Catwoman, Volume 5: Race of Thieves by Ann Nocenti

Catwoman, Volume 5: Race of Thieves Reviews

• 
  Jayson

  (B-) 69% | Satisfactory
  Notes: Two-thirds absurd, a total turd, a shameful bottom line, though not all bad, it shines a tad: guest writer parts are fine.
• 
  Chris Lemmerman

  Urgh. After Volume 4 almost rekindled my faith in Ann Nocenti, this final volume of her run puts things right back where they were before. The stories in this volume are all good ideas once again, but executed horribly, with random scene changes, plot threads that are dropped halfway through storylines, and dialogue that always feels as though half of the words are missing and the other half don't make any sense.
  
  The volume opens well with a Zero Year story by John Layman, before heading into a 2 issue Gothtopia tie-in which has a random villain with no explanation who disappears after about 3 pages, and a cliffhanger ending that isn't resolved at all. I expect it's dealt with over in Detective Comics, but here it just feels out of place.
  
  Then comes the actual Race of Thieves story, which again is a good idea, pitting thieves across the world against each other, but for some reason being the best thief involves an actual car race across the desert, and a load of bickering thieves who are so unprofessional it's a wonder they were ever invited. The villain of the piece has a flaming head for no particular reason at all, yet everyone treats it as if this is normal. I don't understand what was going on here.
  
  The final issue of Nocenti's run focuses on Alice Tesla, which is a nice change, but devolves into a fist fight between Catwoman and a Dungeons and Dragons cosplayer, so that was another ruined idea.
  
  The highlights of this volume are the two fill-in issues by Sholly Fisch, who writes a great done-in-one halfway through the book, as well as the Future's End one-shot which ties in nicely to the current Batman Eternal storyline. It's a shame Fisch couldn't have written everything else in this volume.
  
  The artwork is solid throughout, with Aaron Lopresti on the Zero Year story, and Patrick Oliffe drawing the rest of the volume with no fill-ins, which is a nice change. Catwoman always seems to get good artists; it's a shame about the other side of things.
• 
  Lost Planet Airman

  This collection is bookended in the front by two stories -- a Zero Year tale and a Gothtopia tale -- and in the back by a Future's End one-shot; all of which are pretty decient stories (if you understand how they fit into the bigger continuity). In the middle are six Ann Nocenti stories -- two stand-alones (within the modern continuity) also bookending a 4-part "Race of Thieves " Arc.
  The art by Paul Oliffe is pretty darn good -- minimal gratuitious hotness (I thought) and sensible but dramatic layouts and organization. The story -- well, I always seem to have trouble understanding Ms. Nocenti's plot. And dialogue. And phraseology. (I guess other people get her and enjoy her work, but it leaves me scratching my head).
• 
  Quentin Wallace

  This volume of Catwoman had the same problem as the last few volumes: it's too damn confusing! I just have a hard time making sense out of Ann Nocenti's writing, at least her work on Catwoman. It seems to be overly wordy and drags terribly. It feels unending. The art is decent, but not enough to save the confusing story.
  
  Only read this if you're a die hard Catwoman fan, otherwise you should probably skip it.
• 
  Jenny Clark

  A miss match of stories, but the Race Of Thieves was ok, so I can round up to a three. However, what the heck was up with Gothtopia? I ran into that in Batgirl too, but no explanation there either! Also, Selina taking over the mob... OK, but HOW did she do it??????
  So many issues with this...
• 
  Jessica Lewenda

  There's about 3 plot lines that are created and dropped all in the space of half a dozen issues. I don't particularly blame all this on Nocenti, though. Gothtopia wasn't her idea. No one could have made Gothtopia work. It was just awful.
  Then there's Zero Year, which, while it's decently written, it is jarring when placed within this bundle.
  The problem with this volume isn't the fault of the writer. It is the fault of the editorial, who decide that crossover events like Gothtopia and Zero Year are a good idea.
  It's such a huge shame, because I really liked Nocenti's run on Joker's daughter and Death of the Family. It sucks to see her talent being squandered away like this.
• 
  Angie

  Yeesh! You can tell that Catwoman comics are not doing well when there are no other reviews on goodreads for it! A new writer took over and so the comic is all over the place now. Half the time when comics have different story arcs through out I always wonder if there is a comic out there I missed that had the story ahead of this one. For example, there is a story in here about Catwoman's fall from the head of the crime family in Gotham. When did she even become in charge of it???? I wasn't even sure if there was going to be a vol. 6 but I googled it and apparently there will be one. I think I am done with the Catwoman comics now though which is really too bad.
• 
  Caroline

  This had, at best, a couple good moments. Mostly I just wanted to be done with this and if I hadn't realized the next volume is taken over by a new writer I'd probably just call it quits with this series. I'll see if the new writer can salvage a plot out of this, but this was all over the place in terms of stories and just felt like a mess.
• 
  Cande

  2.5
  
  Fue una gran decepción. Y medio que lo sabía, porque había leído varias reseñas quejándose, pero no lo quería creer. ¿Cómo una serie que había empezado tan maravillosamente podía irse tan a la mierda? El artista cambió, el escritor también y la historia tomó un rumbo que no esperaba ni quería.
  La historia de este volumen sale de la nada, y las cosas que salen sin explicaciones me confunden y me ponen de muy mal humor. No fui capaz de disfrutar para nada esta historia; no me pareció nada entretenida, ni bien desarrollada. El final me pareció muy ridículo. Selina cambió un montón y no estoy segura de que me guste este nuevo personaje. Amé en los primeros issues como era la dueña de su sexualidad y su personalidad antiheroe. Ahora no la reconozco.
• 
  Shannon

  Meh.
  
  (Can we get a new author for this series, please?)
  
  *looks at next volume*
  
  Hooray, no more Nocenti.
• 
  Cale

  I'm glad to see that Ann Nocenti's span on Catwoman ended shortly after these issues. I don't know if its her writing style in toto or just the way she wrote Catwoman, but the volumes of her stories are painful to get through. I'll grant some of it may be outside influence - There are two issues of 'Gothtopia' in this collection that make absolutely no sense, but that may be because of a crossover and not just Nocenti's writing. But the Race of Thieves story isn't much better; the writing feels schizophrenic, the characters often make no sense (it feels like an attempt at Joss Whedon dialog that goes horribly awry), and the plots don't connect at all. The race sequence I honestly can not figure out; how did Catwoman win when the art shows other vehicles in front of her?
  So why does this title get two stars? Because there are several stories by other authors, each of which is at least a small improvement over Nocenti's work; there's a Zero Year tie-in that is a little too cute in the origin-setting, but still tells a good story. The other two are okay, but not memorable.
  New 52 Catwoman has not been well utilized, and this volume only highlights that failure. It may not be entirely Ann Nocenti's fault (editorial influence at DC can be responsible for a lot of damage), but having her work able to be read next to other writers shows that she is at least moderately to blame.
• 
  Lukas Holmes

  Seriously, what is this book? A great character thrown into bizarre situations with little explanation and less development. I have, once more, almost no idea to the motivations behind her or anyone around her in this whole series. So strange.
• 
  J. Griff

  Thank the Old Ones I’m finally done with all the “New 52” volumes of Catwoman I bought years ago. There were some decent plot ideas in this volume, but Nocenti’s writing just made it hard to understand or follow. I’m pretty sure I don’t have anything else she’s written in my stacks to read.
• 
  John Yelverton

  Though it is a significant step up from the last installment, the quick change in story line without any explanation is quite disconcerting.
• 
  Cyrielle BloodyCy

  I'm just glad I'm finished with Nocenti's run.
• 
  Krzysztof Grabowski

  Catwoman w serii New 52 nie ma ze mną lekko. A przynajmniej te odsłony nad którymi pieczę sprawowała Pani Nocenti, bowiem jeżeli miałbym sumować tylko trzy pozycje to łącznie dostały one... pięć gwiazdek, choć się zastanawiam czy aby i to nie jest za dużo... (zresztą podobnie ma się sprawa z kilkoma tomami Green Arrow i Kataną w cyklu New 52).
  
  Niestety błędy poprzedniczek są obecne i tutaj, bowiem struktura dialogów jest koszmarna i zwyczajnie nudna, co jest zadziwiające, bo same pomysły jakie przedstawiła nam tu autorka nie są w cale takie złe. Problem rodzi się też, gdy Nocenti bawi się z czasem przedstawianych wydarzeń, co wprowadza taki chaos, że momentami zastanawiałem się o co chodzi.
  
  Bo mamy tutaj historię bodajże z Zero Year, gdzie Selina dopiero raczkuje jako złodziejka. To wprowadzenie było całkiem fajne, ukazując że w "branży" złodziei wiele trzeba się nauczyć. Potem mamy dwa zeszyty, które towarzyszą wydarzeniu zwanemu Gothtopią, gdzie herosi z Gotham pod wpływem gazu Scarecrowa myślą, że żyją w utopijnym miasteczku, gdzie nie ma prawie zbrodni.
  
  Takie rozwiązanie też mogło by mnie negatywnie zaskoczyć, gdybym nie czytał zeszytów z Detective Comics, bo mamy tutaj powyrywane fragmenty historii, które kończą się spaleniem uniformu Seliny, która obiecuje sobie że nigdy więcej Catwoman. Po czym kilka strona dalej wskakuje w wdzianko i broi jak może... Zero logiki, ale to wynika ustawienia materiału, bowiem zeszyt dalej ponownie mamy odniesienie do zniszczenia kostiumu.
  
  Głównym daniem tego dość sporego tomu jest tytułowy Wyścig Złodziei. Niestety jest to odgrzewany kotlet, który wprawdzie z dobrą surówką da się zjeść, ale po co? Niejaka Ruletka organizuje zawody, w których wygrany musi się wykazać kreatywnością i skraść najdrogocenniejsze trofeum. Panna Kyle ma to co prawda w nosie, ale pada kwestia porwanych dzieci, na co jeszcze szczególnie uczulona, więc ze swoim wdziękiem rusza na "robotę".
  
  Jedyną zaletą tej czerto-zeszytowej kabały jest obecność dwóch postaci z pozycji Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion i fakt, iż naprawdę wiele tu się dzieje, a zemsta jest tu całkiem smaczna. Końcówka pokazuje nam Selinę z wydarzeniach bodajże z drugiego tomu Wiecznego Batmana, gdzie Catwoman staje się szefową mafii, ale ta rola wydaje się jej nie podobać i decyduje się zastosować pewien zabieg...
  
  To o czym pisałem w głównej mierze jest słabe lub nudne i nie ratuje tego dobry początek lub case, gdzie Catwoman wykrada jakieś specyfik, co potem okazuje się zabiegiem powiązanym z Batmanem. O zeszycie zatytułowanym "Zycie zdalne" nie wspomnę, bo myślałem że zasnę na tym w tramwaju.
  
  Patrick Oliffe odpowiedzialny za warstwę wizualną robi tutaj co może, aby podratować historię i wygląda to nieźle, aczkolwiek nie ma elementów, które pamiętałbym za parę lat. No może za wyjątkiem nadmiernego ukazywania "atutów" kobiety w obcisłym, lateksowym wdzianku. Nic dziwnego, że Batman przy okazji, gdy może załotoszyć to... Szkoda, że całość nie jest robiona w stylu okładek, które są tu po prostu świetne. To by było...
  
  Nie chcę wyjść na kogoś okropnego, ale dobrze że piąty tom przygód charakternej złodziejki w kusym stroju to de facto finał serii jaką prowadziła Pani Nocenti. Nie jest to bynajmniej koniec SAMEJ serii, ale sądzę, że Selina już się dosyć "nacierpiała". Jak dla mnie 2/5.
• 
  Anniken Haga

  Ok, so this book started out ok, but then fell fast. The whole thing felt a little like a filler, actually.
  I'm guessing the authors hoped the last thing would catch the readers attention, but it just cemented my wish to not keep reading this thing.
  
  They had an interesting story line set up in the earlier albums - the whole ''who is Selina Kyle'' story was interesting, but it was never resolved, unfortunately.
  There were other stories as well, like the whole Batman romance thing, but it just died away after that one encounter in vol 3.
  Then they started the whole raven-story line in this or the last album, and that could be interesting but they ended up just forgetting about it.
  This is a trend I see with DC comics in general, switching writers and the previous story-lines just being left to rot. I have to say, I am not a fan.
  
  Think I'll just stick with Top Cow or Image from now on, when I finish what DC comics I already haven't read. It's the same with Marvel. I'm kind of done. These ''big names'' are falling apart, it feels like.
  
• 
  Paweł

  Jeszcze więcej niedorzeczności. Wyścig złodziei zapowiadał się ambitniej niż poprzednie dzieła mojej ulubionej scenarzystki. W końcu coś, co można nazwać konkurencją w złodziejstwie ma wygrać ten, kto ukradnie najbardziej wartościowy przedmiot, prawda? Źle! Większość czasu zawodnicy biją się między sobą, a finałem wyścigu jest... wyścig. Taki z samochodami, motocyklami, rakietami na kółkach (tak) i... szkoda gadać.
  Koniec zniesławionej pani N w komiksach dla mnie.
• 
  november

  i'm gonna be honest i only read issues 30-33 for roulette, i support women's wrongs 🫶 if she hadn't agreed to all this she would've continued her empire in peace too like smh but anyways
  the writing was... interesting to say the least but it added a little bit of homoerotic tension and i can never be mad at that so
  other than that i love alice tesla and gwen they're pookies
  
• 
  Tia Garrigues

  This felt like a departure from the Catwoman I know and love. I found it disjointed and strange, while presenting a Catwoman conflicted with herself. The art is beautiful but I just couldn't get through the whole volume.
• 
  Ming

  The Zero Year story was okay, the fill-in issue was kinda fun, and the Gothtopia tie-ins were at least readable. But when Nocenti got back to her own stories, it just went off the rails again. Thankfully, the Futures End story at the end was very good.
• 
  Christopher

  Terrible
• 
  Damien Cowger

  Really confusing.
• 
  Jesse A

  Not great but still tons better than the train wreck that was the last volume.
• 
  Lilybeth

  I have to admit I didn't quite follow everything that was going on but I still enjoyed the book.
  I love Catwoman.
  She just speaks to my heart.
• 
  superhero fan

  Pretty funny and amusing great art
• 
  Patrick

  I liked it better than vol. 4, particularly the Race of Thieves and fallout afterward. The whole Catbird/Catwoman thing didn't seem to get resolved (maybe done elsewhere).
• 
  lizzy bat

  it’s shit. this writing is the worst like…what are these plots? it’s SO BORINGGG, and the art is just lame and average. also selina doesn’t feel like herself at all