Spoilers for Batman #50 Within!

DC Comics’ big “wedding of the century” in Batman #50 has come and gone, and the bride to be called it all off and ran away. Now, Catwoman has left not only the Batman behind, but Gotham City itself, and moved as far as possible to the West Coast. Writer/Artist Joëlle Jones is launching the all-new Catwoman series for DC, one which promises to take Selina Kyle places she’s never been to before.

Nerdist caught up with Jones at Comic-Con, and we had a chat on all things Catwoman, and we started by asking Jones where she sees Selina post break-up.”I’m really trying to be true to who her character is” Jones told us. “When I originally pitched Catwoman, this was before the whole wedding event took place, and so I really want to be true to how I feel she would approach it. And I love the character so much. So it’s more about rebuilding and sort of re-framing who she is after such a big event happened to her.”

As part of this new chapter in the feline fatale’s life, Jones got the chance to redesign Catwoman’s costume, something that hasn’t happened to the character in more than 16 years. Was Jones nervous about tinkering with the Cat’s most iconic look? “I was nervous about redesigning her costume, but I really felt in my heart that it was time for her, after everything that happened, to take a step forward. And so I faced the idea of changing her costume without an idea for changing it, but I really wanted to bring her into more of a really modern nice silhouette, something that was kind of happening now. And so by having exposed parts, having these exposed parts with the wrists and the ankles maybe that you can see where her body’s moving, even if you’re inking in all black, there will be hints to kind of draw your eye in a certain direction. So it was all selfishly from an artist standpoint on what would look good in silhouette.”

As part of the changes to Selina’s life, leaving Gotham behind was a necessity in Jones’ eyes. “I wanted to move her to a completely different city. I want to take her out of Gotham and move her. I had moved to LA and it was really inspired by the city, and I wanted to base the city off of Los Angeles. I was really interested in changing what everybody visually knew about Gotham, with the shadows and how the shadows and light plays differently in LA than it does like on an east coast type of city, and how everything’s very different. And I was really inspired by that. And then LA is a mish-mash of all types of people, and I wanted to draw from that when creating her new supporting cast.”

Catwoman, of course, has had nine lives in other media, and several different portrayals that influenced Jones’ depiction of her. “I love Batman Returns with a passion. I wanted to pay homage to the Michelle Pfeiffer version in my design of the character, and I wanted to have the corset in the costume, as a way of letting people know how much I love that version of her. But I also really love the Batman: The Animated Series version of Selina too.”Ultimately though, this is Jones’ unique take on Catwoman. “There’s an advantage in there in that there’s so many different takes on her, that there’s always room for somebody to step in and say you know what though?  I’m gonna have my say with her now.”

Catwoman #1 is available now in comic book shops everywhere from DC Comics.

Are you looking forward to this latest life for Selina Kyle? Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.

Images: DC Comics