Catwoman vs. Black Mask, Pt. 3

After yesterday’s bloodbath in the rain, we fast forward a few years and 32 issues later.  Catwoman’s life has certainly improved.  She fought a few muggers, aided the Justice League, explored her and Batman’s relationship, among others.  Not a bad time at all.  Well, obviously that can’t last – she’s a superhero.

I didn’t mention this before, and that’s my mistake, but the first Catwoman/Black Mask story actually took place before the whole fiasco with the Red Hood that I covered in the first Black Mask article. Since then, Black Mask has had his empire toppled and he’s no longer the undisputed king of the Gotham underworld.  So how does one fix that problem?  Well, I’ll tell you it involves Catwoman.  We’ll find out together in Catwoman #48-52, written by Will Pfeifer and drawn by Pete Woods.

Yeah, this plan sounds familiar.  Gotham supervillains are sorta one-trick ponies.  Unfortunately, Black Mask’s trick ain’t juggling.

Okay, so apparently a while back, the magician Zatanna and the Justice League secretly cast a spell on Selina to turn her into a superhero instead of a supervillain.  Zatanna decides to tell Selina.  It’s a weird subplot and while fantastic for pent up Catwoman angst, magic tends to confuse me and we’re not going to cover it.  But if you want to see the Catwoman vs. Zatanna fight you’ve been dreaming about since you hit puberty, this is the arc to read.

The reason I’m even mentioning the above paragraph is that while Catwoman confronts Batman about this, at the bottom of each page of their conversation, we get a little Black Mask gem.  A genius way to show events that are going on simultaneously.

But what happened, huh?  Who did Black Mask kidnap and how come none of say, Superman’s supporting cast gets brutally tortured like Catwoman’s?

I’m just as surprised as you are at how many torture dungeons the Black Mask owns.

In the superhero business, there’s an art to the process.  The good guys survive through grace, style, and finesse.  Brute force ain’t going to win a battle when you’re up against someone like the Joker or Poison Ivy.  But when the clock’s ticking, when Selina’s sick of cowardly attempts to ruin her life, well, brute force will still get her pretty far.

While motorcycles are pretty speedy nowadays, they aren’t faster than rocket boots.

They’ll give mech suits to anyone nowadays.  Want to see what Black Mask was working on?  Heads up, he’s not an artist.

While this certainly qualifies as inhumane and monstrous, at least Black Mask used proper grammar. As we inch towards our exciting conclusion, the mood has dramatically shifted.  Seriously, here’s the cover art for the final issue of the arc:

That about sums up all the foreshadowing.  And sadly, Black Mask’s a man of high ambitions.  Sure, maiming Catwoman’s friend with a Home Depot starter kit certainly showcases his potential for evil, but after last time’s four for four, he’s not about to just stop now at one.

Catwoman, attempting to retaliate before the inevitable kidnap and mauling of Holly, launches her first plan into action.  Predictably, it goes badly.

Mech suits are weak to rocket launchers.  At this point, her rage no longer qualifies as angry.  No, it’s a calm, calculated coldness.  Very much like the Punisher.  Yes, the initial mobsters who killed Frank Castle’s family in the park received the brunt of his frustration.  But his targets after that?  He’s no less pissed, trust me, but it has transcended into a simple consequences-punishment system.  Her turn now.

Especially since Black Mask obviously didn’t learn his lesson the first time.

Thus begins the last pages of this arc and the confrontation between the two opposing forces.

Can’t blame Black Mask for wanting an arch-nemesis, all the cool supervillains have one.  Batman’s already taken.  Nightwing lives in Blüdhaven.  Robin or Batgirl are too sidekick-y.  Truthfully, Catwoman’s a pretty solid choice.  If he hadn’t attacked and scarred her friends and family.  If he hadn’t pushed her back into that morally gray area she spent years clawing out from.  Nope, gaining an arch-nemesis requires consent from both parties.

No second chances.  No redemption.  Catwoman is not Batman and unfortunately for him, Black Mask learned that lesson far too late.

The end.  Seriously.  Roman Sionis, the original Black Mask, is dead.  Want to know the aftermath, like the effects this has on the relationship with her peers and fellow superheroes?  Well, too bad.  I’m not being mean, I promise.  This is the last issue before One Year Later, the jump in time that takes place among every DC series as a result of the major event Infinite Crisis.

But at least this story has a definite ending.  Just another normal day in Gotham City.

Catwoman vs. Black Mask, Pt. 2

Catwoman’s entire supporting cast has been kidnapped or hospitalized.  Everyone Selina cares about has been methodically taken out by mob boss/supervillain Black Mask and his goons as revenge for $28 million worth of diamonds that she snatched in an earlier issue. Luckily for us, angry Catwoman’s like angry Batman without boring stuff like a moral code.  So this’ll be fun.

As we pick up from where we left off, she still doesn’t know who took all her buddies/family.  Though first, because of the target audience, she has to wash off her emotional baggage in the obligatory shower scene.

And they don’t.  Catwoman’s not exactly feared in the Gotham community.  Well, not if she has anything to say about that.  Time to get some answers the only way a superhero does – bursting through a moving train window.

While Bruce Wayne came from immense wealth, Selina came from the opposite.  Her mom committed suicide and her dad drank himself to death very soon after.  She spent her youth either inside juvenile detention or out homeless on the streets.  The superhero Wildcat taught her boxing, she mastered several forms of martial arts, and Catwoman has a crazy natural talent for gymnastics and acrobatics.  Yes, she didn’t travel for a decade studying with the finest fighters in the world like Batman.  But in the absence of globetrotting, she makes up for it with instinct and brutality.  Especially brutality.

As she breaks into the penthouse for her confrontation with Sylvia and Black Mask, the scene plays out exactly like every good action movie finale.  You’ll see.  All the cliches are there, and you would be disappointed if they weren’t.

Former best friend sold out our protagonist to the arc’s antagonist?  Check.  Time to put that traitor down?  Also check.

I know there’s a fiery inferno behind Black Mask.  I skipped some stuff.  But the narrative still holds strong, right?  Plus, every good fight takes place surrounded by fire.  Builds suspense and whatnot. Oh, and did I mention that Catwoman’s pissed?  Like really pissed.

The biggest difference between Batman and Catwoman?  This:

He survives, as all supervillains do.  Maybe his henchmen deployed a trampoline before he fell, I don’t know.  But Batman would have helped him up.  Heck, one story once involved the Joker arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and Batman worked tirelessly to prove his innocence.  That’s just Batman.  After his resurrection, a main reason Jason Todd (the second Robin) turned to crime was that he saw the Joker still laughing freely around town after the clown horrifically killed him.  Not a drop of vengeance from the Bat.  We as readers should respect Batman’s decision to some degree, if just because it’s one more way that Bruce Wayne is a better person than us and deserves that whole superhero title.

But not Catwoman.  You mess with her family, then the punishment will reflect accordingly.  A final loose end to clean up:

Safe to say, there’s going to be some lasting PTSD from everyone involved.  I didn’t show it, but Maggie Kyle’s husband met his demise at Black Mask’s hand.  And Black Mask made Maggie eat her husband’s eyeballs.  Yes, I’m serious.  So she’s now institutionalized, as she should be.

Despite the permanent, lasting damage to everyone involved in the series, at least one silver lining emerges.  And in one of the bleakest stories I’ve ever read, it ends properly.  With a happy ending.

Tomorrow we’re going to cover Black Mask’s return and his final battle with Catwoman.  Heads up, Black Mask’s still a huge jerk.

Catwoman vs. Black Mask, Pt. 1

In my last Black Mask article a week ago, I mentioned his eventual downfall at the hands of Catwoman.  Well, we’ll get to that.  The rest of the week involves Black Mask’s attempts to take over Gotham’s East End and Catwoman’s attempts to stop him.  Also, they’re both insane, vengeful people.  So it’s going to be fun.

Catwoman (real name Selina Kyle), I believe, is Batman’s soulmate, y’know, if he wasn’t already married to crimefighting.  So with her head held high in the early 2000s, she heads back to the slums of Gotham she grew up in and declares herself its new protector.  Like any good comic character, she quickly gains a fun, emotive group of sidekicks and side characters, and fights everyone from mobsters to ancient Egyptian death cults.  Most importantly, her life hasn’t been this good in a very long time.

Until Black Mask shows up.  Unfortunately for Selina, she recently and successfully masterminded a plot to steal 28 million dollars worth of diamonds from Black Mask’s men.  Big mistake.  Where our story currently picks up, in Catwoman #12-16, volume 2, written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Cameron Stewart, Catwoman’s days are currently filled with lively, fun heists and running into delightful old friends.

With her diamond money, Selina decides to open a community center in the East End.  Being a hero and all that.  And I have to introduce Catwoman’s supporting cast, as they’re fairly vital to the story.

First up, the old man next to Selina is Slam Bradley, a grizzed old-fashioned detective who enjoys cigarettes and bar fights, like all private eyes do.  And despite his cliched attitude and background, understand that he’s been around since 1937.  As in a year before Superman.  As in he was the star of Detective Comics #1, the comic Batman would make his premiere in 26 issues later.  After a spattering of appearances since his comic run ended in 1949, he’s most recently hanging out with Catwoman in her solo series, as you’ve just seen.

The girl with orange hair is Holly Robinson, former runaway, prostitute, and junkie, now living and helping Catwoman with information gathering and girltalk.  Also, in 2004, Catwoman won a GLAAD award for Holly’s positive portrayal as an openly gay character.  Plus, she’s upbeat and feisty.

Enough of that though.  Catwoman is investigating some child crime in the area when she finds their hideout, which just so happens to be the exact hideout she was raised in as a child.

So as children, Selina, Sylvia, and a bunch of other children, were raised to steal, rob, and pickpocket from unsuspecting bystanders.  Very Oliver Twist-like.  Of course, their caretaker was a terrible, horrible woman and they eventually escaped.  Now, Sylvia runs the child thief group, but y’know, with not beating kids or crushing them emotionally.  So like half better.

Still, nice to run into her childhood best friend, right?  Oh, the happy surprises don’t end there.  But we should probably check in with Slam and Selina’s adult best friend Holly first.

Oh yeah, so Catwoman has a younger sister named Maggie.  Fated down the same demeaning and soul-crushing path that Selina went down, she eventually joined the nunnery to escape.  Well, not anymore.  Now she’s married and living that white picket fence life she dreamed about.

Community center opening!  Always the hottest ticket on the Gotham social scene.  Also, doesn’t hurt that Bruce Wayne showed up and made a speech.  He and Selina have a history.  A dirty history.

You see Catwoman’s smile?  No, seriously, go look at it again, because that’s the last happy moment you’ll see on this website for the next three days.  From the next image on, everything is just one horrific problem after the other.  I’m excited too.

Of course, first up to get revenge on Catwoman, you have to ruin months of her time and money.

The community center gone, the bad guys can now concentrate on Selina’s friends and loved ones.

With Maggie’s husband sufficiently kidnapped, might as well go for the matching pair:

Trust me, while they don’t show it, she’s as good as snatched.  Two buddies left.

There goes Slam.  Three down, one to go.  Though you’d probably want to know what’s going on, right?  Of course you do, you’re a curious individual.  Heads up, it mainly involves torture.

Well, you don’t become mob boss of Gotham without some sort of sick streak.  I mean, you know who he has to compete with.  Slam’s in the hospital, and the Kyles are hung up in Black Mask’s medieval torture dungeon, but Holly’s still around.  One for four ain’t bad.

And that’s the complete set.  Betrayals hurt even when not beaten by a large group of kids with skateboards.  By the way, you think you’ve seen Batman when he’s angry?  He’s a sleeping puppy compared to Catwoman’s rage.  Our story continues with the action packed second part tomorrow, where Catwoman beats the crap out of everyone who dared intrude in her life.