Batman/Catwoman: The Wedding Album by Tom King

Title: Batman/Catwoman.
Story-Arc: The Wedding Album.
Writer(s): Tom King.
Illustrator(s): Mikel Janín and so many more!
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Hardcover – Deluxe Edition.
Release Date: September 11th 2018.
Pages: 136.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781401286538.
My Overall Rating: ★★★★☆.

There’s nothing like capitalizing on an opportunity, right? With the climax of the Batman and Catwoman wedding now reached in Tom King’s 50th issue of his Batman run, a collector’s item like a wedding album is the most logical and creative idea that DC Comics could have thought up for fans. In this deluxe edition with a textured cover, fans can rejoice the key moments that led us to the wedding. The volume collects issue #24 called “Every Epilogue is a Prelude”, issue #44 called “Bride or Burglar” and issue #50 called “The Wedding”. It then contains a collection of all the variant covers for the 50th issue that were done by an amazing ensemble of artists, and then ends with a behind-the-scenes look at the work done for the script of issue #44 as well as some quick sketches for the beautiful wedding dress.

As a commemorative collector’s item, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It doesn’t add anything to the story that has been told so far, and simply highlights the moments that have been deemed quintessential to the development of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship. While it does cut away a lot of the more intimate action-packed moments that they’ve shared together before the wedding in Tom King’s run, it does however give us the three essential ingredients to the event: the engagement, the dress and the big day. Anyone who picks up this collection will likely notice how choppy the narrative is since all three issues do not follow one another, but their enjoyment will especially come from their appreciation of the artwork.

With artwork from Mikel Janín, David Finch, Clay Mann and Joëlle Jones, it was almost impossible to see Tom King’s idea being held back by the art throughout the series. The issues collected in this volume highlights each of their talents and clearly illustrates the power of their art in story-telling. Alongside their work, this collection also showcases an incredible amount of creativity and skill at DC Comics thanks to the various variant covers that were especially done for issue #50. Variant covers for single issues have always been an intricate and almost essential part of a collector’s repertoire as they are special items that gain value over time. While comic book collector’s have it tough on their wallets with DC’s amazing number of great artists who deliver stunning art, this wedding album helps assemble all the great pieces in one neat place to gaze at all the artwork without the hassle of hunting down each of these pieces individually.

Batman/Catwoman: The Wedding Album is clearly not meant to be a must-have for fans who already follow the main Batman series, and is purely a collector’s item that is well-designed and enjoyable thanks to the artwork collected. Through the three issues collected, it is also easy to see how complicated the relationship between Batman and Catwoman is, and how important it is to state it through this story arc and all of its nostalgic moment for two of the greatest characters in comic book history.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!

INSTAGRAM – FACEBOOK – GOODREADS – TWITTER