Catwoman: Lonely City finds Gotham in need of a hero after Batman's death

Paper Girls artist Cliff Chiang returns to DC this fall for the four-part series Catwoman: Lonely City. This is the artist's first long-form comics work that he'll be writing himself, after several short stories.

(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

"10 years ago, the massacre known as Fools’ Night claimed the lives of Batman, the Joker, Nightwing, and Commissioner Gordon… and sent Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, to prison," reads DC's description of Catwoman: Lonely City. "A decade later, Gotham has grown up - it’s put away costumed heroism and villainy as childish things. The new Gotham is cleaner, safer…and a lot less free, under the watchful eye of Mayor Harvey Dent and his Batcops. 

"It’s into this new city that Selina Kyle returns, a changed woman…with her mind on that one last big score: the secrets hidden inside the Batcave! She doesn’t need the money—she just needs to know…who is 'Orpheus?'"

Orpheus is an early '00s DC comics vigilante who worked alongside the Bat-family in protecting Gotham. He was used by Batman to infiltrate Gotham street gangs, however, he was ultimately killed by the Black Mask. For a time, the Black Mask masqueraded as Orpheus to infiltrate the Bat-family.

Check out this four-page preview of Catwoman: Lonely City #1, along with a variant cover:

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

Catwoman: Lonely City #1 preview

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

Catwoman: Lonely City is part of DC's Black Label imprint, for mature titles intended for those aged 17 and up. This is somewhat of a full circle for Chiang, as he got his start as an editor of DC's previous mature readers imprint, Vertigo Comics, as an editor. Also, his memorable run on Wonder Woman with Brian Azzarello was originally planned to be a mature-readers title as part of Vertigo.

Chiang has a long history with the Bat-family, with a run on Detective Comics, the graphic novel Batman: The Golden Streets of Gotham, two issues of Nightwing, and the memorable 'Ladies' Night' story in The Brave and the Bold #33. Catwoman: Lonely City will be his second Catwoman project, after drawing the story 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Evil' for 2002's Catwoman: Secret Files & Origins.

Here are some of Chiang's model sheets for Catwoman: Lonely City:

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

Catwoman: Lonely City model sheets

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

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(Image credit: Cliff Chiang (DC/Black Label))

Chiang will write, draw, and color Catwoman: Lonely City, which will be published in DC's new Prestige Plus format. 

Catwoman: Lonely City #1 (of 4) goes on sale on October 19.

Make sure you've read all the best Catwoman stories before you read Catwoman: Lonely City.