It’s a farewell to the late artist John Paul Leon, combined with a team of artists working to writer Tom King’s script, in the Batman Catwoman Special #1, on DC Comics’ Black Label imprint.
Tom King melts the barriers between a young Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, and carries the story of their unique love affair in a forward and backward direction, transcending time and space. It’s the present, then the past, the future, and so on. For the reader, it’s delightful but challenging; like learning the grammar of a foreign language. First, you gotta learn how to master the verbs. In this case, it’s understanding the tense: is this today, or is it yesteryear?
It’s a wonderful Christmas tale, with King at his most enigmatic: glimpses of the two in love, some old foes alongside, some asides and snide comments from the Rogues Gallery, and onward. Some sequences are a mere page, while others meander or send an emotional dagger from 50 paces. And then there are the Christmas carols…
It’s thirty eight pages of story, this ‘Interlude’, with Bernard Chang, Shawn Crystal, and Mitch Gerads adding to John Paul Leon’s uncompleted art. Dave Stewart and Mitch Gerads are on colour, and Clayton Cowles on letters.
Additional material includes two previously published John Paul Leon stories, plus two long eulogies/tributes to Leon. There are also some page breakdowns by Leon that help us to understand his working method, and how he was so well regarded as a major talent during his all-too-brief comic career. Oh, and tons of pinup pages and two variant covers.
DC Comics, Black Label imprint, Batman Catwoman Special #1, $9.99 for 80 pages of content.
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