Catwoman (comics)

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Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel. Kane, a frequent movie goer also mentioned that Jean Harlow was a model for the design. The character first appeared as The Cat in "Batman" #1 (Spring, 1940). The code name Cat-Woman (sic), and the first of her cat-suits were introduced in issue #2. Her civilian identity of Selina Kyle was introduced in subsequent appearances.

The character had regular appearances in the Batman titles for much of the Golden Age, as both as a villain, and as a reformed criminal (or at least attempting to reform.) She disappeared from the franchise for over a decade in "Detective Comics" #211 (September, 1954), for fears that her depiction violated the recently introduced Comics Code. In 1966, over a decade later, the character was revived for the Batman television series.

The character turned popular again and revival in the comic books soon followed. Starting with "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" #70 (November, 1966). Where she uses magic to turn Superman into a cat. Lois Lane then gets to fight Catwoman to rescue her love interest. Regular adventures of this version continued to the 1980s. With an Earth-One version of Catwoman firmly established, the DC staff then reintroduced the original as part of the Earth-Two Alternate Universe. Or at least its backstory. According to "DC Super-Stars" #17 (November, 1977), the Golden Age Catwoman eventually married Batman. She was killed while performing One Last Job. Her daughter Helena Wayne, donned the cape of the Huntress to avenge her death.

Post-Crisis, Catwoman got a revamp in the Batman: Year One storyline (1987), which established a new background for Selina. As a former prostitute who learned martial arts and the art of burglary to improve her life. She got a mini-series of her own in 1989. Then a regular Catwoman series started in September, 1993. From the 1990s until 2008, Catwoman featured in an eponymous series that cast her as an anti-hero rather than a supervillain. In 2009 this was replaced with a Gotham City Sirens title that put her in a morally-ambiguous team with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. In 2011 this was dropped and a new ongoing Catwoman title began as part of the New 52 universe-wide revamp.

The character has been one of Batman's most enduring love interests, and is arguably the closest to being his equal. Many modern writers have also interpreted her activities and costumed identity as a response to a history of abuse.

Tropes used in Catwoman (comics) include:
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