TBU Review: Catwoman #87

In this review of Catwoman #87, Catwoman’s fight with Black Mask continues with a captured Holly Robinson caught in the middle.

CATWOMAN #87
Written by TORUNN GRONBEKK
Art by DAVIDE GIANFELICE
Main Cover: SEBA FIUMARA
Variant Covers: FRANK CHO, MICHAEL WALSH, W. SCOTT FORBES
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 5/20/26

This review contains spoilers

Catwoman #87 opens with Black Mask having a false facer impersonate Selina so a drugged out Holly sees her not helping as Mask’s goons drag her away.

Black Mask gets in touch with Catwoman and shows her where Holly is. Holly is trapped in a padded room and Black Mask taunts her by saying gas will fill the room soon, or she will run out of oxygen, or she injects herself with the needle he’s given her to make it quicker. Selina knows where she is and takes off running, hoping to save her in time.

Meanwhile, Maggie suspects that Black Mask is planning a strike against her and is suspicious of something at her house. Roman and Katarina discuss if Batman will come to protect Catwoman but Black Mask says that after tonight no one will want to protect her again. 

Catwoman makes it to Seagate, where Holly is, and comes across The Faceless, one of Black Mask’s henchmen. While that is happening, Holly is going through withdrawal and looks at the drugs that Black Mask supplied and is thinking about using. 

Catwoman wipes out Faceless and searches for Holly in the basement but still can’t find her. Catwoman then finds her and drags her out of the padded room and wakes her. Holly is terrified to see her because of the fake Selina at the start of the issue.

Speaking of the fake Selina, she calls 911 and gives a tip that there’s a bomb at Burnley Station. Clearly, she left the bomb and is framing Selina…

To be continued.

Analysis

Catwoman #87 had some real tension. Holly thinking Selina betrayed her. Selina has to race across Gotham to find it because either the gas gets her or she takes the drugs. However, I wish we had the ticking clock on the page and spent more time with Catwoman racing across town. We see Selina steal a motorbike and take off but then next time we see her she’s at Seagate. We get a thought box where Catwoman says it took her 43 minutes to get there but I wish we saw it because it would have added to the tension.

Black Mask teased it with how no one will trust Selina again as he has fake Selina plant a bomb at the train station and make sure she is seen on security cams. Real Selina now knows that Fake Selina exists but she does not know how about the bomb. And we got a Batman reference so now I am expecting Batman to show up in the next issue. Either to save Catwoman or stop this bomb. You can mention Batman and now have him show up.

Gianfelice’s art remains strong. He clearly enjoys drawing a … um… full figure on Selina. The fight scenes seem super quick but that could be more of a writing issue than an art issue. 

This has been a strong run of Catwoman comics. I wonder if this storyline or run compares to Catwoman runs of the past. If there are any Catwoman experts out there please let me know. 

BJ Shea

BJ has had two passions in his life: sports and comic books. Specifically Batman and Robin. Not a day has gone by where BJ hasn’t watched or read something Batman-related. Currently, his goal is to collect as many Dick Grayson (his favorite character) issues as he can. Doesn’t matter if he’s Robin or Nightwing or Agent 37, he wants them. Another goal he has is to collect the complete Robin run of Tim Drake’s classic series. Raised on reruns of Adam West and was there for the animated series, BJ is down for any version of Batman. The Dark Knight is his favorite movie ever. On any day, BJ is most likely watching sports, watching anything Batman, or The Office.