smart thing by creating a world with Latin influence to acknowledge her diverse background.

Anyways… lot’s of thoughts! I hope you enjoy this series as much as I do! It’s good to the very end! Hope everyone is healthy and in good spirits!

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First off, welcome! Glad you liked these issues and I hope you stick around for the rest of the week and beyond. :slight_smile:

That’s a great way to put it, I definitely think there’s a lot of meaty character moments and thinking outside the page with her in this series, especially if you also consider how it ties in with Tom King’s Batman going on at the same time.

Oh yeah, I haven’t read forward to that point yet (I actually bought the second digital trade because I wanted to read more than what DCU would have provided), but her takes on the classic dress and cape and the Jim Balent purple costume are super cool. For those who haven’t seen it.

Also, as an aside, I’m digging how much of a Rennaissance the Balent-era purple suit has gotten of late, between this, the costume being used in The War of Jokes & RIddles, and in James Tynion’s run of Batman. Maybe this means the next design she gets might have some purple thrown in there?

I can definitely see that! I think a way they have a warped reflection is their desire for and how they care for their family.

Definitely, I really like that they went back to that, especially considering what we saw last week with "Relentless"and how Maggie got to be that way. I am woefully behind, so this might have happened, but I hope this means that we get to see Maggie recover at least somewhat from what happened with her and Black Mask.

It’s interesting you say that, because from the Q&A Jones gave tonight, it sounds like Villa Hermosa was chosen partly because of how much of a polar opposite it is to Gotham, but also because Jones had moved to Los Angeles during that time and was just inspired from that. I think it being part of her background still works, though!

Hey, as you can see I can be verbose as heck, so I won’t complain! And thanks, I’m looking forward to reading more of this series too. Hope you’re doing well too. :slight_smile:

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