Art: J.J. Birch's art isn't very good even by 1989's comic standards. It has its moments. Some of the police officers and the nuns have decent looking faces but Batman looks bad and Catwoman is horrible. Not only is the character design concept bad (I hated this design in Batman Year One), but it's poorly executed in drawing as well. Add the fact that certain pages were ripped right of Year One and throw on one of the most abysmal covers ever to disgrace a Graphic and you end up with a really low art score. Art gets a 2.

Writing: This is actually some of the worst writing in a comic I've ever seen. Mindy Newell must have taken a failed script she wrote for an ABC After School Special which has a message of: Stay in school or you'll become a runaway that ends up as a prostitute, with a protective older sister type who likes to dress up in a S&M costume that your pimp gave her so she can rob people and beat up said pimp and this will bring the law down on you, and you'll end up getting beat up by the stereotypical dirty cop and have to go live with nuns. Mindy Newell then decides to force this crap story to line up Frank Miller's Batman Year One. Then, there are the jump cuts to somewhere else or some time else when the scene you are reading doesn't feel complete yet. It is like watching a movie where part of the reel was damaged and the damaged part was cut out and the film spliced back together with parts missing. The end result being probably the lamest Catwoman story ever written. Writing gets a 2.

During the mid to late 1980's and on into the early 1990's Marvel Comic's sales were blowing DC out of the water. During this time period DC only had a handful of comics that were truly great. Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Killing Joke are examples of that greatness. This Catwoman graphic is at the opposite end of that spectrum. With its terrible art and even worse story, it is easy to see why Marvel was winning the war in sales because DC was churning out so much crap like this.

Selina Kyle es un personaje que siempre me ha intrigado y desde hace tiempo quería leerme este cómic y me encanto, habían partes muy duras y oscuras pero eso mismo hizo que me encantara la historia, también me gusto ver más de Selina y su desarrollo como Catwoman.

Set during the events of Batman: Year One (even going so far as to reprint whole panels from Frank Miller's story), this miniseries describes the origin of Catwoman. As in Year One, Selina Kyle is practicing the world's oldest profession before donning the cat suit and turning to burglary. Selina's sister, a nun, is concerned about her and ends up getting dragged into Selina's world. Most of the miniseries is concerned with a weird conflict between Selina, Selina's sister, and her pimp*; the final issue focuses instead on some police corruption and involves more Batman.

The artwork isn't bad, but it's just OK in my opinion. The story was a little muddled and had some problems thematically. Its attempts to tie the Catholic faith in with Selina's situation mostly fell flat, and the comparisons of Batman's worldview with Selina's felt a little heavy-handed. The miniseries is mostly notable for its depiction of Catwoman's early days. Catwoman fans and readers interested in the character's history will find this interesting, but more general readers can probably steer clear. 2 stars.

*Selina's sister (the nun) ends up roaming the streets of Gotham, looking for Selina. The police want to discourage this (for some reason) and so threaten to arrest her for solicitation(!?!). Undeterred by these (very illegal) threats, she wanders along until she attracts the notice of Selina's ex-pimp, Stan. Stan, who has been fighting with Selina and is pretty much crazy, ends up kidnapping the nun in order to...well I'm actually not sure what Stan's goals are. Anyway, this gives a reason for Selina to come after Stan in earnest.

Set during the events of Frank Millar's Batman Year One, Her Sister's Keeper explores Selina Kyle's early life as a dominatrix for hire in the red light district of Gotham. After she's found bloody and on the verge of death in the streets near a local church, she's saved by a nun and wakes up in the hospital the next day. After being pressured by cops and further humiliated by her pimp, she decides to take advantage of the new cat suit her pimp had made for her to disguise herself and pay him back for all the damage he's caused.

I actually enjoyed this little side story slightly more than Batman Year One. It's a simple revenge story, but it felt more intimate, personal and easier to follow for newcomers. I also tend to really enjoy the female characters of Gotham, so exploring the demented city from an abused girl's point of view offered some new perspectives.

***

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Some interesting story, maybe even compelling. Some mediocre art sprinkled with some truly terrible panels. Absolutely ridiculous dialog for the pimp Stan. Overall very uneven -- a few parts worth a '4' and other parts barely a '2', so call it a '3'

Well that was a damn delight. A dark and unsettling delight. It's nice to see Catwoman's history of sex work on the page and not glossed over. I need more Holly and Selina in my life.

3.5

Catwoman volume one, yep, the first solo Catwoman series, issues t to 4. Mindy Newell's 'for mature readers' origin of Catwoman, is actually very dark, and also pretty good! 7 out of 12.

2013 read

A good complimentary read alongside Batman Year One. It's not perfect but a respectable intro to a great character. 3.1/5