Question regarding Brubaker's Catwoman run...

[CSPDX]

Hi all,

I recently pulled down the four current trades collecting Ed Brubaker's run on Catwoman to reread, and was reminded about how awsome this book was. When I got to the end of Wild Ride, I was no where near satiated, and went online to see if I could order up the next book in the series since that was all I had. And, lo and behold, apparently DC hasn't collected the remainder of the run!

Does anyone know why this hasn't happened yet? Are there any plans to eventually finish off the run, or am I going to be SOL, having to either track down back issues or locate what I have from the missing part of the run stored at my parents place?!

Thanks for any info anyone can provide. That was one of the best DC series' I've ever read, and really deserves to be completed on my bookshelf.

-Chris

[dancj]

I don't think it was a very high seller, and they tried changing the art style drastically to Paul Gulacy which (I think) actually made the sales of the singles drop. I guess they just don't think there's enough profit in them.

Either that or they were so far behind with the trades that they wanted to just jump to the OYL Will Pfeifer issues so that the trades could be more current.

If it helps, the Will Pfeifer books are good.

[carabas]

Either that or they were so far behind with the trades that they wanted to just jump to the OYL Will Pfeifer issues so that the trades could be more current.They didn't have any trouble collecting the pre-OYL Pfeiffer issues IIRC. I think it's part pettyness of not wanting to collect books by the guy who just went Marvel exclusive (espacially if it's pretty low selling book anyway), and partially not seeing much point in collecting a story that won't ever be finished anyway.

[FanboyStranger]

If you love Bru's Catwoman, I'd suggest you stop right where you are. The jarring shift to Gulacy's art after twenty-some issues of a consistant art style certainly didn't help, but the biggest disappointment is that the tone of the series completely changes from street/crime/caper to something that needs to encompass Egyptian mysticism, presumably to tie the book into the awful Halle Berry movie. It's such a sudden shift that I thought I was actually reading a different book. It improved a little when they brought Zeiss back, but most of what made the book so special during the Cooke-Rader-Stewart-Pulido days was gone.

[pressdarlings]

The Egyptian material had seeds in Wild Ride. And once the art shift took place, I thought the story was okay. The issue with Bruce and Selina is terrific. And the last Brubaker issue is a nice cap. Now when Pfeifer is brought on board - now that's a drastic change. Took me a while to get used to it. None of those floppies have been collected. Barely reading Replacements at the moment. It's interesting, thus far.

[Captain Jim]

Are there any plans to eventually finish off the run, or am I going to be SOL, having to either track down back issues or locate what I have from the missing part of the run stored at my parents place?!

Not likely to see this collected, I don't think. With rare exceptions (the Question comes to mind), they seem to prefer to concentrate on trading more recent material. On the other hand, issues #34-36 are included in the three War Games volumes.

Either that or they were so far behind with the trades that they wanted to just jump to the OYL Will Pfeifer issues so that the trades could be more current.

Don't think that was it. There was a big time gap between the last of the Brubaker trades and the first Pfeifer trades.

If it helps, the Will Pfeifer books are good.

Absolutely.

They didn't have any trouble collecting the pre-OYL Pfeiffer issues IIRC.

You don't remember correctly. Pfeifer's pre-OYL issues haven't been traded either.

I think it's part pettyness of not wanting to collect books by the guy who just went Marvel exclusive

I don't think that's it. They continued to trade other Brubaker material.

and partially not seeing much point in collecting a story that won't ever be finished anyway.

Not sure what you mean by that; I don't believe Brubaker left any unresolved cliffhangers.

If you love Bru's Catwoman, I'd suggest you stop right where you are. The jarring shift to Gulacy's art after twenty-some issues of a consistant art style certainly didn't help, but the biggest disappointment is that the tone of the series completely changes from street/crime/caper to something that needs to encompass Egyptian mysticism, presumably to tie the book into the awful Halle Berry movie. It's such a sudden shift that I thought I was actually reading a different book. It improved a little when they brought Zeiss back, but most of what made the book so special during the Cooke-Rader-Stewart-Pulido days was gone.

I agree. I like a lot of Gulacy's art, but I didn't care for this at all. And it was indeed a major shift (intentionally so) from the early issues. I also agree about Brubaker's writing going downhill; it was like he was just going through the motions at this point.

[d newton]

This is one of the runs I hope to see complete trades for along with:
- Pfeifer's pre OYL arc.
- Jon Lewis's Robin run.

[CSPDX]

thanks for all the responses, they've been informative.

I must never have picked up any single issues on the series post #20 (I think? It was a long while ago, after I had stopped picking up single issues on a regular basis, but I digress) because I don't believe I've seen any of the "all new, all different" art style. In addition to the very mature storyline, the animated/deco style was one of the things I really loved the book. I wasn't aware that it was a poor seller, but what that's really any good ever is?

Still, it would be nice to have the whole run complete, as Wild Ride ends on something of an open storyline. It's sad because, I guess in my mind, DC has always been good about collecting books that I'm interested in having on the bookcase. I guess I still get a new Sandman Mystery Theatre book every year, so I can't complain too much.

-Chris