Batman: No Man's Land: Catwoman (#72-74): Hardcase Heist (Story #25)
After some rough personal issues, I am back on the No Man's Land grind. This time with some Catwoman issues by Jim Balent and John Ostrander.
The story opens with on update on what Catwoman's current status quo is. Catwoman has moved to New York City, and during her time there, Selina had to fake her death by having her alter ego assassinate her.
Catwoman is on a heist trying to steal a jewel that looks like a cat. But surprise, the jewel is actually a communicator with a message from Oracle. Batman is asking that Catwoman to come back to Gotham... which annoys Selina because she was already planning to return to the destroyed city. There was no reason for this dumb trap!
The comic cuts to Batman and Barbara discussing the fact that Catwoman has gotten the message. Bruce knows that Selina will return but after that... well Catwoman does have some cat-like tendencies so who knows.
Catwoman is pissed at Batman for this trap/summons, but she catches a helicopter ride to Gotham. And in wider No Man's Land news, the mysterious woman who hired Bane is continuing the hidden mastermind's plan to take control of Gotham by having 3 henchmen block the only unknown path in/out of the city.
So how does Catwoman get into No Man's Land. She rides a boat with idea that the military will blow it up as it gets close Gotham. While the armed forces look at the wreckage, Selina would scuba into Gotham unseen.
This does not work flawlessly, so Catwoman has to hide from some Navy Seals while underwater. It would be a boring story, if Selina got caught here, so she gets into the city. Selena swings around the destroyed city to meet Batman...
But when Catwoman gets there, it is revealed that Batman called her into Gotham to tell Selina that he needs her to heist some computer disks... back in Manhattan. Bruce is such a dick in this story, and Catwoman agrees with me, because she is furious that Bruce is wasting her time. But the tensions are cooled off with a kiss between the two.
Cut to Selina trying to escape Gotham... with the passageway that the crooks are guarding. So, as Selina tries to escape, one of gangsters (Mookie, he will be important for the rest of the run) blows up the tunnel. Luckily, Selina manages to open a valve that gets all four them out of the city.
Selina recruits the schmucks to her crew, and she will need them. Because the people guarding the computer disks are a security group known as Hardcases Inc. They are great idea from John Ostrander, which is a shame that only exist for this story. Hardcases Inc are a group of ex-military recruits with low-level superpowers, who after leaving formed a security company. And they were hired by Bruce Wayne to guard these disks... which is a problem considering that he is trapped in Gotham, but he needs those disks now!
Catwoman has to outthink these guard-dogs in order to get these disks. She starts by dressing up in civs to let Hardcase know that Catwoman intends to steal the disks. But Hardcase's goons are not stupid and realize that this mysterious woman warning them is probably Catwoman, and they go on red-alert.
Cut to the night where Hardcase is on lookout duty on the opposing building. But they have to move when Catwoman launches a full-on assault with missile launchers and local crooks on helicopters. Hardcase Inc manages to handle this pretty well, but they are shocked when Mookie in the Catwoman costume blows himself up.
It turns out that Selina never left the building after warning the security company, so she just sneaks into the vault after Hardcase is distracted. Hardcase thinks they outsmarted Selina with a fake disk, but Catwoman just swapped out disks, so she as the information.
Cut to the aftermath where it is revealed that Mookie is still alive. It turns out that the crook is a metahuman with power to absorb kinetic energy. Back in Gotham, Oracle and Batman are discussing the fact that Catwoman is thought to be a murderer. Bruce tries to defend Selina, but then it is revealed that Catwoman has decided to sell the stolen disk.
And we get to see three interested parties. One is Hardcase Inc. who want to get back the stolen property. The next is the mysterious woman who is told to retrieve the disk from her boss. And the third is Maxie Zeus, a gangster from the Gotham who believes that he is the mythological Zeus (I want to be clear that he isn't actually a god, because Zeus is a thing in the DC Universe).
Selina sends her henchmen to World Trade Center to meet with Maxie. They are ambushed by Hardcase Inc, but it turns out this meeting is part of Selina's plan. There is a fight, but Catwoman is not near the meeting.
Selina is making a deal with mysterious woman elsewhere. But it turns out the woman has come prepared to deal with Catwoman, because the information on the disks is only important if no one knows about it.
Catwoman is blinded and is beaten badly by this unknown foe, but she is "saved" by the leader of Hardcase Inc. Catwoman gets shot when she tries to escape in the ocean, and this story ends with the mysterious woman escaping to do more crimes in No Man's Land later.
I really enjoyed this story. John Ostrander writes some compelling stuff in this brief run that I wish we could see more of. Hardcase Inc is a simple idea, but it builds in such a way that I want more of them. And he writes a fun Catwoman. Jim Balent is such a master at cheesecake, but it fits this fun story. Just good sexiness from Selina.