Is it possible that we’re witnessing a shift in the DC house style, and that the shift is pushing artists to look more like a hybrid of David Mazzucchelli, Michael Lark, and Mike Allred? I recognize that this is a patently absurd thing to say out loud, but at the same time, Fernando Blanco and Jorge Fornes are getting a ton of work lately and oh man is it great.

Fornes dropped in some art in Heroes in Crisis #7, and was in on the last two issues of Batman (including the incredible Question issue). Blanco has been bopping around the DCU for several years doing some incredible work on books like Batwoman, Midnighter & Apollo, and late period New 52 Detective Comics that I only just realized was him because I was on his Comics DB page, but I distinctly and fondly remember the art.

He’s also drawn a good chunk of the new Joelle Jones Catwoman book, and the book doesn’t miss a beat with him on it. The new issue, Catwoman #10, is the start of a new arc and it’s pretty much the platonic ideal of a Catwoman comic. It’s got an art heist; surface-level class issues that should always be part of Selina’s story; crazy gymnastics fight choreography; a cameo from someone else in the Rogues Gallery; and the aforementioned staggering art from Blanco.

Jones as only a writer has also been outstanding. She is, of course, a ridiculously talented artist. True story, my LCS has a copy of Lady Killer #1 under the counter glass listed at $17, and at no point in my time shopping at this store have I questioned that cost. Her art is that good, and it only got better since. But here, she’s writing a tight, fun heist story that could get bogged down in morose, weighty issues like, four different times. She breezes right through them – it’s meaningful and somber when it needs to be, but it pivots right back to what’s most fun about Selina’s world without wasting a second.