Newsarama: Ann Nocenti Pours Her Soultaker Into Katana Solo Series

[Rafa]

"How long so you plan on being on this title?" Starts talking about the sword.

[Flash Gordon]

I'm not terribly familiar with the character, and frankly don't have a lot of interest in her at base, so maybe that is where we differ.

I'm enjoying that book for a number of reasons; it's got an incredible energy to it, first of all. It's bouncy and effervescent and fun on the surface. But I also think it's making an attempt to say some pretty real things, especially in that Joker issue.

More important to me, though, it is extremely dense, in terms of content. Last issue threw out, in a single page, more than most books throw out in a full YEAR. I love that kind of creativity, and I'm willing to sacrifice some coherency to get it.

As for Catwoman, I'm not seeing her as shallow; I see some serious affection for orphans and for individuals, for instance, even if she acts cavalier on the surface. Obviously the things with which the Joker taunted her MEANT something to her, you could see that, even if she didn't dwell on it.

I don't know, it's more or less in keeping with the Catwoman I know, but with a very different tone to the book.

I'm certainly not a Catwoman fan, though, having only read the Brubaker and Cooke stuff.

Very well said man, as always. I really like Nocenti (mostly from her DD stuff) and I think she'll shine on a character like Katana.

[RoyalTailor]

I haven't read the Catwoman series because it didn't look good. What I read of it was sorely disappointing but the direction they want to take Katana in sounds really good.

I'm glad that Ann Nocenti realizes that the colorless, stark, cold, brooding and troubled superhero has over stayed it's welcome and I'm glad that she plans to infuse some human warmth into Katana by flushing out her story in a more humanistic way and add a bit of color by "surrounding her with people who have a sense of humor, that are going to start to pull something a little lighter out of her." The illustrations also look pretty neat and they seem to have that Japanese flare to them as well and that's really encouraging for me as I'm a enthusiast of Asian culture. I enjoy things like David Carradine's Kung Fu, Disney's Mulan and so I'm pretty excited both for this new comic and the arrival of Katana in the new DC Nation show "Beware The Batman".

[Desaad]

Quoted just because I like reading your thoughtful posts.

Thanks, man. Likewise.

[Desaad]

Very well said man, as always. I really like Nocenti (mostly from her DD stuff) and I think she'll shine on a character like Katana.

Thank you, sir.

I have hopes for this. I'm not saying it always comes together -- while I thought her earlier Green Arrow issues had tons of promise, it never really gelled, and Freddie E Williams III was a big mistake, as was Tolibao.

But I'd say she has more chance of making it work, for me, than MOST writers out there, especially those who would take a more grounded, obvious path.

[Mr. Holmes]

I loved the hell out of the first Green Arrow arc. After that it just felt like we were getting interesting but inconsequential one-offs. It felt like there wasn't much of a direction. I think Nocenti ended up saying she wished she was writing the pre-FP Green Arrow.

[Flash Gordon]

I enjoyed that first Green Arrow arc she did quite a bit too. Winnick's zero issue is what killed any interest in the book for me, and subsequent issues were just real bad.