Battle lines are being drawn in the latest Batman/Catwoman storyline between the two sides, and not for any reason you can think of. In the new title Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines, the Dark Knight is rendered obsolete after eight weeks in a coma because his city is 75 percent safer thanks to his former paramour.
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How she does it will surprise you. Selina got to work building a network of thieves she and her syndicate of female friends pluck from the dive bars around Gotham. These dank establishments are where The Joker, The Riddler, and other master criminals canvass for hired thugs – many of whom are career hirelings getting by on the jobs Rogues recruit them for.
Selina did something about that and deprived the villains of their feeder system. No hired goons, no jobs, no criminal capers – hence, Gotham is safer. It’s also quieter, a little too much for Batman when he wakes up and goes back on patrol. He doesn’t like what is going on and Selina knows it, but there’s more to her crusade he will like even less.
Cleaning up Gotham still comes at a price and the ones paying are those the Cat and company believe can afford it. Far from random and uncoordinated, her strategy has rules, and the first among them is Selina’s crew only robs from the rich. Moreover, they steal and give to the poor and downtrodden of the city.
As expected, this doesn’t sit well with Bruce who fires back that his “parents were ‘rich’.” He feels she is scapegoating and not really fixing anything. Meanwhile, she and her agents wonder why Bruce didn’t do more to help the city with his wealth years ago. Punching criminals hasn’t solved anything either, or so Catwoman and members of the Bat-Family come to realize.
But, one of Catwoman’s trained thieves gets killed on the job when he doesn’t recon the premises. From there, all bets are off and The War is on.
Written by Chip Zdarsky and Tini Howard, drawn by Mike Hawthorne and Adriano Di Benedetto, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines is on sale now.