Batman #50, as a key issue in the current REBIRTH run of Batman tales, provides a poignant look at the relationship between Catwoman and Batman. FYI: the first part of this review is spoiler-free, while the second half will examine details of the plot and the ending. You can read the first section of this Batman review without fear. But then, what is a Batman tale without a little fear...?

Writer Tom King's run on Batman for the past year has led up to this day; the highly touted and highly publicized wedding day for Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, AKA Batman and Catwoman. While we talk details about plot below the spoiler line, it is ok to say that the overall feel of this book is, to us, epic.

While we have the actual plot moving along, as Bruce and Selina prepare for the actual wedding, we also have another narrative device showing us their inner-most thoughts, in which each page is a separate homage from different Bat-artists as the relationship between Batman and Catwoman is explained. The narrative device in this part of the book takes the form of letters written by Bruce and Selina to each other. In each letter, the writer discusses what drew them to each other. Unbeknownst to the other, both Bruce and Selina focus on how they first met, and how each of them saw the true person in the other when looking into their eyes.

This part of the book shows how the Bat and the Cat offer a duality of meaning that reinforces how she is an important counter-balance to who he is. Just as Joker is the Chaos to Batman's Order (as seen a frequently in the past, but quite poignantly in the two previous issues, Batman #s 48 and 49, titled "Best Man"), Selina is feminine counterpoint to Bruce's masculine hero identity. Just as Batman "needs" Joker to complete him as an avatar for order, Bruce also needs Selina as the yin (feminine) to his yang (masculine). As we read the text of their two letters, we see how they view and interpret their shared history (going back to both the original meeting in Batman #1 in 1940, as well as the version in Miller's Batman: Year One).

Ok, that is the gist of our spoiler-free review: Good narrative devices, great artwork by a bevy of Bat-artists, all setting us up for...(SPOILER-LAND HERE, BAT-FANS...)

 

Batman #50-Bruce and Selina Kiss

A huge surprise! Going back a bit, both Bruce and Selina decide to have a quiet, private roof-tip wedding, with each bringing one witness. Bats supplies the judge to officiate (a rather humorous side-detail). In a very emotionally satisfying scene, Bruce asks Alfred to be his witness. If this does not elicit some teary-eyed sniffles, then you are not a true fan of Bruce's and Alfred's relationship.

Selina chooses as her witness, Holly Robinson, with whom she has a long and intimate history. Breaking her out of Arkham, Selina brings Holly to Wayne Manor (BTW, Holly already knows Bruce's secret identity, which is likely why she was chosen, among other reasons). While prepping for the ceremony, and in driving to the site of the nuptials, Holly starts talking about how Batman can only be Batman if he is unhappy. This leads Selina to wonder if, by marrying him, she would end up destroying what makes Bruce into an effective Batman. With this in mind, Selina changes her mind and fails to show up for the wedding. Thus, no wedding of the Bat and the Cat.

But wait: what's this? Is that all there is to the story? Did Catwoman simply change her mind after a simple conversation with one of her oldest friends? Is there something else going on?

After Selina returns Holly to Arkham, we see Holly descend into the bowels of the Asylum, where we see her supplicate herself before a throne of skulls, upon which sits Bane, surrounded by a rogue's gallery of recent (i.e. in Tom King's run) of Bat foes: Riddler, Joker, Psycho Pirate, Gotham Girl, Ventriloquist, Scarface, Hugo Strange, Skeets, and what appears to be the Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne). We now see that everything Holly said to Selina to get her to break off the wedding was scripted by Bane, with the intent to emotionally break Batman.

Batman #50-Holly Robinson, Bane, and the Villains

Selina's rapid change of heart now makes sense, if we assume that Psycho Pirate somehow mentally influenced her, in conjunction with Holly's verbal sabotage.

While some fans and readers may show upset feelings over this non-wedding, especially after the big build-up, this event and the big reveal just, in our opinion, adds spice and meaning to not just the next 50 issues of this series, but also allows us to go back to review the first 50 issues for clues that lead to this moment. The villains arrayed around Bane all had a hand in the stories that led up to this moment over the past year or so. Tom King's long-term plotting is now revealed as setting up what may be one of the best and most vital Batman arcs in all of Bat-history.