#Almost segued into their relationship in one of the Legends of the Dark Knight comics

[pyroreadscomics]

Three Interesting & Oddball Catwoman Comics

So, I'm working on a full Post-Crisis Catwoman reading list (pray for me) but I've realized there are certain comics that, while they wouldn't make any but the most bloated (and / or obsessively complete) reading guides, I find fascinating in some way.

So, here's three issues that are completely optional Catwoman reading: (Below the cut to save your dashboards.)

GREEN ARROW (1988) #86

This comic on its own would be notable because Catwoman made shockingly few out of Gotham guest appearances during the New Earth era. Sure she’d pop up in Batfamily books every other month on average, but times when Selina broke out of the Bat-sphere are truly few and far between. In fact, in terms of guest appearances in other peoples solo titles there’s really only that one digital first Wonder Woman comic where Selina makes a very chibi appearance (it’s great) and… actually that’s the list. Even expanding out to the series of teams that don’t have Batman or Catwoman as members and aren’t Batman adjacent all you have is three pretty good issues of JSA: Classified and a debate about where or not the Birds of Prey being minimum half Gothamite at all times makes them bat-adjacent. 

This is genuinely the only guest appearance outside of Gotham she makes that doesn’t come with a bunch of asterisks. As for the plot of the book, Oliver Queen, currently not in Star City, ends up tangling with some thieves who’ve smuggled Incan artifacts out of Peru. While looking to defeat them he ends up teaming up with early Balent Catwoman. 

The interesting thing, for me at least, is that Catwoman’s above board here. She’s not just stealing the artifacts to sell herself, she's been contracted by the government of Peru to return their stolen artifacts. This is, quite possibly, the origin of the “Catwoman who steals artifacts to return them to their country of origin” trope that pops up in fan content from time to time.

To be clear, the comic firmly establishes that Selina’s not doing this out of the kindness of her heart but more that a paycheck’s a paycheck and it’s less hassle than fencing the stuff herself. 

Still, it’s interesting to me that this trope both seems to originate in the comics, but also not be there a lot. I haven’t read the bronze age stuff. I haven’t read (all) the New 52 and Rebirth stuff.  But I have read almost 600 issues of New Earth Selina Kyle appearances and I'm fairly certain that this is the only appearance of “Catwoman, Government Repo Agent” or “Catwoman, reverse British Museum” in the entirety of the New Earth timeline.

And ain’t that interesting?

BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE (2013) #6/4 "She Lies at Midnite"

Well first things first. Yes this issue was published after the New 52 reboot. However it’s very clearly set in the New Earth continuity. For those unaware, Selina’s personal history, interpersonal relationships, character depth and character development all got nuked by the reboot and this story has tied to several elements that a Non-Canon to the New 52. As such I, like the wiki, am counting this as “basically New Earth”

Secondly, while the other two stories are interesting to me for various meta reasons, this one is simply a compelling story (which also, makes me conscious of not wishing to dissect it like a frog to an audience that might enjoy a blind read.). Though being a Batman centric story, it explores the messier aspects of Bruce and Selina’s relationship in a way that adds a bit of nuance to their relationship while keeping  everyone in character (well… there's some lines of dialogue I don't quite vibe with, but everyone's actions, motivations and dynamics are in character and those are the important bits)

Also because it's one story in an anthology it's really short, only 7 pages.

So tell y'all what, I'll talk about the last story first, and then I'll do the full spoiler breakdown of why I find this story fascinating.

CATWOMAN (1993) #89 (HARLEY QUINN EDITION)

This is, I believe, the only issue* of Catwoman where Selina never makes an appearance

Even when Eiko or Holly took over the role she at least made appearances in every issue even if they were minor. Here though? She's only referenced, though she's referenced alot.

(Note: yes Selina doesn't appear in either the first annual or Catwoman 1,000,000. But counterpoint, those are basically Sci-fi and Fantasy AUs and that’s a level of pedantry even I don't care for)

The plot itself goes like this: Doctor Harleen Quinzel goes to a TV company and pitches a show based on the adventures of Catwoman, as seen through Harley’s eyes. It’s a version of events where Harley Quinn is Catwoman’s best friend, and they commit crimes, team up with Poison Ivy, and fight Batman and Commissioner Gordon. The TV executives (who somehow seem oblivious to the fact that A) Catwoman’s a real person and b) the person they’re talking to is a supervillain) start reworking the pitch of the show to be more corporate and kid friendly, much to the anger of Harley who murders the executives with Joker Gas, ending the issue.

Now, talking about a story within a story is always going to get a bit meta, but I’m going to start small and then work my way up to the scene that inspired this whole post.

Firstly… Harley’s TV pitch is where we get specifics on Selina’s parents background. Sure in they’re last appearance Brian was a racist white guy and Maria was clearly a Latina immigrant, but this is I believe the first (and potentially only) time Maria is labeled Cuban and Brian is labeled as Irish. Which also means, unless I'm forgetting another instance of this information being brought up, we’re just taking Harley’s word on this.

Secondly, Harley casting herself as Selina’s best friend is, amazingly, not necessarily incorrect.

For context, this is a year and a half into Harley Quinn’s run as a canon character. Despite that she has interacted with Selina once before. It’s a bit of an involved story but the short version is, Selina get sent to prison. The person in the next cell ends up being Harley Quinn, who Selina ends up telling all about her childhood, then the pair escape, though Harley stabs Selina with a knife to pull it off and then, once they’re free, drugs and hypnotizes Selina into helping with a plan to kill Batman.

Now you’d reasonably think that that’s disqualifying behavior for best friend status but… counterpoint, who else is it? Her sister Maggie? They haven’t talked in a decade (both in universe and out). Holly? Same as Maggie. Arizona? She’s an amnesiac child and even if she remembers Catwoman, the writers have forgotten her. Zee and/or Clutterbuck? They were at best work colleges and ones who haven’t appeared in years at that (also if you remembered they existed at all i am genuinely impressed). One of the other rouges? She’s not great terms with any of them, even the ones who haven’t tried to kill her (which is most of them).

(also "Which orphanage were you in?" damn Selina) Harley meanwhile is actually the first person in canon that Selina told her backstory to. Harley knew before Bruce about how Selina’s parents died. Also, despite Harley’s mind control gambit, Harley is insistent she cares about Selina, and Selina clearly doesn’t hold that big a grudge as, the same month this issue came out, she was in Harley’s solo for a party.

90s Catwoman, with a few brief exceptions, was so against maintaining a consistent supporting cast for Selina that Harley is the clear winner for the best friend award, at least in this moment of time.

Third, minor point but I Harley’s little fanfic contains not merely the specific Catwoman/Harley/Ivy team up in comics, but also, the first time Ivy and Catwoman have teamed up outside of the Long Halloween (where all the rogues end up working together in the end). Indeed the last time Catwoman and Ivy were in the same comic it was Cataclysm and Selina ended up force feeding Ivy a seed that grew roots out of… everywhere. Needless to say, they weren’t friends at the time. Though, in Harley’s world, they were.

(In fact, for those unfamiliar, during the original Gotham City Sirens run, Selina and Ivy were somewhat antagonistic towards each other, but tried to get along for the sake of their mutual friend Harley Quinn.)

Lastly, and most metatextually interesting, is Harley’s exact words when her story got sanded down for boarder market appeal.

“This isn’t my Story! Catwoman is a grownup! Her Friends are grownups! That big,dumb lump of a Ratman that she flirts with is a grownup! She Steals stuff, she fights with people, she outsmarts the cops! You don’t need to make all those stupid changes— she’s fine just the way she is!”

This story has a cover date of February 2001. Within a year, Brubaker’s run of Catwoman resets the numbering and radically overhauls the character. Catwoman’s characterization pivots out of “selfish loner thief who’s a bit of a bastard with a heart of gold buried so deep it takes mass tragedy to get it to show just a little” to “a vigilante with a found family who’s deeply concerned about the welfare of her one specific run down corner of Gotham.” She becomes a hero.

Now, I personally really like Brubaker’s run, he’s easily one of the three best writers the character’s ever had, but there’s no denying that it’s a change.

And so, reading that line of Harley’s struck me as… shockingly prophetic. Sure Selina didn’t get aged down into a teenager who solved crimes for the government, but she was toned down into a more explicit robin hood and made less adversarial with Batman. Now I doubt the line was written with knowledge of where Brubaker’s reboot would take the character, or even that Brubaker had even agreed to helm Catwoman when the script was turned in but… I can’t help but wonder why this issue was written. Because stories about stories are always meta in some way.

BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE (2013) #6/4 "She Lies at Midnite" (For Real this Time)

Right spoilers ago: This story starts with Selina paralyzed.

Bruce takes a bit longer then me getting there but that is how we start. With a explainer that Catwoman got involved in a gang war that was targeting sex workers and got her spine broken for the trouble. And now the doctor is saying that she'll never walk again.

This deeply affects Bruce who has a flashback to Barbara’s paralyzation.

Bruce tracks the two gangs down to a standoff and... to quote Bruce:

I'll spare you the details. Skylight. Gunfire. Screams. The usual.

It's not until he's done breaking "every leg in the house" that he runs into a surprise appearance: Slam Bradley, who's taking care of the mooks outside. (for the Catwoman readers: firstly, thanks for reading this far, secondly, Slam’s… honestly an important character overall but the short version is his a bar brawling P.I. who was one of the few love interests Selina’s ever had that’s long term relevant)

Bruce is unsurprised to see him, given his connection to Selina, and tries to commiserate with him in his own Batman-y way, but that's all thrown for a loop when Slam reveals that he's here because Selina asked him to handle these gangs earlier that night  (You know, when she should have been conscious in the hospital)

And… honestly I can’t put this next bit better than the comic itself.

Jesus fuck Selina that's cold

Anyway, Bruce immediately tracks Selina down (It's not hard, she's robbing the leaders of the gangs houses while Batman was putting the membership in a hospital) bringing Slam along just cause I guess.

Bruce is beyond pissed off and wants answers and after this... wonderful panel, Selina explains

When Bruce asks why Selina didn't just ask for help, Selina laughs and says "Slammy here, him I could just ask! You'd put it on your tp-do list, somewhere way down, past Joker's latest attempt to poison the water supply or Eddie's latest Head-Scratcher"

That wasn't fast enough for Selina, and given she wasn't up to the job she certainly didn't want it handed off to one of the Robins. Therefore, if it was a job that needed Batman, but it wasn't important enough, Selina had to make it important to Bruce.

Hence... faking being paralyzed and also deliberately invoking one Bruce's old traumas against him. Which I get but also damn Selina.

Bruce is actually so pissed off it looks like he's about to fight Selina, but Selina surrenders instead and the story ends with Selina in the batmobile, in cuffs, (though Bruce agrees to stop for ice cream on the way to the station, indicating he's... maybe cooling off a bit).

While it's not actually the worst thing Selina's ever done to Bruce technically, this incident didn't even draw any blood. It's.... It reads like a profound betrayal of trust. Selina took an insecurity of Bruce's she could only know about after being inducted into the Bat family and used it against him without remorse. (Which... post: Tower of Babel Bruce does not get to criticize this move but it's still cold).

And then, there's the fact that Selina did this because she, reasonably, couldn't actually trust Bruce to help her out without that manipulation. It's not even Selina acting selfishly for once, it's Selina trying to protect innocents.

And the weird thing is, outside of a few dialogue choices, everyone's perfectly in character here. This is a stunt canon Selina would easily pull if the circumstances lined up the same.

I will say, I totally get where Selina's coming from, even sympathize with it a little. Batman is someone who's constantly pulled in a thousand different directions and can't actually be relied on to help in a weird way. There's a reason the worst sections of Gotham keep getting dedicated superheroes (Onyx for the Hill, Catwoman for the East End) and that's because Batman doesn't have the time to help these areas as thoroughly as they need.

And of course, being a part of these communities in a way Batman just can't be, they end up seeing the problems much more up close and personal.

Like, take the original storyline where Selina commits to being a vigilante rather than a supervillain. In that storyline there's a serial killer going after sex workers and while Selina has reason to be invested (She used to be sex worker, she finds out because a friend who is a sex worker shows up at her safe house looking to hide,) the thing that tips her over the edge into action is those things PLUS the inaction of those who should be dealing with the situation. The police straight up do not care (there's a scene where they find a body and they instead of trying to record evidence go through her wallet for cash and crack jokes) and Batman, while he's... not malicious like that, it is called out by Selina that while they may be victims, to Batman they are still criminals in his eye and thus not high on his priority list, even if they are being murdered.

That's all canon.

So... what's Selina to do? There are two gangs tearing up the streets and killing sex workers (which, conversely to Bruce, is something that always sits at the top of her priority list). If she can't just rob them out of existence, doesn't have the skills to fight them on head and win, and Batman ain't doing shit... what opinion does she have but to manipulate Batman into action. (and, to be clear, if Selina had already decided the correct solution to this problem was manipulating Batman, and also had enough time to set up the whole deception, then Batman had time to respond to the situation on his own and didn't.)

To Selina, this whole operation, while a punch below the belt on Bruce and potentially permanently damaging their relationship, would save lives. Her motivations were pure.

It's just...

It's still betraying Bruce's trust, using knowledge of his private pains against him. Skipping right over the asking for help step because she didn't trust him to help. And yet, the only way any of this works is if Bruce trusted Selina enough to let her in, and Selina trusted Bruce to avenge her. (Also side note: very much the only reason Slam's here is as a counterpoint to Bruce as someone Selina trusted to help without manipulation. Which depending on when this is supposed to be timeline wise (are they dating, is this before or after Selina lost his granddaughter) potentially speaks volumes about Selina's trust in Slam.)

It's such an emotionally messy story for only 7 pages and it’s the sort of shit I live for.