By Mark Rodriguez
There is a killer on the loose in Gotham and the city is too large for Batman to find and stop alone. As the city is hit with a heat wave and this killer is raising tension among the citizens, Batman has to work with Catwoman. They both follow him to a zoo and are now trapped in one of the exhibits with a panther!
Catwoman tells Batman not to move, even though the killer is getting away. The panther growls and Catwoman keeps it at bay with her whip, telling Batman to leave as fast as he can. Batman continues the pursuit of Catman, feeling confident that Catwoman can handle herself.
Sometime later, Batman has been unable to find him but there hasn't been any signs of any screams or sirens. Catwoman catches up to him, showing some scratches on her side. Batman mentions the wounds and Catwoman says after riding around in the trunk of the Batmobile she's better off healing them on her own this time. She is still bitter about how he doesn't trust her and asks if she was also taken to the Bat Cave in the trunk when she was unconscious the first time. Batman says it might not have been a good idea to team up. Catwoman agrees but until this is over, they're stuck together. Catwoman says this guy is running around killing women, and if Batman thinks she doesn't want to take him down he's as insane as he is.
Batman says they'll meet in the park the following night. Catwoman says to skip the park and instead they should go to the roof of the Civic Center. Batman asks why and Catwoman says he shouldn't just read the big headlines and read up on the Entertainment section. There will be a Miss Gotham beauty pageant with 50 women there, which sounds like the perfect target for the killer.
At his apartment, the Catman is freaking out that Batman and Catwoman are now after him and out to lock him up. He sees the news regarding the beauty pageant and determines he just needs 'one more' and then he can check out 'one way or another'.
Gordon and Byron discuss the situation in the city. Gordon says they'll free up ten men from the streets and another ten from the Civic Center. Byron asks if he thinks twenty men will be enough to stop what could potentially become a full blown riot. Gordon says they will be there too and Bryon sarcastically says that'll make a difference.
Gordon steps outside and sees Batman by the Bat Signal saying he was seen in the park an hour ago with a woman. Gordon doesn't trust Catwoman since she's a thief and Batman says he's giving her the benefit of the doubt. Gordon and Batman argue about this until Batman reminds him that this is about catching a killer. He says he knows Catwoman can help him catch him. Otherwise he'd have no way to stop Catman without killing him.
Gordon asks what will happen when this is over. Batman says it depends on her. Gordon says he can't control Batman, but he can also barely defend him as is. If he adds Catwoman to the equation, things will become even more difficult. Batman says he knows.
The news reports that there is a slight cold front coming towards Gotham that will cause some thunder storms and much needed relief. Until then, the city will stay in the mid to upper nineties. As the news broadcasts this, some people have even started fighting in the streets.
Catman has insane thoughts of Batman and Catwoman coming after him because they think he's evil. He says the evil he is was the evil that was done to him. He says his mother started this by locking him in the closet and beating him with her belt when he was a child and he has no way to stop now.
Gordon and Byron arrive as people of different races gather on opposing sides and start yelling at each other. Byron says if things get ugly, they're dead with just twenty men. Gordon says they make twenty-two and Byron says they need two hundred. Gordon says he knows and all they can do now is pray for a miracle.
Meanwhile Batman and Catwoman are on the roof of the Civic Center as the Miss Gotham beauty contest is about to begin. At this point Catwoman determined the killer is escalating and is planning to go all out now. The press takes pics and one of the photographers heads to the bathroom. The killer is among the crowd in his regular clothes and follows him. He knocks the guy out and takes his press pass.
Elsewhere, Gordon and Byron watch as the crowd starts to get violent. Gordon tells the people to disperse and that they can't guarantee their safety with a loudspeaker.
Catwoman says someone could check the backstage and she decides to go. The killer sneaks off somewhere and puts on his Catman outfit. He tells himself he needs one last one, a big one, even bigger than his mother. He barges into the women's dressing room. Before he can strike, Catwoman's whip wraps itself around his arm.
Meanwhile, the riot finally breaks loose and Byron runs towards them, unable to hold back anymore. Gordon runs in there as well.
Catwoman tosses the killer through the propped wall and onto the main stage. She tells him he won't be killing women anymore, it'll now be a showdown between the two of them. Batman notices that it's starting to thunder and sees that Catwoman found the killer.
Gordon and Byron prepare to fight the crowd and Gordon tells him to not draw his gun no matter what happens. The crowd surrounds and charge towards both Gordon and Byron as lighting strikes Catwoman fights against Catman as Batman enters the scene, crashing through the roof.
Hail starts to fall, which confuses and disperses the crowd. Gordon says Bryon was right, a break in the heat helped calm people down. Byron says this looks more like a miracle from above.
The fight continues between Catwoman, Batman and Catman. Batman notices that Catman has gotten slower. Catwoman jumps in and wants to finish the fight herself. Batman says to focus on taking him down before he gets away. Catman runs through the crowd and Batman says they should head back to the roof.
Gordon and Byron shiver as the hail now turns to rain and the heat turned to cold. From the roof, Batman and Catwoman are able to see where Catman is running off to and give chase.
Catman runs back home, feeling he has failed. He says that once he hides back in the closet, back in the dark, he will be safe and he can start again. Just then Batman and Catwoman leap in front of him by the fire escape, surrounding him. Batman and Catwoman beat the hell out of him until he collapses, defeated.
Later on they check his apartment and don't find the stolen loot. Catwoman finds that his name is Thomas Blake. Batman finds a locker key and says it must belong to a locker in a bus terminal or airport. He might have been planning to grab the loot and leave town after his attack at the beauty pageant.
Batman will take the killer in and Catwoman can stay to watch the key. Afterwards they can meet on the roof with Gordon. Catwoman asks if this means their partnership doesn't need to end. Batman says it depends on how she'll act on the roof. She says she does want them to stay together. After Batman leaves, Catwoman gives the key a look.
Batman and Gordon meet on the roof, and Gordon asks what took Batman so long after they booked the killer. Batman says he found the stolen loot with the man's fingerprints on it to put him away forever. Gordon says he was right about Catwoman after seeing how she helped bring him down. Batman asks if they found anything at his apartment. Gordon comments that they found books on serial killers, newspaper clippings about his own crimes, and pictures of his mother, most of them being mutilated. Batman asks if he found a key. Gordon didn't and Batman says that it looks like he was right about Catwoman. Gordon asks what he means but Batman is already gone.
Elsewhere at an airport, Catwoman in regular clothes shows up and finds the locker that the key belongs to. Batman arrives and says she was right when she said 'a blindfold would have worked' back when she was put in the trunk of the Batmobile. She says he was blind but not to what he thought, and things would have worked out differently had he really trusted her. Batman says they'll never know. He walks off saying that their partnership has been dissolved.
My Thoughts-
This was an entertaining read from beginning to end. Batman, still early in his career has not encountered Catwoman enough times to know if he could trust her or not. He's also faced with a killer that's too much for him to handle alone. Then you have Gordon and Byron facing how the insane heat wave that the city is facing has been raising the racial tensions, especially given the Catman's appearance.
Catman is totally violent and insane. It's not clear what exactly happened to his mother. As he ran home, he mentioned his mother's clothes were still in the closet, and Gordon mentioned having found 'out of fashion' women clothes there too. The photos were also torn up, but it doesn't exactly spell out that he killed her. The story implies that we saw his first ever crime, which was a robbery turned into a murder, until he then decided to switch to just murdering exclusively women. He was a nutcase and I could only assume he spends all day just sitting in his apartment being angry at the TV. I just don't see how he could function in the outside world.
This story's version of Catman is a much darker, mentally disturbed and violent version of the character which is usually a Cat-themed version of Batman (using Catarangs and such) with varying degrees of goofiness depending on the writer. I don't believe this darker version of Catman has made another appearance after this story. It's a shame since I would like to see more of him, at least to find out what happened to his mother. Maybe he should have been given another name.
It was a pretty good story overall, and a lot of great action scenes. With the Catman being a capable fighter, we get to see more of Batman and Catwoman in hand to hand combat. It was also cool to see Gordon have his own adventure and face his own trials that didn't involve Batman. It reminds us that he's still out there taking down criminals aside from whatever Batman is up to. A good story and a good read overall.
The ad that stood out the most in this comic, aside from all of the Reign of the Supermen stuff, was the announcement of Catwoman getting her own series. I might have to start looking for those.
One of the funny things about this story was that Paige used to own issue one of this story. I found parts two and three at a con (as well as my own copy of issue one) and felt accomplished in getting the full story. Then I found out there was a part four... I did eventually track it down online, thanks to Cyberspace Comics. I forgot how I found them, since it was a few years back, but it seems they're also with Hipcomic since I realized my latest purchase of the IDW TMNT comics also came from Cyberspace Comics. That's pretty cool.
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