His work was a statement of activism against the heavy shackles of deconstructionism and supposedly modern sensibilities. He stole all of these things and replaced them with hope, joy, excitement, adventure, suspense, pathos, and a renewed faith, in worlds of sunlight and stars, magic and strange science, seduction and romance, elegance and class, ideals and righteous struggle.Ĭooke's stories reminded us of the essence of the hero and the superhero. I admired and purchased various works of his, considered him the Charles Schultz of the 21st Century because of his superhuman capability to create so much with seemingly fewer lines than most other comic book artists. The excellent colors by Matt Hollingsworth completed the story that made me love Selina Kyle and pay close attention to anything by Darwyn Cooke from that point on, especially his seminal DC Comics superhero saga, 'The New Frontier,' which I call 'A Love Letter to DC Comics.'ĭarwyn Cooke passed away overnight on May 13, losing a battle with cancer. I'd seen various elements of these characteristics and similar experiences with Selina before, but never all combined in the same book in a story with heart, action, thrills, tension and an aesthetic making her world believable. She succeeded in acquiring nothing she set out to have. Within various stages of success, Selina Kyle suffered failure, sometimes profound and gut-wrenching. Additionally, a woman whose outfit was not painted on her flesh, but allowed for room to breathe, folding at her joints, the goggles bulky, the material looking like leather or a multilayered fabric. Underneath the skin of the master criminal who kept Batman on his toes was a woman with a code, with the capacity to love, with real mortal fear, with a need for allies. The story was about the one heist Selina Kyle really needed to pull off, to escape everything and disappear, but the core of the tale dealt with Selina's real character. Such was the case when a friend was kind enough to give me a graphic novel called 'Selina's Big Score,' written and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke. They say the best gifts are the ones you don't realize you need, but you do. RELATED: Celebrating Darwyn Cooke Through His Work I had respect for Selina Kyle, but I wasn't a fan. I read a lot of her stories, as many writers and a handful of artists tackled Catwoman, but she still didn't quite click for me. When I started working as an editor in the Batman group at DC Comics, some of my first projects had Catwoman. In the years that followed, I read stories featuring Catwoman in various DC Comics titles, and watched as Catwoman hit the big screen, portrayed by actresses Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway.

Catwoman by Darwyn Cooke