Catwoman: The Catfile

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Summer-Action-Blockbuster On Paper!
Review: Chuck Dixon and Jim Balent is at their collaborative best in this volume, "Catwoman: The Catfile". Overall, the story is pretty thin but somehow the charm, pacing, breathless action and fantastic art draws you in. The whole thing reads like a summer blockbuster on paper and Balent's drawing of a super-sexy, super-spy-with-an-attitude feels almost like a guilty pleasure.

Recommended for all Hong Kong action movie buffs, Catwoman fans who hate the Halle Berry movie and everyone who loves a fast-moving, entertaining comicbook. In recent years, comicbooks seem to be struggling for "recognition" by the "real world". It tries to appear "literary", "complex" and "mature". Even the movie-adaptations try to do that by amplifying themes such as parent-child trauma (e.g. Ang Lee's "Hulk" and Sam Raimi's "Spiderman"). In actual fact, a comicbook is primarily about fun. And if, like me, you miss the honest-to-goodness FUN of reading a comicbook, well, this book has it in spades!

Rating:
Summary: the story moves too Fast
Review: Chuck Dixon is the busiest writer in comics, but his comics scripts lack depth and charecterization. It's a good book in so far as artwork goes, but ulitmately the Catwoman vs the Feds story is something which is played out when Selina Kyle (Catwoman's real name) must outsmart the Dark Knight, and not always succeeding. But either way this book is not much on story.

Rating:
Summary: Dixon's best, but not THE best
Review: Just to clarify, I'm a regular reader of Catwoman's monthly title, and have nearly all of them. As such, I see this story in a different context than many, which I'll explain here to the uninitiated.

Chuck Dixon, this story's writer, was the book's second regular writer, and not my favorite one, personally. He never seemed to think very highly of her, and nearly all his stories revolved around Catwoman's being captured, unable to make ends meet, or bungling major robberies. This, alas, is more of the same, being about Selina being caught and ensleved by the US government.

Having said that, though, it's the best work Dixon did for the book. The story is actually well-done, a competent re-work of the "La Femme Nikita" concept into a Catwoman story. In and of itself, it's a good, solid Cat-Tale, but she's had even better, in her time. She has been stronger, smarter, and more competent in other stories.

CATFILE is a respectable read, but be advised that better stories are out there to be found.

Rating:
Summary: Dixon's best, but not THE best
Review: Just to clarify, I'm a regular reader of Catwoman's monthly title, and have nearly all of them. As such, I see this story in a different context than many, which I'll explain here to the uninitiated.

Chuck Dixon, this story's writer, was the book's second regular writer, and not my favorite one, personally. He never seemed to think very highly of her, and nearly all his stories revolved around Catwoman's being captured, unable to make ends meet, or bungling major robberies. This, alas, is more of the same, being about Selina being caught and ensleved by the US government.

Having said that, though, it's the best work Dixon did for the book. The story is actually well-done, a competent re-work of the "La Femme Nikita" concept into a Catwoman story. In and of itself, it's a good, solid Cat-Tale, but she's had even better, in her time. She has been stronger, smarter, and more competent in other stories.

CATFILE is a respectable read, but be advised that better stories are out there to be found.

Rating:
Summary: A NEAR MISS BUT FANTASTIC ARTWORK
Review: This book reads like the writer was watching THE PRISONER (Patrick McGoohan) while writing as the influence is overwhelming with even the coffee joke being repeated (file says No. 6 drinks his coffee black, so he puts several cubes of sugar in his cup).

Julia Strain was the model for this. Gosh, she would make a great Catwoman.

Missing is Batman.

Rating:
Summary: the story moves too Fast
Review: This story reads like a James Bond movie: full of action but light on story. The art by Jim Balent is beautiful as always, as he draws some of the best women in comics today. The Chuck Dixon story is actually very good, it just lacks substance. Catwoman is abducted after a botched theiving by the Feds, who want her help in securing the Swan Crown, a relic of some small European nation. To get her to do this, a small cyanide capsule is implanted in Catwoman's arm, to be detonated by satelite if she doesn't comply. To see how Catwoman manages to dupe the Feds, the bad guys, hell even the good guys is a great ride.

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced action
Review: This story reads like a James Bond movie: full of action but light on story. The art by Jim Balent is beautiful as always, as he draws some of the best women in comics today. The Chuck Dixon story is actually very good, it just lacks substance. Catwoman is abducted after a botched theiving by the Feds, who want her help in securing the Swan Crown, a relic of some small European nation. To get her to do this, a small cyanide capsule is implanted in Catwoman's arm, to be detonated by satelite if she doesn't comply. To see how Catwoman manages to dupe the Feds, the bad guys, hell even the good guys is a great ride.