Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale

Rating:
Summary: Good selection of stories
Review:
"Catwoman: Nine Lives of A Feline Fatale" presents some of the best "Catwoman" stories from the sixty-some years of the character's existance in the world of the Batman. While Michael Uslan gives a pretty decent introduction for this particular Bat-foe, and a quick mention of the upcoming movie, the stories do the best job for presenting the different interpretations of the character.

One note. It would have been nice if someone had mentioned the previous Batman trade paperback, "The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Volume II" which was split between Penquin and Catwoman stories when Batman Returns came out. That collection also had some landmark stories for the felonious feline, that also deserved mention in this volume.

Still, an excellent selection that shows the character evolution from a mostly romantic adversary for our favorite masked dark knight detective to a fully developed character in her own right. Though, I do somewhat cringe with the dialogue in the earlier stories that almost seem embarrassing to hear (much less read). For an example of this, check out "Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman" and see what I mean. It's almost like its from the Adam West television program. Not that is totally bad, I loved the sixties show,but still . . you find yourself wondering how Mr West could say the dialogue straight and not break down laughing.

Both collections have missed out on one of my favorite stories from 1974, the title to that classic tale, "Catwoman's Circus Trap." I loved that story, it pretty much summed up Batman's/Bruce Wayne's problems with women. Great quote. Dig it up, if you can find it.

As mentioned by the previous reviewer, it does have an excellent cover done by Brian Bollard, though the white background seems a bit off to me.

This collection, was released to tie into the recent Halle Berry film version of the character, which has since bombed at the box office. If the average comic reader wants to get introduced to the character, they can't do better than this selection and DK's visual guide to our favorite Bat-villainess.


Sincerely,

JThree
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Nine lives of Selina
Review: It's almost worth buying for Bolland's great cover. But inside are some other nice pin-ups by various artists touching each phase of Selina's costume's and stories. I actually prefer the "Cat", thats the first story she's in with Batman saying "papa spank!!" So you get one story from each costume you see on the cover. I admit the mid 60's Catwoman brought this book down from 5 stars. But the early and later versions are a hoot!! Between Selina and Bruce, the never consumated love affair reads from the last story to the first. She's always been a great character and this is a good read and fairly priced. Hey, it's been put out to catch the new Halle Berry movie readers. But the dyed in the wool older fans know that there is only 9 versions of Ms Kyle, check it out!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Nine lives of Selina
Review: It's almost worth buying for Bolland's great cover. But inside are some other nice pin-ups by various artists touching each phase of Selina's costume's and stories. I actually prefer the "Cat", thats the first story she's in with Batman saying "papa spank!!" So you get one story from each costume you see on the cover. I admit the mid 60's Catwoman brought this book down from 5 stars. But the early and later versions are a hoot!! Between Selina and Bruce, the never consumated love affair reads from the last story to the first. She's always been a great character and this is a good read and fairly priced. Hey, it's been put out to catch the new Halle Berry movie readers. But the dyed in the wool older fans know that there is only 9 versions of Ms Kyle, check it out!!!!