Ram V and Otto Schmidt's Future State: Catwoman #2 provides the frenzied conclusion to their story.
Written by Ram V
Art by Otto Schmidt
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
Published by DC
'Rama Rating: 6 out of 10
It's stylish and largely very effective but the pacing is generally so head-spinning that it takes a little bit away from the real climax of the book: Bat and Cat reuniting.
Part of that is by design - it's not like the characters have all that much time to make their escape and Ram V has a lot of business to take care of to get them in a position to do so. But their reunion feels so muted compared to the sort of unhinged Selina that we get prior and the violent pages washed in red by Otto Schmidt.
Understandably, part of that really just comes down to page count - there is only so much space for any one story beat - but I really like V's take on these characters. I wish he would've had a little bit more space to let them really take in the fact that they had been reunited after so long (admittedly, I may be harping on that a little bit.)
Schmidt's art adds a lot to the breathless pacing of the issue and it's not surprising that he excels at action sequences so much. He's been impressing readers on that front since Green Arrow and I like that he's able to utilize a slightly sketchier style when the action is getting a little more intense. That said, the slower moments in this issue do suffer a little bit compared to the rest of the book.
Overall, it's a solid effort that falls fairly in line with the quality we've seen across this 'Future State' slate.
For more great Selina Kyle action, read all the best Catwoman stories of all time.
