Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale

An appallingly tone deaf book that doesn’t hit its mark in any way. Between the numerous times Selina is physically abused on the page by an abusive boyfriend of her father’s, Selina defending her gay friend by telling a bunch of teens for an entire page how much she loves “dick” despite being a complete “penis virgin”, and the murder of a pet kitten shown on page, this is everything that I do NOT want in a YA graphic novel about one of my favourite characters.

The continuity changes don’t bother me, I loved the DC Icons books and don’t mind fresh takes but all I want to do is forget what I read of this book before having to give up at Page 65.

The art is great and I truly hope Isaac Goodheart finds more work in the industry but this book couldn’t even be saved by his wonderful depictions of Selina Kyle.

UNDER THE MOON explores real issues pertaining to trauma that impact many youth, including abuse, self-harm, suicide, homelessness, etc. I thought Catgirl's development as she began to heal from trauma felt appropriate. She isn't completely healed at the end, but she has started to grow. The only reservation that I have about placing this book in my classroom as a middle school teacher is the maturity of the content matter. While I would never advocate for censorship, this book is definitely better suited for mature high school students. Some of the content is not for the faint of heart, and the book frequently deals with sensitive content matter. Also, I was personally about to fight someone over the fate of Cinders. #savethecat All of this said, UNDER THE MOON was a thoughtful addition to the DCU, and fans of comic books and YA are sure to enjoy this character study of Selena Kyle.