Rating:  -
Following The Long Halloween Catwoman sojourns to Italy, and becomes entangled with the Falcone crime family.
She tries a jewel heist from the Vatican, and ends up getting into quite a bit of trouble, from many sides, and the whole Gotham City thing isn't reall that far away after all.
Rating: -
So being the Batman fan that I am as well as a Loeb/Sale fan, I devoured everything I could of theirs. Knowing that this story of Catwoman, trying to discover her roots in Italy, took place in between The Long Halloween and Dark Victory just made it that much more enticing. Unfortunately I can't say that the magic they were able to pull off with Batman and other heroes was put to good use with Catwoman's solo story.
Not to say that their talents were put to complete waste. The artwork was terrific as always. I just couldn't get into it the same way I got into their work previously. Maybe it's because I'm not as big a fan of Catwoman as I should be to enjoy this. There are plenty of characters from the Bat universe thrown in there for good measure (Batman never makes an official appearance, just in Selina's dreamlike hallucinations), but still that wasn't enough to satisfy.
The Riddler plays a big supporting role in this and while he is one of my favorite Bat villains, the fact that he was there couldn't elevate it for me. I actually much prefer the way other writers handle Riddler better. I would love it if these guys would collaborate on another Batman project at some point in the future because Catwoman just wasn't a good enough substitute. No offense to Catwoman or her fans intended! I still love these guys' work and if they were to write another Catwoman tale set in Gotham I would be all over it.
Rating:  -
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the masterminds behind Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory are at it again, and this time they've brought Selina "Catwoman" Kyle and Edward "The Riddler" Nigma along for the ride. Catwoman: When in Rome finds the pair on a mission of Catwoman's own devising in the eternal city, fraught with beautiful locales and all manner of peril; and to top it off, Selina is suffering from some very disconcerting nightmares. What does it all mean? Is someone following her? Will she find what she's looking for in Roma's well trod thoroughfares? Intrigued? Then pick this one up.
Chronologically, this book seems to fall in between Long Halloween and Dark Victory, but for those looking for a good read, you don't have to be familiar with those other works to enjoy this gem. Jeph Loeb ranks among the likes of Kurt Busiek as a writer who "gets" the comic genre and can write characters with equal amounts of pathos, humor and joie de vivre. He is perfectly paired with Sale, whose artwork walks the razor's edge between charicature and straight illustration and mirrors Loeb's own literary style. Indeed, Sale's artwork, which - as in Long Halloween and Dark Victory - has a sort of 1950s-1960s feel to it (see, for instance, Selina's jaunt through the twilit streets of Rome on a Vespa scooter) was, for me, one of the chief attractions of this volume. If you're looking for a fun read, with great dialogue, a chuckle or two, and fantastic artwork, you would do well to pick up Catwoman: When in Rome
Rating: -
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have always been a winning team. With Marvel, they crafted Daredevil: Yellow and Spider-Man: Blue, and with DC they crafted the even better Superman For All Seasons, and three classic Batman stories; Haunted Knight, Dark Victory, and the Long Halloween. Needless to say, I expected better than what they put together with Catwoman: When in Rome, which while not bad at all, isn't anything special and is disappointing for those expecting the same kind of magic they've come up with before. The story picks up shortly after the events of Long Halloween with Selina "Catwoman" Kyle in Italy searching for the missing key to her past. Along with her is the Riddler, who makes for some great comic relief that is undoubtedly one of the best aspects of this TPB. Other than that though, there are inconsistencies throughout the overall story, and the noir-ish feel that Loeb typically gives the Batman universe doesn't work as well here as before. All that being said, Tim Sale's artwork is still nice to look at, and his renditions of Catwoman are plenty sexy. All in all, When in Rome isn't bad one bit and on it's own is a solid Catwoman story, but Loeb and Sale have definitely done better together.
Rating: -
Story and art are both firmly average. It is hard to believe this is the team that created the very good Batman: Dark Victory and other heralded Batworks.
It is hard to believe Sale is the artist, Catwoman in no way resembles the sleek, sexy version portrayed in The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. Though cheesecake and semi-nudes are thrown in galore she just doesn't look the sophisticated seductress she's portrayed as in other Loeb/Sale works.
Plotwise it is a mishmash, Cheetah showing up, Mr. Freeze's gun, all allegedly brought over to Italy by The Riddler. They seem to serve merely to cause fight scenes, not develop any plot. Catwoman actually spends very little time pursuing the agenda that brought her to Italy, and there is no real resolution to it. Which normally I wouldn't mind, but after the meandering set pieces instead of a tightly woven plot I would have liked some payoff. The brevity of the work is also disappointing after having experienced the much longer works they have created.
Well nobody hits a home-run every time at bat. Not even Loeb and Sale.
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