Story By: Sholly Fisch
Art By: Patrick Olliffe, Tom Nguyen, and Walden Wong
Published By: DC Comics
How much you like Catwoman: Future’s End is ultimately going to depend on how much you enjoy Catwoman as a character. If your answer is “not at all” then don’t even bother looking through this issue. If your answer is instead “a whole lot” then you will probably have a blast with this comic. I fit into the latter category of people and as a Catwoman fan, its nice to see her get her due. This was a super interesting character driven story that is an excellent political thriller and tells us a lot about various important people within Gotham.
Catwoman: Future’s End puts us in a future Gotham in which Selina Kyle has become head of an organized crime group made up of Gotham’s best mobs. It’s definitely really cool to see Selina presiding over a member of the Falcone family as well as The Penguin and it makes us wonder what events must have taken place for Selina to obtain so much power over Gotham. It also isn’t too weird to see her in this role because she’s always been about the money and creating an empire to obtain the most money possible is a genius move that someone like Selina would only actually execute in Gotham. These characters and a few mentions of Batman are all that tie Selina Kyle to the outside world though. We have no idea of the state of Gotham or anyone besides Selina Kyle and the people immediately close to her. Again, this isn’t really a problem for Catwoman fans but fans of the DC Universe can ultimately skip this issue as it does little to discuss the larger role of the Future’s End event. There are some interesting panels regarding the characters within Gotham though, so people who are really into what drives Gotham’s various costumed citizens will have a lot to eat up.
The twists and turns and backstabbing that are found in here make for a remarkable political thriller of a story. Selina Kyle is perfectly calculating while maintaining her morals that have made her such an interesting character. “Take only from those who can afford it. Kill only those who deserve it.” Selina has turned her mob into a sort of twisted Robin Hood who steals from the rich and corrupt to give to themselves. Selina also tells us this means Batman will leave them alone. This is a small thing but as someone who really enjoys the Batman universe, it’s interesting to think of a Gotham in which Batman is fine with The Penguin stealing funds from ultra-wealthy people just as long as he doesn’t hurt them.
The climax in here is perfect timed and the final pages that reveal the truth are wonderful. A fan favorite makes an appearance and talks to Selina some which perhaps does give us a hint of what’s happened in the last 5 years. It seems the Selina has come to learn that the only person she can truly depend on is herself and she’s made that her strength rather than her weakness.
It’s incredibly hard to talk about this issue because its not incredibly action heavy or fast paced. Rather than focusing on Catwoman’s acrobatics and skills with her whip, they focus on the cold and calculating world of Gotham’s underground. It’s slow but it quickly becomes apparent that not a single panel goes to waste. Writer Sholly Fisch seems to have mastered political standoffs because the entire issue managed to stay tense and interesting. It’s not so much that someone is willing to double-cross, it’s that we all know it’s simply a matter of “when”. Fisch also dives straight into Gotham’s finest in terms of exploring character and I love what he’s done with those aspects.
The art in here is beautiful and fits the story thematically as well. The artists have used low lighting throughout the comic to really nail the feel of this seedy criminal underground. There’s also a ton of attention given to facial expressions and close-ups and it helps make the environment tense as alliances get called out and tempers flare up. The artists have also given Selina Kyle a nice business suit with a deep v-neck jacket that instantly reminds us of the unzipped Catwoman suit we’ve had over the last few appearances of Catwoman in various media. It’s a nice touch that also serves to show us that Selina Kyle may be leading Gotham’s most profound group of criminals but she isn’t letting people forget who she is/was.
As a Catwoman fan I greatly enjoyed this issue. I thought it was a wonderful exploration of character with Catwoman having become a very dangerous woman out to serve herself. There’s plenty to explore between Selina’s character development and what her time in Gotham (and sometimes with Batman) has taught her. It’s a must read for anyone who enjoys Catwoman as a character or who would just like to see a pretty great political setup set in the Gotham universe. It may not go anywhere or explain the state of Gotham but it’s a great one-shot for fans that’ll leave them pleased with Selina’s future in this mostly bleak world.
