This very pretty little book was just published recently and although I'm very far from the target audience, I wondered if it would make a good prize for our upcoming school comic con.
Having bought it in our local Waterstone's branch ( who are supplying some all-ages sale or return trade paperbacks for our con), I'd have to say I'd be a little wary.
Like the preceding release, Mera Tidebreaker, it's a very good-looking artifact. I know our kids would definitely pick it up in the libray.Where Mera used a green and orange palette, Under The Moon employs blue and violet. And like Mera, Under the Moon has a rather predictable and unadventurous plot. Also, neither book presents the characters we know from mainstream media. Just as Mera and Arthur Curry bore only a very passing resemblance to the leads of Aquaman, so Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are a little like the young people who've grown up on screen in Gotham. But only slightly.
What's the point of that, exactly? I'm reminded of the recent Earth-One series of graphic novels which re-imagined DC's Trinity, the Teen Titans and Hal Jordan- but then confined them to their own DCU, which was unrelated to any other iteration in current media. Surely that makes no marketing sense?
Also, Under the Moon utilises strong language that is in no way unrealistic but feels gratuitous and self-consciously "edgy". It dips into horror and mysticism in a very superficial way. The graphic novel's themes of abuse, animal cruelty and homelessness are contemporary and meaningful - very responsibly, there are a number of helplines and contacts for young people- but these themes don't really connect with the adult character of Catwoman from the comics, films or tv.
It could be theorised that Catwoman disappeared from Batman comics in the 1950s because her Bad Girl role was problematic for the Comics Code. I imagine my first encounter with Selina was through the tv series that revived her - although it's the Batman movie version, played by Lee Meriweather ( who turned 84 this week) that made an impression on me, not Julie Newmar.
On the other hand, I may have first seen Selina Kyle in the illustration to a Batman text story in TV Tornado, before I saw her in colour.
In any case, one of my earliest "cat-alogued" encounters was in this comic, with its gorgeous, naughty Infantino cover.
Then, I saw the Golden Age Catwoman in a reprint in the Superadventure bumper book, Weymss Bay, either 1970 or more likely, 1971.
Next, Catwoman's short-lived "puss in pirate boots" look from the mid-70s.
During the latter half of the decade and into the 80s, the Golden Age look was back, as seen in a slightly more risque take by Alan Davis.
Catwoman has been a solo star since the early 1990s, largely in response to the success of Frank Miller's Batman Year One. I suspect that Michelle Pfeiffer's kinky, unhinged incarnation might be remembered longer than Anne Hathaway's version from 2012.
I'm look forward to July's Raven graphic novel from DC Ink but I hope it's a bit more coherent and a little less formulaic than the first releases. And my S2 asked if there'd be any titles for boys.
Coming soon: Primords
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