A giant panther is practically nuzzling its head against the title and opening credits of the issue. This would be kind of cute if the panther in question wasn't also gazing down menacingly at Selina Kyle...its giant paws pinning her helpless form. Selina enters her latest issue in a bit of a compromised position as the writing team of Blake Northcott and Sean Murphy usher the DC Universe's most famous thief through Catwoman #24. Artist Cian Tormey tumbles Catwoman gracefully through the action aided by colorist FCO Plascencia. Catwoman aids a group of exploited island natives in an enjoyable issue that peers a bit more into the psyche of Selina Kyle.

It isn't just the giant panther. Another defender of the island has hit Catwoman with some pretty heavy poison. She's dying. It's a precarious position. It's okay, though. Both the panther, the island natives, and Catwoman all have a common enemy in junky drug lord Snowflame. He's taken over the island and made lives miserable for everyone who was there before him. Catwoman and the huge black panther have a party to crash. It's an auction featuring an incredibly valuable diamond, a valuable list that would be of interest to anyone in the worldwide underworld...and oddly enough a crotch cannon. (Don't ask.) 

Northcott and Murphy have a lot of plot and theme to cover in a very small span of pages. The initial action for Catwoman is followed by the history of the island and the assault on a maximum-security high-end auction for the wealthiest in the global underworld. It's a lot to get through, but Northcott's scripting manages the very tricky job of making it through everything with enough tension to make the pay-off at the end of the story seem truly satisfying. The fate of an island culture and the deeper revelations of Catwoman's inner psyche are handled with a clever composition.

Though the issue largely populated with straight-ahead action, Tormey does a good job of varying angles and pacing the action that keeps it from being one big blur from beginning to end. Panels are composed in a way that amplify the immensity of the giant black panther. The plight of the island's working class is delivered with an emotionally engaging economy midway through the issue. The action of the break-in on Snowflame's auction and the inevitable showdown are coaxed onto the page with a smart and stylish sense of drama. The inking feels a bit heavy-handed in places, but it never manages to overcome the story's intensity.  

Selina's vacation ends this issue. She's once again proven that she is her own person and beholden to no one else. That being said, she's still under contract to DC Editorial. Vacation's over next month as her handlers haul her into the massive jaws of the "Joker War" crossover that has come to infect all of DC's Bat titles. If this issue is any indicator, Selina should come out on top.

Grade: B+