The DC3 decided to take on the Herculean task of covering DC’s weekly books! Our coverage will rotate between creator interviews, issue reviews and annotations, and long-form pieces on featured characters. This, friends, is the DC3kly!
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Dustin NguyenCatwoman’s secret past has been revealed, and it’s dragging her toward Blackgate Penitentiary! What is her place in the natural order of crime? Only she can decide.
News, notes, and debuts:
First and foremost, #23 brings back the amazing Dustin Nguyen on art – it is great to have him back. His style really fits the Selina-centric story. I would love to see him work more with Selina in the future.
This week’s issue, aside from one page in the middle and two at the end, is totally focused on two stories: Batman and the Architect, and Catwoman and Rex “The Lion” Calabrese.
The Bat-story is pretty straightforward, as we see Hush and the Architect, essentially, ravage part of downtown Gotham by trying to bring down the Beacon Tower, but instead having that energy diffused to the surrounding neighborhood. We do see, clearly, that Hush is the one pulling the strings for the Architect, giving credence to the idea that Hush is the big bad involved here.
The Catwoman story is a little more interesting, if only because it confirms a theory floated here a few weeks ago: Rex is Selina’s father. She clearly hates her father, and resents his abandonment of her. However, this leads to something we saw in “Batman” #34 – Selina as the crime boss of Gotham. Rex claims that she is the logical choice to “keep the peace” as boss, while still maintaining powerful control.
The other stories I mentioned were a quick half-page look at Killer Croc tearing up two unwatned inhabitants of the sewer, and Commissioner Bard imploring Mayor Hady to impose martial law on the city.
Three Eternal Questions:
1. Why does Bard want martial law?
The Croc segment seemed a little random, but the Bard segment was a little more essential to the story. What is unusual, however, is that he tells Hady to contact the military and place them in charge – wouldn’t that limit his personal power? Or does he have connections even higher up the governmental ladder?
2. Will Jade play a bigger role?
Jade is a local hood-rat who Calabrese puts to work as an courier/smuggler. The only issue? She’s 9. She reminds both Rex and Selina of a young Selina, but will she follow that same path? Selina drops her off with Leslie Thompkins – is this yet another potential new Robin? Or is she destined for a life of petty larceny as well?
3. Why even both showing Killer Croc?
This is literally all we see of Croc in the whole issue:
No new information is given here, and the scene seems completely random. Is there a clue we are missing? Are those creatures supposed to represent something I don’t recognize?
Did I miss anything? If so, let me know in the comments. See you next week!
