“The Mills of God” – Part Two
Writer: Torunn Grønbekk
Artist: Danilo Beyruth
Color Artist: Patricio Delpeche
Letterer: Steve Wands
Review by Adam Ray
We’ve known Catwoman’s current run to be a missed bag of strangely handled noir crime, jet setting locations, and missed opportunities. Catwoman #78 brings us… more of the same. The past issue gave us a glimmer of hope that we might get some level of progression. Issue 78 is building on the promise that the narrative is actually led by Selina Kyle, with the same level of mediocrity we’ve come to expect.
The issue starts providing context we’re expecting to remember about characters that are otherwise new to this run of stories. It’s been a continued miss of tone to try and weave a new crime drama having immediately following a storyline where she was resurrected by an Egyptian cat goddess. We’re instead left to contend with a plethora of characters that we’re expected to care about and why Catwoman is set to tangle with them.
The captioning and narration boxes leave a great deal to wonder about. Each box has deeply cliche and on-the-nose comments that do very little to enhance the story.
What saves this issue is the art. Danilo Beyruth is a wonder at putting a retro, almost art deco look at the curvature of the characters. The bright colours are vibrant, with perfect contrast in palette’s to draw the reader between in and out of the action. The whirrs of movement are all so gripping amidst the otherwise meandering story.
Conclusion
Catwoman #78 is a welcome reprieve in what has been a deeply inconsistent yet visually striking storyline. We readers have been pleased with an increase in Catwoman being the lead in her own comic, but there is still much left to ponder in this title.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
