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DC Anthology Specials

DC Celebration: Catwoman

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DC’s feline fatale celebrates an 80th anniversary this year, and that calls for a grand soiree, invite only, attended by some of comics’ top creators! Stock up on both catnip and champagne!

Since the character first appeared alongside Batman in 1940’s Batman #1, Catwoman has become an icon to millions of comic book fans. The undeniable magnetism between Batman and Catwoman has been one of comics’ most reliable wherever Catwoman goes, Batman is sure to follow, if only to take her down. As deadly as she is beautiful, infamous cat burglar Selina Kyle uses her nine lives to walk the razor’s edge between light and darkness in Gotham City.

To honor this publishing milestone, on April 15, 2020, DC will celebrate Catwoman’s 80th anniversary with a landmark one-shot, Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1. Featuring a cover by series writer/artist Joëlle Jones, this must-have tribute comic includes stories by Ed Brubaker, Cameron Stewart, Paul Dini, Ann Nocenti, Adam Hughes, Tom King, Mikel Janín, Mindy Newell, Will Pfeifer, and Emanuela Lupacchino, as well as pinups by Steve Rude, Tula Lotay, Jim Balent, and others.

In a story that expands their monumental run, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Cameron Stewart will reprise their Catwoman collaboration with a new 12-page story, “The Art of Picking a Lock,” that takes place near end of their original dynamic story line that started with iconic storyteller Darwyn Cooke. And no stranger himself to writing dangerous antiheroes, Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini debuts a new character for Selina Kyle’s anniversary in a story about an exotic cat taxidermist who intends to add Catwoman to their collection!

With additional stories by Mindy Newell (Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Lois Lane); the bestselling Batman team of writer Tom King and artist Mikel Janín; Ann Nocenti (Catwoman, Katana); and many more, Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 is sure to delight fans of DC’s notorious jewel thief.

In addition to Jones’s dynamic cover, fans and collectors can also look forward to eight variant covers spotlighting Catwoman throughout the decades, drawn by some of comics’ premier

1940s variant cover by ADAM HUGHES
1950s variant cover by TRAVIS CHAREST
1960s variant cover by J. SCOTT CAMPBELL
1970s variant cover by FRANK CHO
1980s variant cover by STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU
1990s variant cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
2000s variant cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
2010s variant cover by JEEHYUNG LEE

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

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144 people want to read

About the author

Paul Dini

726 books718 followers
Paul Dini is an American television producer of animated cartoons. He is best known as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros./DC Comics series, including Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Batman Beyond and Duck Dodgers. He also developed and scripted Krypto the Superdog and contributed scripts to Animaniacs (he created Minerva Mink), Freakazoid, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. After leaving Warner Bros. In early 2004, Dini went on to write and story edit the popular ABC adventure series Lost.

Paul Dini was born in New York City. He attended the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California on an art scholarship. He attended Emerson College in Boston, where he earned a BFA degree in creative writing. (He also took zoology classes at Harvard University.)

During college, he began doing freelance animation scripts for Filmation, and a number of other studios. In 1984, he was hired to work for George Lucas on several of his animation projects.

The episodes of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon that were written by Dini have become favorites amongst the show's fans over the internet, although despite this as well as contributing to interviews on the released box sets of the series, Dini has made no secret of his distaste for Filmation and the He-Man concept. He also wrote an episode of the Generation One Transformers cartoon series and contributed to various episodes of the Ewoks animated series, several of which included rare appearances from the Empire.

In 1989, he was hired at Warner Bros. Animation to work on Tiny Toon Adventures. Later, he moved onto Batman: The Animated Series, where he worked as a writer, producer and editor, later working on Batman Beyond. He continued working with WB animation, working on a number of internal projects, including Krypto the Superdog and Duck Dodgers, until 2004.

He has earned five Emmy awards for his animation work. In a related effort, Dini was also the co-author (with Chip Kidd) of Batman Animated, a 1998 non-fiction coffee table book about the animated Batman franchise.

Dini has also written several comics stories for DC Comics, including an acclaimed oversized graphic novel series illustrated by painter Alex Ross. (A hardcover collection of the Dini and Ross stories was published in late summer 2005 under the title The World's Greatest Superheroes.) Other books written by Dini for DC have featured his Batman Animated creation Harley Quinn as well as classic characters Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel and Zatanna.

Best known among Dini's original creations is Jingle Belle, the rebellious teen-age daughter of Santa Claus. Dini also created Sheriff Ida Red, the super-powered cowgirl star of a series of books set in Dini's mythical town of Mutant, Texas. Perhaps his greatest character contribution is the introduction of Harley Quinn (along with designs by Bruce Timm) on Batman: The Animated Series.

In 2001 Dini made a cameo appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back during the scene in which Jay and Silent Bob wear ridiculous looking costumes for a film being directed by Chris Rock, in which Dini says to them "you guys look pretty bad ass".

In 2006, Dini became the writer for DC Comics' Detective Comics. That same year, he announced that he was writing a hardcover graphic novel starring Zatanna and Black Canary. In 2007, he was announced as the head writer of that company's weekly series, Countdown. Paul Dini is currently co-writing the script for the upcoming Gatchaman movie. Dini is also currently writing a series for Top Cow Productions, based in a character he created, Madame Mirage.

Paul Dini is an active cryptozoologist, hunter and wildlife photographer. On a 1985 trip to Tasmania, he had a possible sighting of a Thylacine. He has also encountered a number of venomous snakes, a Komodo Dragon and a charging Sumatran Rhi

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5 stars
41 (14%)
4 stars
95 (34%)
3 stars
114 (41%)
2 stars
23 (8%)
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4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,060 followers
August 12, 2020
This was the weakest of DC's 80th anniversary specials. There's a couple of decent stories here but overall I give this a "Meh".
Profile Image for Artemy.
1,045 reviews964 followers
June 18, 2020
Just like with any of these, a few good stories, a few mediocre ones, and a few that are complete trash. Paul Dini's opener was surprisingly and uncharacteristically bad for the guy, DC always seem to bring him in for these and lately it feels like he cares less and less for it. Tom King, Ed Brubaker and Ram V did three of the best stories here, and Ram V's impressed me so much that I now really want to check out his upcoming proper run on Selina's solo title. I completely skipped stories by Chuck Dixon and Ann Nocenti because fuck that noise. Mindy Newell's story was really bad, which is a shame because Lee Gardbett's art was a pleasure to see once again. Will Pfeifer's fourth wall-breaking story was interesting for 90% of it but ultimately fell flat with its resolution, all the while Pia Guerra's art was a surprise — she hasn't really drawn much of any comics outside of Y: The Last Man, to the point where I assumed she wasn't working in comics at all since then. A nice surprise to see her work again for sure. And Jeff Parker's Batman '66 homage was just alright, though I am not a big fan of the whole '66 aesthetics in general. Overall not a terrible collection, and the best stories here certainly live up to the greatness of Selina Kyle's character.
Profile Image for L. McCoy.
742 reviews9 followers
June 14, 2020
SUPER FAST REVIEW:
Damn, Catwoman sure looking good for an 80 year old! So I missed the Robin one but made sure to get the 80th anniversary specials for both Catwoman and Joker. My LCS recently opened back up after all this COVID bullshit (pretty sure the only person who still gives a fuck in my entire state is our governor but that’s not what we’re here to talk about) and had this sweet AF variant!
description
(Artist: Frank Cho)
Anyways, so like most special comics and anthologies it was a mixed bag.
For stories they were mostly just okay, but there were a few I fully liked or disliked.
My favorite was a story titled The Catwoman of Earth (creative team: Jeff Parker and Jonathan Case) where Catwoman fights aliens. It had a very cool cartoony art style and fun action as well as a brief anti-misogyny message without being preachy or anything, I liked it. Least favorite was a story called Little Bird (creative team: Mindy Newell, Lee Garbett, Alex Sinclair and Tom Napolitano) that was just uninteresting, boring and poorly written regarding both storytelling and dialogue though the art was still okay.
There’s a lot of pin-ups, most of them are good. Some better than others though I didn’t consider any to be quite terrible or anything. I also thought the brief pages showing off the character’s designs in comics over the years were cool.
Overall I would definitely say fans of Catwoman or maybe even the Bat-Family in general should try getting a copy for their collections! Just expect a rather typical anthology comic.

3/5
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books178 followers
July 19, 2024
3.5 Stars

A decent collection of stories with some cool pin up art as well. Hard to believe the character has been around over 80 years.
Profile Image for erika.
407 reviews
June 5, 2020
watching catwoman beat up some cops? that's self-care darling
Profile Image for Emma.
1,687 reviews9 followers
June 14, 2020
This was kind of terrible. Didn't really enjoy any of the stories and none of them felt true to Selina except the last issue.
Profile Image for Jamie Revell.
Author 5 books13 followers
June 10, 2020
A collection of ten short stories, accompanied by some artistic impressions of the title character (including some retrospective ones, showing how her look has changed down the years). The stories are mixed, as one might expect, and so is the art, with both ranging from good to poor. It's a varied look at different visions for the character, from the gritty to the comedic (one is set in the Batman '66 universe, for instance). Nothing with too much depth, perhaps, given the individual lengths, but it's as good a way as any to do an anniversary special.
Profile Image for Shaun Stanley.
1,317 reviews
July 2, 2020
Some solid stories in collected in the 80th Anniveraary special for Catwoman. My two favorites would be the Paul Dini story "Skin The Cat" and "The Art Of Picking A Lock" by Ed Brubaker & Cameron Stewart. I also really enjoyed the humor and unique story in "Conventional Wisdom" by Will Pfeifer.

Reading this collection made me think back on some of my favorite Catwoman moments. Everyone has a Catwoman costume that they are partial to. I think my favorite would be the early 2000s look with the goggles and leather. I haven't ever really been able to get in to a Catwoman solo series so most of my experience with the character is when she shows up in various Bat titles. I know a lot of people weren't thrilled with Tom King's run and the wesding story arc but I really enjoyed it. They are some of my favorite Catwoman stories. But nothing compares to the Darwyn Cooke story, "Selina's Big Score." I absolutely love that book and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. And growing up in the 90s, it hard not to think of Michelle Pfeifer's iconic interpretation in Batman Returns as well as the always great Bruce Timm's Catwoman that appeared in Batman: The Animated Series.

With Selina Kyle alwaysteetering on the edge of being a hero or villain, fans will continue to follow Catwoman's adventures for years to come.
5,870 reviews146 followers
October 7, 2020
Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular is a commemorative issue that celebrates the eightieth anniversary of Catwoman. It is a collection of ten short stories that celebrate the anniversary of Catwoman and is penned and penciled by the best alumni from DC Comics.

This anthology is divided into ten vignettes with each story centering on Selena Kyle as Catwoman. For the most part, this collection of short stories gave an overall mediocre impression. This anthology is a decent, albeit mediocre collection of comics with few outstanding or memorable pieces. Tom King's "Helena", Ram V's "Addicted to Trouble", and Ed Brubaker's "The Art of Picking a Lock", stood out the most.

In addition to the short stories above there are wonderful pinup pictures penciled by Babs Tarr, Ty Templeton, Steve Rude and Matt Hollingsworth, Tula Lotay, Tim Sale and Brennan Wagner, Jim Balent, and Jae Lee and June Chung.

All in all, Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular is a mediocre issue to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Catwoman.
Profile Image for Rolando Marono.
1,944 reviews19 followers
November 16, 2020
De todas las historias que trae este especial de cien años sólo hubo tres historias que me gustaron.
El arte es bueno en todas y las ideas de las historias son interesantes aunque la mayoría gira sobre los mismos temas y las ejecuciones dan mucho que desear.
Entiendo que el número está hecho para ser un homenaje del personaje a través de sus 80 años de existencia pero los diálogos se sienten raros en la mayoría de las historias.
La que más me gustó fue la de Tom King. Pero tampoco es que sea muy original en realidad, retoma lo que hizo en uno de los Anuales de Batman donde nos muestra el futuro de Batman y Catwoman. En el anual nos habla sobre la enfermedad de Bruce y su final. En esta historia corta vemos el embarazo de Catwoman, y es una historia emotiva pero construida sobre las mismas bases y conceptos que King desarrolló en su serie de Batman. Era obvio que King escribiría una historia de este tipo para este especial.
El resto no es muy memorable, ninguna historia te asombrará o mostrará algo increíble a nivel técnico.
Profile Image for Duncan.
269 reviews8 followers
July 3, 2020
I thought I'd actually might get some of the older stories that have been published through the years although I don't know why I thought that considering I did look it over and it looked like new stories . . . anyway the first 4-5 stories were at turns boring, incomprehensible, badly written, badly drawn, self-important, y'know the same-0ld, same-old when it comes to these sort of anthologies, but the last 2-3 stories starting out w/the Cat Woman dream story really picked things up on the interest meter for me & they were drawn quite well to boot. So, Cat Woman 80th anniversary ends up earning a 3 star rating if only for that. Worst offender of the bunch is the Tom King story. If I never read another new story of his it might be too soon - he really thinks he's the Shakespeare of comix w/his meta-narration tricks & ponderous seriousness. Just my take. Don't taze me bro.
Profile Image for Clint.
1,155 reviews13 followers
January 22, 2021
Like the Joker 80th anniversary issue, the stories that aren’t great here often sink to being pretty mediocre or even bad, but there are some standouts I really like. King/Janin team up again for a Cat+Bat pregnancy story that’s surprisingly touching, Parker/Case offer a fun first contact alien story that’s all cheesy 60s sci-fi and technicolor pop art with Catwoman saving the day, the Pfeiffer/Guerra story is all dream logic at a comic convention with tons of fourth-wall-breaking nods at CatWoman’s many eras, and Brubaker/Stewart close out the issue with a reliably great story that makes me want to check out their early 00s CatWoman run.
Profile Image for Rylan.
403 reviews15 followers
July 6, 2020
This was a nice anniversary special celebrating 80 years of one of my favorite characters. There are ten different stories all written by some of Catwoman’s biggest creators who helped define who she is as a character such as Paul Dini, Mindy Newell, Ed Brubaker, etc. All the stories were very solid and did a good job showing who Catwoman is as a character, there were only two that I wasn’t a huge fan of. Overall this was a great anthology and a nice love letter to Catwoman.
Profile Image for Sarah.
1,746 reviews35 followers
March 23, 2021
I really liked this collection. I'm not a particularly huge Catwoman fan, but I did enjoy these snapshot-stories that provided a real character study into Selina Kyle. My favorite stories were definitely the one where she and Bruce had Helena. (I'm a sucker for family stories.) And then the one at the "con"--the idea of Catwoman being at a convention as the character was just super surreal and entertaining.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
17 reviews
July 1, 2020
Really liked most of the stories. Quick and fun or quick and sad. Catwoman's mezuzah was interesting. Seeing Catwoman in all the different art styles was fun. Skipped the last one because the art was by sexual predator Cameron Stewart. I wonder how many of the other male creators in this book are also sexual predators?
Profile Image for Ronan The Librarian.
371 reviews1 follower
May 23, 2022
2.5

Tom King's and Ed Brubaker's stories are the clear standouts for me. All the other stories are either meh or no thank you. The art is good for just about every story (except one). I feel like it could have done more to "honor" the character and her history, but such is the way of anthologies.
Profile Image for Wonder.
24 reviews
June 12, 2020
Good comic! Some very good stories some not very great stories. 4.5 out of 5 however in some of the stories she does not show up as Catwoman which is kinda disappointing at least for me I recommend this to people who like Batman villains or Catwoman in general
Profile Image for Kahn.
590 reviews3 followers
August 2, 2020
Woops, thought I'd done this review.
Short version: Very good. Selection of stand-alone tales plus a collection of covers from over the years showing how the character has developed.
Excellent fun, but probably one for the purists/geeks than the casual reader.
Profile Image for Metro Owlets.
197 reviews7 followers
August 26, 2020
It was a long awaited book, and I wish the stories were better. As I've mentioned in my Podcast, I feel like this Anniversary issue falls at the bottom of the list of the others which have come out since Action Comics #1000.
Profile Image for Theo.
1,179 reviews57 followers
August 27, 2020
Most of these stories were mediocre at best. The art was surprisingly good. Only two of the stories were written by women with more women on art, and probably accounting for the better art. All that said one star because DC still will employee Chuck Dixon, noted bigot.
Profile Image for David.
143 reviews1 follower
July 1, 2020
The most of them are quite good. It was good to see Pia Guerra around. Ram V is improving in every issue. And I will love for ever Janin's panel of Cat freaking out.
17 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2020
Some pretty good Catwoman stories in here. Great seeing some of the classic Catwoman writers come back like Ann Noncenti, Ed Brubaker and Mindy Newell too.
911 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2022
Some of the stories were great. Some, not so much...

Some of the art was great. Some, not so much...

Profile Image for Daniel Ballard.
269 reviews
February 26, 2022
3.5/5 Like most anthology books, some stories are stronger than others. Overall, it was enjoyable. I like Catwoman, so that helps a bit.
Profile Image for Christopher.
1,591 reviews44 followers
January 8, 2024
Full of clever plot twists from the start, edge of the seat stories that will keep you on your toes, great and varied art from the beginning, adventure and action! :D
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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