Detective Comics (1990) # 612

 By Mark Rodriguez

The first ever Detective Comic I ever bought was issue 611 which the second part of a two-part Penguin story. Decades later I found and purchased issue 610 thanks to Hipcomic. This is the next issue that involved Catwoman, so as a new fan I was happy to see another familiar villain. However this issue not only features Catwoman but a Catman as well. Let's see what happens. 

 

"Cats" opens with some hoodlums skating down the park. One of them snatches a purse from an old lady while the other shoves her to the ground. Luckily Batman was patrolling the park and swings into action. He kicks one of the kids in the back, making him crash fast-first into a tree branch. He tosses a Batarang to the back of the other guy's head, which makes him fall over the wall that surrounds the park and into the bushes.

Batman asks if the old lady is alright and says it's dangerous to be out at night. She says her Persian cat Ayesha hasn't come home, and she always comes home before supper. Batman says if he sees the cat on his travels, he'll let her know. He goes to grab the guy that fell into the bushes, and he is horrified at what he saw. Batman sees a man that's been eaten alive, his ribs exposed.

 

Elsewhere, on private property a man is looking for his pet, Rasputin but he has escaped from his cage. The man runs off, saying it's hard to tell how long Rasputin has been gone and he can be anywhere in Gotham by now. He has to find him, but not as Thomas Blake. He'll go as Catman.

Later on, reporter Sara Dulman is on the scene covering the story. She sees Commissioner Gordon and asks if if he knows the identity of the perpetrator yet. Gordon says they're checking all the zoos since the attack seems consistent with those from a large animal. Sara asks if he's sure it's an animal since it's possible the Catwoman might be responsible. Gordon asks where she heard that and it's clear Sara is making it up. Gordon says they are looking for an animal and tells Sara to keep her theories to herself. Sara tells her viewers that she is not convinced.

Meanwhile, Selina Kyle is angrily watching the news as Sara goes on and on. She says that no one really knows the story behind Catwoman so if she's behind this, the citizens of Gotham need to know. Selina heads to her closet and gets her costume.

Elsewhere, some guys are planting open cat food cans on the street so they can capture any cats that are lured in. Corky tells his friend T.C that they caught 14 cats already and he's getting good with the net. T.C says getting ten bucks a cat helps. They load up their delivery truck and drive off.

Batman thinks the police flooding the streets with manpower is stupid because the animal won't be coming back. He finds some claw marks on some tree branches and figures the animal went towards the nearby alley.

Meanwhile, Catman is swinging through the night, using a grappling hook similar to how Batman operates. On another rooftop, a cat burglar runs into a black cat and says he might give him luck on this job. The cat freaks out and the crook says he isn't going to hurt him. The poor guy turns to see a white tiger leap out at him. Batman and Catman hear the screams and swing towards the building.

Sara continues his report as the police has reported the zoo doesn't have any missing animals. This has her insist that a human might be behind this and asks what the authorities plan to do about Catwoman.

Batman arrives at the building and sees the tiger. He kicks the tiger back but it's too late to save the guy. Batman figures the tiger isn't going to be happy to have his meal interrupted. Batman swings off the roof, trying to build momentum when Catman tosses a 'Catarang' to cut the rope. Batman falls and is dazed as the tiger prepares to attack.

Catman leaps in and stops the tiger from attacking. The tiger is in fact, his pet Rasputin, and it seems he wants some fun. Catman says he can arrange that. Elsewhere, another cat is captured by Corky and T.C. That makes 23 cats they have caught so far. 

Batman wakes up and recognizes Thomas as Catman. One of his ankles is tied by Batman's own rope and his utility belt has been removed. He says Rasputin needs some exercise and the tiger lunges at him. Batman uses his rope to swing out of the way and he kicks the jungle cat back. Batman dodges the tiger and lands some kicks when he can. He can't snap the rope off his ankle and has no time to untie himself. Batman needs a weapon, and finds the aerial, which is what the other side of the rope was tied to.

Catwoman is out on the prowl and catches the scene between Catman and Batman. Batman blocks a the tiger's claws with the aerial, snapping it in half. Catwoman lashes out her whip and wraps it around one of Catman's ankles. Catwoman yanks back and pulls Catman's foot right from under him, making him fall backwards off the roof.

Meanwhile, Corky and T.C are driving by the building. One of them says cats can fall from a hundred feet and land unhurt. which is probably why people say they have nine lives. Just then, something loud falls onto the delivery truck, presumably Catman. The men step outside to check it out and see Catwoman staring from off the rooftop. From such a high distance, the men think it's a giant cat and hightail it out of there.

Batman has gotten some cuts and scrapes as he continues to fight the Siberian tiger. He's suffering damage but the cat seems unfazed. He needs to finish this quickly. Batman tries to lure Rasputin in. The tiger lunges forwards and Batman mostly sidesteps the attack (he still gets sliced). He wraps the rope around the cat's neck and tries to ride him like a bull. Catwoman watches this and figures those two can look after themselves and leaves. Batman manages to slam the tiger down and he tries his best to choke the tiger out without actually killing him. 

 

Elsewhere, Corky stops the truck. He heard something smash through the roof and figure they should check it out since his uncle Ernie will kill him if the truck is trashed. When they open the back, all the cats leap out, scratching and crawling. As the freed felines get away, Catman stumbles out as well. The guys think this is a sign and they run off, promising to never sell cats to research labs ever again.

Sara is still on location saying that the police still don't have any leads, so they're going to try to dig up as much backstory as they can on Catwoman. Speaking of the she-devil, Catwoman jumps in from a nearby tree. She tells Sara that she does NOT eat people... unless they make her angry. She slashes at the camera lighting and equipment and Sara's news station goes black. The police are called for help and they run in to see Sara tied up and hanging upside down off a tree branch while her cameraman tries not to laugh.

Batman arrives in front of Gordon and his men, in terrible shape. He tells them the animal was a tiger and he'll be on the Hottin Roof on Elliot Street. He tells them that wasn't a joke. Cat on a hot tin roof.

Later on, the evening news has another reporter, Andy Webber, as he says that the tiger responsible for the two deaths was captured and taken to the zoo. Its owner, Thomas Blake is being sought out for questioning. His fellow reporter Sara Dulman was taken to the Gotham Hospital due to the shock she endured after an altercation with Catwoman. I mean, you kept calling her out Sara. The TV goes to a cat food commercial and Selina happily snuggles with her pet cat.

 

My Thoughts-

This was a fun tale with several things going on at once. I like the way some of these events just happen and even though there was a brief moment where all the stories cross paths, they weren't all aware of the other. Batman is looking for the mystery animal that killed two people. Catman is out looking for his pet. Catwoman is out to clear her name as Sara keeps bashing her. These two guys are grabbing stray cats to sell to research labs.

When these four plots cross into each other... well, Catwoman saw Batman and Catman, but Catwoman probably whipped Catman so fast he probably didn't even know it was her that yanked him off the roof. Batman was too busy fighting the tiger to even know that Catwoman was even there. All of the costumed fighters were completely unaware of Corky and T.C's shenanigans, and to Catwoman, it was just a truck that just so happened to drive by to break Catman's fall. As for the duo, they didn't fully comprehend that they ran into both Catwoman and Catman in the same night. All things considered, those guys were VERY lucky that Catwoman didn't find out what they were up to...

This is the first time I ran into Catman, but Thomas Blake has been around since the 60's and eventually he becomes more of an anti-hero. As you can see here, he's pretty much a cat-themed version of Batman with very similar gadgets. This Catman is VERY different from the serial killer version with severe mommy issues from the 4-part story Heat from the Legends of the Dark Knight series. Thomas Blake is the main Catman.  

The story was fun, though I wish we saw Batman and Catman actually fight it out and compare gadgets. While it's smarter for Thomas to just kick back and watch Batman fight his deadly pet, there are only so many ways you can see Batman dodge an attack and swing back to kick the tiger before you want to see something else. Poor Rasputin got kicked so many times in this comic, he probably thought he was at FIFA. 

Fun short story and it was fun to see Sara get some payback to an appropriate degree. While even the cameraman had a laugh, it was good to see that Catwoman just gave her a good scare and not actually rough her up. I don't know what the hell Sara's problem was with Catwoman to begin with. Maybe trying to chase a Pulitzer. 

The letter column went into issue 608 which introduced Anarky. The readers loved the character especially since he was so similar to Batman where it became a question if Batman is able to do anything about him without coming off as a hypocrite. One reader asked them not to kill this character off... and well, they don't have to worry about that.

Other readers asked about the upcoming Robin, or rather if he can be kept out of Detective Comics so that series can keep Batman on solo adventures. Other readers asked when events of the main book (such as the events of A Lonely Place of Dying) will affect Detective Comics.  They mentioned they will love to see Nightwing pop up once in a while. The editors did mention that there would be an upcoming story that will cross over into both Batman and Detective Comics, which as we now know will be the Penguin story.

One ad I liked for this issue was the one for Double Dragon II. I always liked that cover design. I was asking myself why the ad made such a big deal of the 'two player simultaneous action' when Double Dragon was always two-player.... until I remembered the first NES version of the game only let you play one at a time.

 

Did that old lady ever get her pet cat Ayesha back?