Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale comprise one of my favorite creative teams in comics.  With Loeb's words and Sale's artwork, they've told some of the best stories of the last decade.  Batman: The Long Halloween usually ranks in my top three comics of all time, and its sequel Batman: Dark Victory is darn good too.  Both take Gotham City's extensive roster of villains and put them up against Batman, with expert takes on their motives and their appearance, and after up to seven decades of stories about them, make Joker, Catwoman, Scarecrow, and all the others seem fresh.

They manage a similar feat with Catwoman: When in Rome.  Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, leaves Gotham City on a personal quest.  After the death of Carmine Falcone, a crime boss in Gotham, Selina has some loose ends that need tying up, and recruits Edward Nygma, AKA the Riddler to help her out. so Catwoman and Riddler make their way through Rome, interrogating mafia Dons and breaking their way into the sights, up to and including St Peter's Basilica.  

Along the way, Catwoman ends up in a series of traps that have connections to Batman's villains: Joker's poison, Scarecrow's fear gas, Mr. Freeze's raygun, etc.  She also finds unlikely allies with members of the mafia, and her quest becomes even more personal as she gets closer to finding the answers to her own riddles.

The story is told from Catwoman's perspective, and although Batman shows up in dream sequences and hallucinations, it's very much centered on Selina Kyle and her life.  Loeb's voice for her is just about perfect, a hard and brilliant woman with an undercurrent of vulnerability that propels her forward in this adventure.  

Tim Sale's artwork is as excellent as always, with the same designs he used so well in The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.  It's more stylized than other artists, but with a unified vision for the characters and the story.  Because it's a Catwoman story, the artwork is sexier than in other books, and Selina gratuitously ends up in a bubble bath, in a bikini, in her underwear, in almost every chapter of this book.  Part of Catwoman's appeal is her sexiness, so I won't hold that against Sale, but it is a factor in deciding if this book is for you or not.  All of that is in addition to Catwoman's own costume of skintight leather, which leaves very little to the imagination anyway.

This was a quick read and a fun caper; the interplay between Catwoman and Riddler was snappy and rich.  If you're a fan of the character of Catwoman, or you've read Loeb and Sale's more well-known collaborations, this is a great addition to that bookshelf.  

Recommended: Yes