Catwoman: Selina's Big Score - A Comic Book Review

Selina is broke. She desperately needs a new score, preferably a big one. Swifty promises her this meeting with Chantel will be just that.

She believes in her ability to judge people and from the conversation thus far, Chantel seems like a trustworthy gal. Desperate, like her, but trustworthy.

The only problem is the gig itself. The numbers certainly tempting, but she hates messing around with mafia's money if she can help it. From her experience, that kind of dough will only attract more problems later on.

One other thing she doesn't like is the complexity of it all. Trying to steal millions of dollars from a speeding train guarded by armed goons is not a simple matter. She definitely can't pull this off alone.

To do it properly, she requires help from the man she used to know. The man who taught her everything she knows. The man who would likely kill her the next time they see each other.

But hell, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

The structure of Selina's big score is quite similar to other heist stories. The team recruiting, the planning, the unforeseen complications, the whole shebang.

In this genre, the challenge is not how to make an original story, but rather how to make it as interesting and as engaging as possible.

Darwyn Cooke manages to do just that. The pacing of the story, the surprising sequence of events, the introduction of original characters that not only elevate the story but also deepen the main character herself, all of it is perfectly fined tuned to tell an exciting story.

But the cream of the top is the way he perfectly utilized a very familiar character to play with our expectations.
From the way he withheld critical information to how he uses different character's point of view to paint the side of the Catwoman that we're not familiar with.

It makes us want to keep turning the pages to find out what's gonna happen next.

Other than the story, Darwyn Cooke also responsible for the art department with the support of the almighty colorist, Matt Hollingsworth.

Looking at the pages, there's an unmistakably gritty feeling oozing from the art. The heavy use of shadows and the limited and flat color pallette certainly responsible for that noir-like atmosphere.

Every artwork on each page is meticulously crafted to guide our eyes and ease the transition from panels to panels. All to ensure the maximum immersive reading experience as possible.

Unfortunately, sometimes the words itself hinders that immersive reading. The font, or should I say the typeface, looked like bold marker handwriting. While it does enhance the gritty feeling of the art and the story even further, there are times when the legibility becomes an issue.

It's only happened once or twice throughout the story, but it does take me away from the immersive experience when I have to squint my eyes when I read the balloons or the captions.

Catwoman: Selina's Big Score is a fun read. It plays around with a familiar character & concept and makes it interesting and exciting.

It's easy to lose track of time when reading it. It has enough fun elements to keep me interested throughout while giving me nuggets and clues that will be rewarded when I finally put the whole picture together at the end.

The noir atmosphere presented by the art also elevates the story into an even greater height. Sure, there is the occasional legibility issue on the speech balloons and captions, but that is honestly just a small problem in the mountain of goodness.

I believe this is one of the best heist stories in the comic world and I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone. Besides, it's only a single trade paperback volume, so you can definitely read it in one sitting.

For another cool comic, check out my review on The Last American Crime, a heist story set in the dystopian USA. Netflix recently adapted it into a feature film and they went about it differently than the source material, for better or worse.

Anyway, what do you think? Care to give Selina's Big Score a try? Tell me what you think in the comment section below.