History in mainstream superhero comics is a funny thing. Even beyond the simple “sliding scale” dilemma of publisher timelines, and how old certain longstanding characters are supposed to be, there’s the larger question of when in a character’s journey a story is set. Particularly in the world of Batman and those in his orbit, countless stories have been written at three extremes - the plucky “year one” origin stories, the grisly washed-up futurism of tales like The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond, or a seemingly never-ending saga of the present “glory days.” To an extent, there’s a lot of middle ground in between that has potential - something the debut of Cliff Chiang’s Catwoman: Lonely City understands and embodies to the fullest extent. Catwoman: Lonely City #1 is not only among the best solo outings for its titular character, but it’s easily one of the most effective and inventive Gotham City stories I’ve read in recent years.
