Nicole's Life Better Go Smoother Than Helena's Does

Catwoman (2001 series) 53-82
DC Comics
Will Pfeifer, writer
David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez and Adan Hughes, artists

Despite some great writers, I never picked up the early issues of the 2001 relaunch of Catwoman's solo title. But I heard good things about the book when DC had its line-wide event, "One Year Later," and jumped all of their books' storylines ahead one year. The creative team that launched Catwoman: One Year Later -- Pfeifer, Lopez, Lopez and Hughes stayed with the book until the series' final issue, No. 82. And it was a truly great run.

Catwoman started out as a cat burglar influenced by the appearance of Batman to adopt her own costume and animal motif. Throughout the character's history, Catwoman has walked a fine line between good and evil, sometimes committing crimes and leading Batman on merry chases like the rest of the Gotham rogues and other times working with the Dark Knight as an ally on the side of justice. On the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths version of Earth 2, Catwoman even reformed completely, and Selina Kyle, Catwoman's alter ego, went on to marry Bruce Wayne.

The main conceit of the 2001 Catwoman series was that Catwoman was still not above committing the occasional crime for profit but spent most of her time as a resident of Gotham City's East End and spent her nights in costume defending the downtrodden in that poor area of Gotham. Maybe she wasn't quite a hero, but she was at least an anti-hero, and the people of the East End grew to love and depend on her protection. Prior to "One Year Later," the crime boss Black Mask took an interest in the East End and was making life miserable for Catwoman and her supporting cast, including Holly and "Slam." Holly Robinson is a longtime supporting player in Catwoman's life. Her back story has changed a bit over time, but she was basically a young runaway Catwoman took in and saved from a life on the streets. She has long been a protege, though I don't think Holly had ever donned a costume before this point. Samuel "Slam" Bradley was an aging private eye working out of Gotham's East End. Bradley's publishing history dates all the way back to Detective Comics No. 1 in the mid 1930s. He is hired by the mayor of Gotham to find Catwoman in this modern series, but instead, befriends her and sometimes aides her in her adventuring.

With "One Year Later," readers find that Black Mask is dead, and it is uncertain who killed him although many suspect Catwoman. There is also a question about what became of "Slam" Bradley's adult son, Sam Bradley Jr., a recently disgraced Gotham cop with good intentions. And the biggest change is that Selina, having learned she was pregnant, decides to give up being Catwoman in favor of being a full-time mother. She hands the costume off to Holly, who decides to take up the role of Catwoman and protect the East End.

The father of Catwoman's baby, a little girl she names Helena, is kept a mystery for several issues. Remember that pre-Crisis Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman who tied the knot I mentioned earlier? Well, they went on to have a little girl they named Helena. Helena was trained by her father to be a crimefighter while still just a child after her mother died. Then later, after he also passed away, she adopted the costumed identity of the Huntress, carrying on her father's mission to protect Gotham City. Would this little girl turn out to be the daughter of Batman?

A great deal of the action of this series for these final 30 issues centers around Selina trying to remain retired and safeguard her child from the dangers of being the child of Catwoman. Several old enemies and a few new ones crop up to threaten the pair's safety. Adding to Selina's worries, Holly isn't quite the efficient Catwoman that Selina was, and when some of those old enemies come calling, they mistake the new Catwoman for the previous one. That leads to a number of opportunities for Selena to once again don the ears and goggles. Along the way, other DC Universe events leave an impact on Catwoman's world, events like Amazons Attack! and Salvation Run. There are also a number of guest stars, including Batman and Zatanna, and several references to the events which led to the popular Identity Crisis storyline and the fallout of same.

All of that may sound like a lot to take in, but these issues were great reads when they were first released between 2006 and 2008. Pfeifer does an excellent job of giving readers enough information to follow Catwoman's involvement in the various crossovers without confusion, but reading the various other series can also enhance a reader's enjoyment of this series, if desired. And rereading these stories now, they take on an entirely different sense of enjoyment and connection. I'm not running around on rooftops or fighting for my life at my job, but I have a new-found respect for trying to get my work done while also taking care of our new daughter!

A Love Story About Detectives; A Detective Story About Love

Reading the detective stories in Ms. Tree Quarterly reminded me of another series I'd been wanting to try, one I thought was somewhat similar. After giving the first 10 issues of this other series a try, however, I found that the only thing it really has in common with Ms. Tree is that both series are good reads.

Ms. Tree's tales are quite a bit different in tone from those of Mike W. Barr's The Maze Agency. The latter series specializes in done-in-one mysteries wherein the author supplies enough clues along the way that readers who are so inclined can try to solve the puzzle right along with the main characters.

The series stars Jennifer Mays, owner and lead investigator for the Maze Agency. Often assisting her in her sleuthing is boyfriend and crime-fiction author Gabriel Webb. Just as much a part of the series as crime conundrums is the growing relationship between Mays and Webb, much like in the television series "Moonlighting."

Some of the mysteries in those first 10 issues which the characters must unravel involve the apparent theft of the frames from some expensive paintings, a murder over lost episodes of a famous 1950s television sitcom, the apparent return of Jack the Ripper, plus a murder mystery game which turns all-too real and employs a locked-room whodunit at the same time.

Barr's writing is the constant in this series, which began life at Comico in 1988 and produced seven issues through June 1989 with much of the interior and cover art supplied by then newcomer Adam Hughes.

That was it until December of 1989 when Innovation picked up the series and continued the original numbering with issue No. 8, still by Barr, Hughes and Rick Magyar. Innovation continued the series through issue No. 23, with a Special and an Annual to boot. They even put together a trade collection of the first four issues in a black-and-white format.

The Maze Agency Special No. 1 featured a stunning cover by Bill Willingham and Magyar. The Special also reprinted the very first Maze Agency story, which was illustrated by co-creator Alan Davis. I'm not sure where this tale was originally published, or when, but it makes a nice addition to the Special, which also includes Davis' original character designs for Jennifer Mays and Gabriel Webb.

With issue No. 11 of the Innovation series, the art team became more irregular and featured such names as Darrick Robertson, Rob Davis and Robb Phipps. This last penciler, Robb Phipps, did issue No. 14, among others, of which I now own several of the original art pages. From the pages I have, this story seems to involve Mays and Webb attending the execution of a convicted murderer who is killed mysteriously before the state can end his life. Hughes didn't do interiors for the series after issue No. 12, but did return to do several covers beyond that point.

Since the Innovation series ended, The Maze Agency has had a number of revivals, first at Caliber Comics in 1997, and later at IDW Publishing in 2005. I enjoyed these first 10 issues enough, that I have ordered the remainder of the Innovation issues, as well as the IDW ones, and am anxiously awaiting their arrival so I can read those as well. Haven't found anyone yet with the Caliber series for sale, but I'm keeping a lookout for them.