This issue was chugging along, with its usual problems - pacing too fast, narration doesn't match scenes, Selina knows too much, people believe / care too much about Selina for no reason, everyone has the same voice, the villains aren't credible - but mostly I thought it was ok. And then I got to the last scene. And Selina's plan is to ally with a cannibal??? Who literally eats people as his thing??? Why, Tini, why! You're writing this! You could have written this in a way that Selina isn't so dumb! Ugh. more

Stinky

Sigh. Why is any of this happening? On the good stuff - I like that there was at least some explanation for the 1st half of the heist, and how Selina was able to pull it off. And the colors in space are pretty. But on the bad stuff - there is both too much and too little at the same time. I still don't understand why any of these heists are happening, there isn't any real character work being done, and it just seems like things are happening or Selina knows stuff at random. I also don't appreciate how, on top of the indignity of dying every issue in this arc, she had to be rescued by others yet again here.

Howard seems to like to TELL us about Selina's competence but SHOW us her failing, so one ends up ringing more true than the other.

I also don't really appreciate the Morrison riffing. These villains haven't had the room or the build-up to be anything scary nor care about Selina that much. It's a start contrast to how Jones had Selina copy Bruce's epic Year One moment during her run - there was a lot of build-up prior to it, and it also made sense why Selina was there copying him. more

What the hell was that? Another issue where the evil at robot goes amuck Batman and Joker still at odds like a million times before but without a smart plot well devised. The writer has clearly shown Joker knows who Batman is but the result is so what? Actions have no consequences and characters spin their wheels doing nothing.

The bat robot is still at large after what a year? So far Bats is his and Gotham’s worst enemy. Zdarsky’s not a Joker origin story story just shows Bats creates problems, not solves them. Bat robot another Bruce created villain. I don’t think proving Bat critics, the ones who say if Bruce gave away his money all problems would be solved, are right is a good look or clever writing.

Art was nice, but man I can’t wait for the DC reboot in October. Terrible stories.

Or I could be wrong more

It's really annoying how many writers are just trying to retcon classic stories and characters these days. While the writers often try to expand on these classic stories or give them more depth, the opposite often occurs and they end up tarnishing them.

That's the case here. Zur-En-Arrh was a cool concept when Morrison introduced it, but now it's just a corrupt Batman. The Jokers motivations have been retconned to all be about bringing out Zur-En-Arrh. Killing Joke? Death in the Family? All because of Zur-En-Arrh now instead of the Jokers affinity for chaos and obsession with Batman.

Zdarsky is taking from the Batman mythos instead of adding to it. I don't know why DC is allowing these horrible changes to their most popular franchise. Avoid this Batman run. Everyone is out of character and it's just butchering classic stories. more

Not much new to say, so I'll just leave this here. I think Batman is too big of a character for Zdarsky to handle.

Honestly I am going to be in the minority, but I really enjoyed it. I understand there are many valid concerns and criticism but I liked this run so far. Good art from Jorge Jimenez (he's carrying this more than James Tynion IV), Batman can be resourceful, the story is engaging, Bruce Wayne realizing he's taking Batman too seriously and Bat family are slowly realizing the Zurr En Arrh robot isnt what it seems and Bruce Wayne is really resourceful.

I do hope after Zdarsky's run we go back to basics for a new Batman run. But I hope this run will eventually win back fans. more

Sigh, sigh. From a writing perspective, it's interesting how this run is doing more damage to Selina's character than her other infamous runs - at least prior writers were trying to tell a story about a character. This feels like just random ideas happening, but it really erodes who Selina is as a person in process. Why does she need money? Didn't she just teach a bunch of people to rob half of Gotham? It just makes no sense and really portrays Selina as a shallow, impulsive, dumb, and near-sighted character. My only hope is that eventually, as with all things, this Howard reign of terror will end. more

Tini Howard's run can't end soon enough.

Zdarsky's Batman is simply not interesting anymore to me. This was convoluted and weird, I felt completely disconnected.

I smell another Zdarsky mess in the making, as his up-and-down yo-yo run on the book continues. Whenever he is telling a compelling storyline, he seems to interrupt it with interludes such as the multi-verse story, the execrable Gotham War, and now Joker: Year One, which suffers from underwhelming art in places and a very non-linear story. Can he ever just tell a complete, linear story with a beginning, middle, and end?! I’m very doubtful after over 20 months of Zur-En-Arh. more

What is this? Seriously... what is this? So a bunch of non-sense scenes, with rushed-plot and now she has powers? Really? Tini's entire run seems to be breaking down and ruining Catwoman as much as possible. Between her falling in love with a War-criminal monster to her getting powers, what is left of Catwoman? Well I can answer that. Covers. Looking at Catwoman sales, that is the sole thing that appears to be keeping the sales going. The All-star cast of artists DC puts on the covers. Tini is an anchor and the artists are the helium balloons trying to pull up this complete waste of a series. I genuinely feel bad that such good art is being associated with this terrible writing.

Nine-Lives superpowers? Please end this run. It is so painfully cringe. more

As if tini howard can't butcher the character even more, she decides to give Catwoman powers. Then, proving how incompetent tini howard's Selina is, she immediately dies twice. On a mission to return a fucking cat.

Mentioning valmont is an insta 2/10; combine that with everything else and it's a 0/10.

Oh and an old lady found Selina under rubble. Guess Bruce or Dick or anyone else didn't bother checking it lmfao. more

What the heck was this? Catwoman lived through the end of Gotham War, which itself isn’t surprising but the way it was handled in this issue (i.e. full-speed ahead without more than a passing reference to Vandal Savage) makes it seem like the DC Editors realized how bad the event was and wanted to distance themselves from it as fast as possible. Not that the start to Selina’s next arc was much better. Howard’s set up for this new story was extremely rushed with pieces being taped together when a reasoning was needed for a specific part of the plot. Nothing made sense, from the literal cat burglary to Selina’s new scars. A chaotic start to a series that badly needs a strong arc to recalibrate things sooner rather than later. more

It's disappointing that we continue to get broken Batman, the same status quo it's been for the past 5 years. Not interested in seeing him continue his descent past rock bottom.

I think Batman is dead. I know he is alive but this run of Batman might as well be dead. This event might be the worst, most bat-family destroying event in the past 20-30 years.

Everything has been taken from Batman. I am not talking about the villains doing it. I mean Tini and Chip. He now has no tech, no cash, no team (who all come off as traitorous fools) and he left the team to Nightwing as him and Catwoman cant play mom and dad anymore. Really? Batman and Catwomans relationship is so toxic at this point, I dont think they could ever be put together in the next decade or so. Nightwing shouldnt run the bat-family, it should be disband based on how dumb they were.

Batman himself was so out of character and both him and Catwoman made such insane leaps of logic that were right only for the plot.

Oh Savage is just losing his powers after 50,000 years and is using a homing meteorite? WTF? Also since when could a small vehicle break up a massive meteorite? Literally everything was ham-fisted. Everyone acted the way they did so this nonsensical plot could work out. Nothing actually made sense.

Also don't get me started on the 'multi-endings'. So we are liking getting a ripp-off 3rd rate version of 3 Jokers, everyone is going to know who batman is cause he is so careless some thug found his costume in his new home and Catwoman is still somehow alive.

Congrats Tini and Chip. I think you might have the worse Batman and Catwoman stories in modern history. I give out very few 1.0s and if I could I would give this a 0. DC has high highs and low lows. This was the broke through the basement. more

Not going to lie, this event was pretty much garbage. This is probably my least favorite event of the year hands down. this shows that every great or skilled comic book writer can have some bad days, and this is no exception for Chip Zdarsky.

First off, the art is horrendous. Every time there's a comic book event, I always expect good if not great art. I get that Jorge Jimenez wanted to work on Chip Zdarsky's Batman run exclusively, but I would much rather have the big guns on the event, and have hte long running series have some dip in art quality.

Story was bland and forgettable, Action was bland, even if Batman was controlled by Zurr En Ahh, the way he treated Jason Todd was honestly crossing the line. Catwoman by Tina Howard was bland, Vandal Savage and Sandal Savage were forgettable, everything about this event was just a mess.

Damn, you know somethings' wrong when you miss James Tynion IV's run on Batman more

I really wanted to like this event, and I’d been giving it the benefit of the doubt from the beginning, but it just didn’t work. The initial ethical dilemma was interesting to me, and I didn’t feel that the character voices were off—maybe just exaggerated. But that initial plot thread gave way to an unbelievably boring and tired story of Vandal Savage looking for a thing that will do a thing, so everybody has to stop the thing. Other reviewers have said that this event has changed the characters and dynamics, but I fully disagree. Zdarsky has changed Batman, but that happened before the event. Batman is in the same place now that he was at the end of issue 136. I have loved Zdarsky’s take on Batman, but I am so tired of the detours DC has taken, first with Knight Terrors and now this. Just leave Zdarsky alone and let him write, because the past few months have been a waste of time and money. Like the Battle Lines issue, the art felt rushed here, too. Very disappointing. more

I really would like to know how some of reviews of this is 10 out of 10 because there was nothing literally nothing right with this issue it didnot answer a single question Bruce bailed on everyone and well said the batfamily responsibility is no longer on me and well guess what he is gonna be isolated because he wanted it himself great just great thus issue really doesn't deserve more than a 1

Not even worth a long rant. Just absolute garbage. The premise was awful from the start and the ending just as bad. What a fuckload of shit.

Wow... Tini Howard must be stopped.And what happened to Zdarsky ? Are there any editors left at DC?

Tini clearly lied in her Substack about there being a kiss. She claims it's "in between panels". I don't reward liars, Tini. Hopefully one day Nico will spill the beans about this awful run.

The entire event sucked. 2 stars for it being over, nothing else.

Nothing much to say as it looks like everyone else has already covered the major issues. Everyone is out of character, which is understandable for Bruce, so does everyone else also have Zur En Arrhs in their heads too? Also, I may be the only one, but Jorge's art even seems a little below his usual standard.

What is even going on here? There's an all-out war in Gotham and Batman doesn't even show up? In one panel she says no killing and in the next, she sends Tomcat out to a knife fight. Also, on page 2, the colorist forgot to color her gloves. The line is there, but no glove. Then they stole the entire look of Marquis from Arcane. An RPG lands in an apartment and doesn't detonate until later> That's not how RPGs work. Overuse of the cat understanding English. I'm sure everyone is glad that Knight Terrors is breaking this up. Tini's run should end here. more

DC needs to cancel this title before too much irreparable harm is done to this character. Her level of stupidity in this issue is mind-boggling. Why would anyone root for this character in this situation?