Torunn Grønbekk’s second Catwoman arc was off to a strong start when it appeared to be revisiting Selina Kyle’s origins and connecting that to her present storyline. Though that appears to still be the case, in execution, the story is still not coming together the way it’s intending.
As of Catwoman #82, Grønbekk is still recapping the main points of Selina’s origin, with the focus now shifting to her relationship with her sister Maggie and her father for its emotional hook. This is an odd choice since the previous issues focused on Selina’s relationship with her mother, and a connection to Carmine Falcone. Grønbekk was also focusing on Selina’s idea of rebellion in those same issues, with her infiltrating Falcone’s costume party in Italy.
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This leads to the other puzzling change in direction for the storyline: Grønbekk now focusing on Selina’s impulses. This seems to be coming out of nowhere, especially since nothing in issue #82 is connecting this to Selina’s idea of rebellion – which makes it hard to discern what Grønbekk is trying to say about Selina. Is Selina rebellious by impulse, or is Selina’s impulse to commit theft informing her rebellious behavior? Without a clear narrative destination, it’s hard to tell.
The other thing that’s causing the story arc to lose its footing is Grønbekk throwing in random new problems for Selina to deal with at Carmine’s party. In previous issues, Selina was dealing with an incompetent reporter making dangerous mistakes, and that same reporter appears again in Catwoman #82. However, it’s yet to be revealed why he’s there and what story he’s looking to cover. So far, there’s also no connection between what the reporter is seeking to expose and what Selina is looking to sabotage.
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The other random problem Selina is given to deal with in Catwoman #82 is a costumed woman stalking her at the party, but it’s never explained why. At best, Grønbekk appears to be attempting to build a mystery for Selina to unravel at Carmine’s party. But without any of the moving pieces coming together to build said mystery, the story feels like it’s meandering instead.
The story struggling to find its footing is also driven home by the fact the Court of Owls appear out of the blue at Carmine’s auction. Their presence was never hinted at in previous issues, and seem to only appear to murder the guy who bought Carmine’s Palermo pearl from earlier in the arc. Exactly what this has to do with the larger story, or how this builds on the idea of the Court of Owls being a secret society, no one knows.
DC Comics
All in all, Grønbekk’s second story arc is quickly unravelling into a series of events that’s happening to fill page space, but don’t really come together as a cohesive story with an actual destination in mind. At best, it looks like Grønbekk wants to do a character study on Selina by finding the link between her past and present, but has yet to decide what that is, or what she wants to say about the character. That message seems to change with every issue, and Carmine Falcone is increasingly becoming an afterthought.
The one saving grace of this story arc, however, is the artwork by Danilo Beyruth and Patricio Delpeche. Beyruth excels at drawing the party scenes in the present in a way that evokes a sense of mystery. This is also helped by Delpeche’s colors, which give them a neo-noir feel as well. For the past sequence, Delpeche does great at presenting each member of the Kyle family as tragic in their own way, which helps give these scenes some emotional weight.
The only thing that would improve the storyline is a stronger script from Grønbekk that better ties the past and present storylines into a stronger narrative with a clearer message.
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