CATWOMAN

“When the Bat’s Away, the Cat Will Play.”

A child of Gotham City’s slums, almost 18-year-old Selina Kyle has a rap sheet that includes robbery, gambling, and maintaining her title as the undefeated champion fighter for the Leopards, a girl gang. But everything she does is for her younger half sister Maggie, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. Apprehended by Talia al Ghul, leader of the infamous League of Assassins, Selina agrees to go with her to Italy on the condition that Maggie is well cared for. Fast-forward two years. Selina returns to Gotham as Holly Vanderhees, a blonde-haired billionaire socialite, and moonlights as Catwoman, the city’s newly-christened Queen of the Underworld. Cue Luke Fox, son to Wayne Industries’ CEO, a semipro boxer and an ex-Marine suffering from PTSD. He protects the city as Batwing and is determined to prove himself when Catwoman teams up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn while Batman is out of town. Maas (Tower of Dawn, 2017, etc.) has a gift for crafting fierce female protagonists. Selina is physically skilled, wickedly smart, and inhabits morally gray areas, making her a complex yet admirable antiheroine. Action-packed fight scenes, racial and sexual diversity (Harley and Ivy have history, Luke is black), and a dollop of romance will engage current and soon-to-be Catwoman fans.

An epic shoutout to all the bad girls who know how to have fun.