Every now and then, even a talented high-end thief needs a little vacation from her vacation. This is exactly what happens as Catwoman #22 finds DC’s foremost thief taking a break from her life of crime to aid in the apprehension of a couple of fellow thieves. Selina Kyle’s ongoing saga gets a little bit of breathing room in a standalone issue set before she left Villa Hermosa. Writer Paula Sevenbergen tells a story brought to the page by artist Aneke. Laura Allred handles the colors. While there isn’t a great deal going on in the issue, Sevenbergen tells a fun, little story that casts some light on Catwoman’s personality from an interesting angle.

Villa Hermosa’s Detective Hadley has contacted Catwoman regarding a pair of thieves operating in the city. They are younger than her with a considerably less stealthy MO, so Hadley doesn’t have to do much to convince her to aid in apprehending them. The two thieves in question operate as highly-paid prostitutes pretending to be maids for the sake of discretion. Then the trap is lowered, and thievery commences. It’s a clever, if unsustainable, operation that Catwoman aims to deal with before it has a chance to disrupt the delicate balance of criminal enterprise in Villa Hermosa. 

Sevenbergen weaves a tight script that shoots through quite a few plot points in a single issue. Without all of the usual distraction that goes on in an ongoing series, a standalone story has the opportunity to put a lot of story together that’s all in the service of a single conclusion at issue’s end. Sevenbergen takes full advantage of this, giving Catwoman a couple of run-ins with the thieves before the eventual conclusion in which an ancillary mystery is solved. A few interesting conflicts are introduced. There are no loose ends after the last panel. It’s all cleverly self-contained. 

Aneke’s style gives Kyle an engaging range of motion and emotion in a story that centers on her more than it does the two thieves. Sevenbergen gives Aneke lots of room to develop subtlety in Kyle’s psyche as she deals with the threat of a couple of younger thieve in her territory. Quick bursts of action are given their proper space without overpowering the overall emotion of an issue that is designed to fit neatly into the larger series without making too much of a splash. Aneke could have easily over-rendered the impact of a story like this, but her work here is rather deftly nuanced. 

Once again, a Catwoman story by a guest writer feels a bit more fresh. It can be challenging to find the right momentum for a character who works so well in moments like this where she can strike quickly and slink back into the shadows after the close of the last panel. Sevenbergen and Aneke give a fun enough adventure here that they inadvertently pull some of the appeal away from the momentum of the rest of the series.

Grade: B