Written by Ram V
Illustrated by John Timms
Published by DC Comics
As soon as I opened this book, my eyes immediately lit up. That’s because right away I recognized the art of John Timms. And what a wonderful surprise it was! Timms draws a special one-off issue here and it’s easily my favorite issue of this entire series. I would love it if he took over this book on a permanent basis.
We open up here with a beautifully drawn scene in a casino. The self named Broker of the casino, Xin Liu, is beating Catwoman in a game. He expresses disappointment in Selina as he heard that she had a better reputation than this. But Selina assures him that it’s only eight o’ clock and that the night is still young. At the bottom of the last panel of the scene, there is a count of some kind happening. Just what is going on in this comic?
Then we cut to a scene that happened one week prior. Selina talks to Carlos, an owner of a pawn shop. He is a victim of somebody breaking in and stealing a bracelet that Carlos was going to give to his girlfriend. It turns out that there were a rash of break-ins as well. And the person responsible seems to go by the moniker of the “Broker.” And that’s when the plot kicks into high gear!
Selina goes on the hunt for her friend and his bracelet. It leads to even higher stakes than she could have imagined. Selina then runs afoul of Detective Dean Hadley. He gives her a few clues that lead her to the casino. From there we cut back to the present day and it gets wild quick.
V really knows how to writes to his artist’s strengths here. We get to see Selina going around the casino in question. There is an amazing scene that happens about halfway through with this. It is a fight scene without dialogue. V trusts Timms to tell the story without words and it’s awesome to see.
We get a few more action moments here. Detective Dean Hadley joins the fray and Selina has to save him in a very funny sequence. The book has a nice resolution as well. It’s a really great stand alone issue that we may need more of. It was a nice breather for sure.
My only complaint is where they put this issue. A storyline was already in progress from issue 8 and this interrupted the flow of that story. I understand the need for fill ins but I was invested in that previous story and now I have to wait another month. It’s a minor complaint of course as this issue is very good, but it needed to be said.
RATING: A-
