So, the story. With no spoilers at all. Hm. I liked it? The end.
Kidding.
I thought it was very good, it all made sense to me. And if you’re worried that you shouldn’t jump into these issues if you’re not a regular Batman reader? Don’t be. If you know the Bat and the Cat have had a long history, with a ton of ups and downs, but now they want to make it work for real, you know all you need to know.
The Batman issue is a little wordy, because it’s jumping between three things: Batman and Catwoman preparing for the wedding, then Batman’s letter to Catwoman, and then Catwoman’s letter to Batman (pay attention to the font to help keep track of who’s speaking.)
The bits where they’re preparing for the wedding are fun, with a lot of excellent dialogue. (There’s a bit where Bruce is complaining to Alfred about the suit. I may have gotten a little choked up at Alfred’s response.)
In the letters to each other they each have a lot to say. It’s very well-written, and it’s a sweet and insightful look into their thoughts. But if you start to feel a little bogged down in the words, you’ve got some gorgeous art to keep you going. Each page of the letter runs on top of a different artist’s work, from all eras of the comic (and all different versions of Catwoman’s costume) and it’s really hard to pick a favorite.
Becky Cloonan’s page is straightforwardly beautiful, Frank Miller’s Dark Knight style is a long-time favorite of mine, Lee Bermejo’s page turned me into an instant convert to his art, of course Jim Lee can do no wrong in my mind, Tony Daniel and Tomeu Morey’s page made me smile, Capullo is always solid, Rafael Albuquerque gave us a gorgeous Spider-Man-style kiss…everyone did a fantastic job (21 artists in total) but if I had to pick a favorite it’d be Joëlle Jones’ page. Which leads me to the art in Catwoman #1.
I recently read Lady Killer, so I have no excuse for not realizing till now how much I needed a Catwoman book written and drawn by Joëlle Jones. The art is dynamic and expressive (with excellent colors by Laura Allred.) It’s beautiful, except when it needs to be twisted and disturbing. And even then it’s still beautiful.
It probably goes without saying, but I’m definitely in for the next issues of both books, because now I really need to know what happens next.