Tom King’s Batman/Catwoman run has finished with issue #12 out this week by DC Comics Black Label. This final issue concludes the story of the Bat and the Cat and finally shows Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle tying the knot.
The entire run centers around a few key points. Selina Kyle is much older, Bruce Wayne is dead, and their daughter Helena has taken up the Batwoman mantle. In the beginning of the series, Selina pays the Joker a visit and murders him. She goes on the run, but Gotham will always be home. By this final issue, Selina gives her daughter the remaining piece to the puzzle.
Helena has spent the series wanting to bring her mother to justice. She’s been on the right side of the law her whole life and doesn’t want to see her mother get away with murder, despite everything the Joker has done. In this final issue, Selina gives her daughter a gift. They argue over the gift. Helena thinks that Selina is passing down her wedding ring, but Selina is angered over that thought. That ring is forever hers, and the gift actually opens a whole other can of worms.
Selina gives her daughter the remaining evidence to tie her to the Joker’s murder. While this may seem like an olive branch to mend their relationship, Helena sees it as a test. She can take the evidence and bring her mother to justice, or she could give up the hunt and let her mother go. Now here’s the fun part. There’s no real solution to this; it’s left open to the reader. We see Selina on a beach somewhere by the end of this, but what do we think? Was Selina right, and her lawyers and billions of dollars got her acquitted? Is Selina still on the run? Or did Helena never turn in the evidence?
Here’s the part that everyone has been waiting for: the wedding. Selina and Bruce get married in a Vegas style chapel, opting for the Bat package. They get married by a fake Batman, which costs extra of course. When they need two witnesses, Bruce calls for Superman. And by that I mean all he has to do is speak out loud that he’s getting married, and Clark and Lois are on their way. It’s a sweet moment for everyone, which I highly enjoyed.
I have not read King’s Batman run, but I still really enjoyed Batman/Catwoman. There were plenty of call backs and easter eggs if you did enjoy King’s work on Batman, but I didn’t think it was difficult to follow without having that background. I also felt that Clay Mann’s art throughout the series truly captured the darkness of Gotham, while also capturing the beauty of Bruce and Selina’s relationship.
Mann’s art style accompanied by the colors from Tomeu Morey changed just enough to help guide the reader to a change in the timeline. Oftentimes, the past would be a bit brighter and more colorful, while the present tended to be darker. In this final issue, the Christmas scene with Alfred and Selina was full of color and life, but in the present, the dinner table with Helena and Selina was empty and dark. Clayton Cowles’ lettering added the final touch to this series, which helped the panels flow seamlessly. I loved the bubbles that sang through the 12 different Christmas songs and how well they fit into each issue. While Batman/Catwoman didn’t have a ton of superhero action, the extra glimpse into King’s version of the Bat and Cat should be enough to bring readers to this 12 issue story.
