In broad strokes I can describe the plot of Tini Howard’s Catwoman Vol. 4: Nine Lives. But page to page, in terms of what the characters are concerned with, what they talk about and think about, Nine Lives is very messy, often nonsensical, and boring. I know very little about the next team coming on to Catwoman, but there’s no doubt in my mind this title needs a change.

[Review contains spoilers]

In the wake of Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War, Selina Kyle has gained superpowers or been blessed by a god; either way, she’s got nine lives and she’s determined to spend most of them on otherwise impossible missions. If we accept the specious premise, that Catwoman has been collecting missions she wants to do but hasn’t because the thinks she’ll get killed, then there’s a lot of potential here, tales of an Impossible Mission Force or Suicide Squad that live up to their name. It’s interesting too how Howard delineates throughout that a “get out of death free” card does not mean invincibility; should Selina die in the middle of a toxic radioactive site, she’d die and be reborn continually until her extra lives run out, and the same with dying in the vacuum of space.