Good to know editorial disconnect isn’t something recent. Conway apparently hadn’t been reading the excellent Catwoman backups running in his issues of Batman and Detective because here he’s got her guest-starring and menacing Vicki Vale and acting… well, cat-shit crazy.
Sadly, the issue features some of the best Vicki Vale writing Conway has done since she showed up. Instead of just going after Bruce to reveal he’s Batman, Conway’s giving her some layers here. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to give the issue credit for that development–to be fair, he does write one decent Catwoman scene, before she goes nuts–the Irv Novick superhero artwork is atrocious. Characters not in costume, fine. In costume… awful.
The Green Arrow backup is a silly early eighties computer story. I think Ollie gives away his secret identity at least twice. Von Eeden’s art is fine, but disappointingly unambitious. Page filler.
CREDITS
Cat Tale; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Irv Novick; inker, Sal Trapani; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda. The High Tech Highwayman!; writer, Joey Cavalieri; artist, Trevor von Eeden; colorist, Tom Ziuko; letterer, Phil Felix. Editors, Carl Gafford and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.
