Major Spoilers for Catwoman: Lonely City Ahead!
The newly released Catwoman: Lonely City gives fans new ways of looking at Selina Kyle, Batman, and Gotham City. The story takes place ten years after an event known as Fool's Day; there is still much mystery surrounding what exactly happened, but Batman, Dick Grayson, and Alfred Pennyworth are all dead. Most importantly, everyone blames Selina for killing the Dark Knight. But Selina knows something is still unanswered when Batman's dying words are: "bring me the Orpheus... Save the city."
In Catwoman: Lonely City by writer and artist Cliff Chiang, After leaving Blackgate Prison, Selina Kyle makes her way back to Gotham City. She sneaks into her old penthouse and wonders whether she should even be Catwoman anymore. Overall, Gotham security seems much better, the crime rate is down, and the city is cleaner. Selina witnesses the new conditions of Gotham firsthand when she stops in a coffee store and pays with cash. The barista sarcastically asks if she's a criminal because she's not using a card, so she ditches the coffee and heads to a bodega. As she enters the bodega, she catches a glimpse of the city's new mayor on the TV—Two-Face.
Mayor Dent and Selina eventually cross paths. Dent openly explains that to rehabilitate himself from the dangers of Two-Face, he has to embrace his imperfections. Curiously, Harvey's mental state improves only after Batman's death and after passing a law outlawing all masked heroes/villains. It causes readers to think if Batman, or the Bat-Family, ever did any good for Two-Face. Although Dent is famous for committing crimes as his monstrous persona, taking beatings from Batman can't improve his conditions. Harvey Dent is a good person, with his heart set on helping the city; Batman often ignores this when he fights him. Of course, when the aggressive side of Two-Face unleashes, it proves hazardous for Gotham, but Lonely City asks the question: "If Batman never existed, would Dent be able to heal after his accident?"
The story proves that Two-Face needs support, not another challenge to provoke his dangerous side. A similar scenario reveals itself when Selina visits Oswald Cobblepot. Now going by "Emperor Penguin," Cobblepot runs the new Iceberg Island casino. As Cobblepot survives in a post-Batman Gotham, he allegedly turns away from a life of crime. Penguin and Selina usually work well together, so Cobblepot offers to help rebuild her life. When she asks for a loan, Cobblepot sorrowfully refuses, saying he almost lost everything. Like with Two-Face, Penguin's future after Batman's career shows that Cobblepot needed anything but aggressive encounters with a giant man dressed up as a bat.
And just when readers think Batman only villains' lives worse, Selina visits Barbara Gordon, formerly Batgirl. Barbara is back in her wheelchair, suggesting she never recovered from her paralyzation in this continuity. As of now, it seems Barbara is the only surviving member of the original Bat-Family. Even Barbara confesses to Selina that she believes working with the people of Gotham is better than "running around on rooftops." Two-Face and Penguin are villains at the end of the day; there's a chance they still have secret, despicable motives. However, Oracle is one of Batman's most trusted allies. When even she implies Gotham might be better off without Batman, readers consider it a real possibility.
When Bruce Wayne became Batman, Gotham was corrupt to the core. But there may have been a point when his "war on crime" became pure indulgence. Despite vigilantism's eradication only helping Gotham City in Catwoman: Lonely City thus far, Selina still believes something isn't right. She still trusts Batman, choosing to pick up where he left off and find out what "Orpheus" means.
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November 06, 2021 at 11:53PM
