DCAU #86: House of Dorian

IN THIS ONE... Gotham's lycanthropes all get together when Dr. Dorian tries to turn Catwoman into a beast once more.

CREDITS: Written by Michael Reeves and Kelley Puckett; art by Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett.

REVIEW: There was a stretch there where BTAS was doing way too many werebat/wolf/cat stories close together, but I do think it's a good idea to give a couple of those a sequel by throwing all the characters together. The show's answer to Dr. Moreau, Emile Dorian, escapes from Arkham and puts Kirk Langstom, Man-Bat, under his control. Meanwhile the werewolf created by Prof Milo has gone to Dorian's old island to find him in search of a cure for his condition, but only finds Tygrus, who is convinced to go back to Gotham City to find Dorian, and also to see Selina Kyle again (she never plays dress-up). Sounds convoluted, but it works. And Parobeck is really quite good at breathing life into these creatures.

But I don't like the ending. Basically, all the manimals start fighting in Dorian's lab, and it blows up, leaving Batman and Catwoman wondering if any of them got out alive. Doesn't look likely, and yet they can't actually kill Man-Bat. If at least he'd been seen flying away, we could consider the book closed on the two other were-beasts. And look, if you're going to have Catwoman in your story, even if she's not going to wear the leotards, you can't have her just be a damsel in distress. That's not her character. She barely has 5 lines in the whole thing.
REREADABILITY: Medium - A cool idea, and it's well drawn, but lacks an ending and Catwoman's having an off day.

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