As I did with "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told" discussion, I borrowed the title from a tpb collection but I plan to go beyond the actual contents of the collection itself. Catwoman has the unique distinction of appearing in the first three consecutive issues of Batman.
BATMAN #1 - "The Cat" - Kids who bought Batman #1 certainly got their money's worth, and you can take it from me because I was one (if you count the Famous 1st Edition TE, which I do). Not only did it contain the first appearance of Hugo Strange and the first two appearances of the Joker, but it also had the first appearance of the Catwoman, known then as simply "The Cat." Mrs. Martha Travers is hosting a high society get-together on her yacht, the Dolphin, and she will be wearing her emerald necklace worth a half million dollars. Batman is busy on another case, but he uses his contacts as Bruce Wayne to get Dick Grayson a job as steward. Sure enough, the necklcae is stolen almost immediately. The suspects are...
- Denny - Mrs. Travers' nephew
- Miss Pegg - Denny's elderly guest who has a sprained ankle
- Roger - Mrs. Travers' brother
- Dr. Wallace - Mrs. Travers' doctor
All of these people (except Miss Pegg) have motive. Just prior to the theft being discovered, Dick recovers a note from "The Cat" implicating Denny. Just after the theft, the "Coast Guard" arrives, but it is really just another gang of thieves after the necklace. They are disappointed to learn the emerald necklace has already been stolen, but content themselves with robbing the rest of the guests and speeding away in their launch. But Dick had changed to Robin and sneaked aboard beforehand. By this time, the trail had gone cold an Batman's other case and he catches up with the criminals. He and Robin subdue them, and return to the Dolphin with the stolen loot.
They arrive in the midst of a costume party, and Batman wins the prize trophy cup. He dumps the recovered jewelry into it and reveals that he is the real Batman. then Robin sets off the ship's fire alarm, and Batman observes that "Miss Pegg" is running pretty fast for an elderly woman with a sprained ankle. He also notices her shapely legs. After he and Robin catch her, Batman removes her wig and make-up revealing a beautiful young woman: The Cat! She is wearing the emerald necklace beneath the badage wrapping her supposedly "sprained" ankle. then Denny arrives, pulls a gun on Batman, and is quickly knocked unconscious by a left uppercut. Batman and Robin personally take the Cat into custody, but Batman allows her to escape from the boat on their way back to the harbor.
"Lovely girl!" he muses. "What eyes! Say... mustn't forget I've got a girl named Julie. Oh, well... she still had lovely eyes! Maybe I'll bump into her again sometime..."
"Hmmm..." observes Robin.
BATMAN #2 - "Joker Meets Cat-Woman" - An item in the Gotham Herald reveals: "E.S. Arthur to Ship Priceless Pharaoh Gems to British Museum - Collection Valued at $10.000.00." Knowing that the Joker will be her primary competitor, the Cat, disguised as an old woman pedling gum, stakes out the hospital in which the he is recovering after accidentally stabbing himself in issue #1. Crime Syndicate, Inc. breaks the Joker out of the hospital and, as the Cat doffs her disguise, Batman scoops her up in his arms and whisks her into the Batmobile. Fearing that Batman will turn her in to the police, she offers to reveal all she knows about the Joker in return for her freedom. Batman agrees, and she tells him that the Crime Syndicate has taken Joker to Weasel's hunting lodge. Batman lets her go, but sends Robin to track the "radioactive substance" her shows picked up from the floor of the car.
Batman get to Weasel's hunting lodge just in time to witness the Joker betraying his men. Batman captures the other criminals, bit the Joker gets away. Meanwhile, Robin has followed the Cat to E.S. Arthur's castle. she had previously "won his affections," but she arrives to find him already dead, poisoned earlier by the Joker. As she is stealing the jewels, the Joker arrives. As he holds her at gunpoint, Robin swings through the window and disarms him. after a brief fight, the Joker knocks Robin unconscious. As the Joker is about to inject him with lethal Joker venom, the Cat offers him the jewels in exchange for the boy's life. Suddenly, Batman arrives, swinging an a chandelier. He and the Joker start to dual with two swords hanging on disply above the fireplace.
The Joker drives the him off the balcony, but Batman manages to save himself. By the time he climbs back to the balustrade, the Cat and the wounded Robin have barricaded themselves in the library, and the Joker has set it afire with burning arrows fired from a crossbow. The Batman knocks the Joker out and leaves him behind as he rescues the Cat and Robin using a rope ladder from the Batplane. As soon as they are clear of the fire, however, the Cat leaps into the water below with the jewel cask, but the Batman managed to slip the jewels out while they were still climbing the ladder. Is this "The end of the Cat-Woman?" Bill finger wants to know. Apparently not, because she's back again in...
BATMAN #3 - "The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman!" - In the story, the Cat (also referred to as the "Cat-Woman") wears an orage dress, red cape, and life-like cat-head mask. As the story opens, she is looting a penthouse. The public is up in arms, and Police Commissioner Gordon appoints McGonigle of the plainclothes squad to bring her in. When Bruce Wayne gest word of the manhunt, he too sets out after her, but pointedly leaves Robin behind. He soon comes upon three men attacking another in an alleyway. Two of the men flee, but he brings down the third. The victim is D. Calvert, secretary of the Diamond Syndicate. He is mortally wounded, but manages to relay a cryptic warning about an upcoming diamond shipment before he expires. He doesn't have any diamonds on him, so robbery wasn't the motive. While Batman is seeing to the dying man, his attacker recovers, knocks Batman out from behind, and is picked up by his tweo confederates.
When Batman awakens, he is wearing handcuffs, placed there by McGonigle. Batman knocks the detective unconscious, then frees himself. when McGonigle awakens, he decides not to mention anything about the Batman in his report. Bruce Wayne visits police headquarters just as Commissioner Gordon is about to leave to interview the managers of the Diamond Syndicate, Darrel, Blake and Hoffer. They are planning a show in which the diamonds are to be displyed by professional models. the night of the show, the first model wears a ruby necklace. the second models a diamond clip. the third is wearing an arry valued at close to a million dollars. Suddenly, the "model" reaches into her handbag and hurls a flashbomb at the stage.
In the confusion, she darts into the elevator. On the way down, she takes off her blonde wig reavealing herself to be the Cat(-Woman) in disguise. Then she puts on her cat-head mask (because there's noting less suspicious than a woman in an evening dress wearing a cat-mask). As soon as she is outside, however, she is forced into a car by four men who were expecting her. Then, out from behind, darts a miniature racer driven by Robin. Robin trails them and notifies Batman by wireless where they have gone. On his way there, Bayman stops off an Darrel's penthouse and forcibly takes him along. When they arrive, Darrel is surprised to see Hoffer holding a gun on the Cat.
"You rat!" accuses Darrel. "When you and I decided to hire the Cat to steal the diamonds because we needed money, I didn't expect you to double-cross me!"
"I suddenly decided you and the Cat would be taking too much of a cut!" confesses Hoffer. "I'm going to get rid of both of you!"
Before he has a chance to, though, Batman and Robin burst in and capture the whole kit and kaboodle of them. Unfortunatley he has to turn in the Cat as well, but she understand, and thanks him for saving her life by kissing him on the lips. Batman is so nonplussed that she is able to shove him away and dart out the door. She takes off in the gangsters car, but Batman stops Robin from following in his mini-racer, explaining that "she's too far away for you to catch up!" Later, Batman drops all of the stolen jewelry and the evidence in from of McGonigle, but it still doesn't win him over to Batman's side. Meanwhile, the Cat muses, "I sort of wish the Batman were driving this car -- and I were sitting beside him... and we were just another boy and girl out for a ride on a moonlight night. that would be sort of... of... nice!!"
Replies
"HEAT" (Legends of the Dark Knight #46-49):
This is another continuity implant from before Robin and before James Gordon was Commissioner. Batman and Catwom are drawn to work together against a thief and serial killer known as the "Black Cat Killer." Exacerbating the situation is a heat wave and a racist mayor fanning the flames. It explores the possibility of Batman and Catwoman becoming partners, and explains why that can't (or rather, why they are not). The story is written in such a way (by Doug Moench) in which each probably blame the other for why their partnership didn't work out. It is drawn by legendary artist Russ Heath and features lots of "cheesecake" (not just Catwoman, but the Cat Killer's victims).
"KNIGHTFALL"
Next up in "real time" is "Knightfall," but I won't be covering that in this discussion.
That brings us up to Catwoman's ongoing series.
It is not my intention to deal with each individual issue in this discussion. I did collect this series, without reading it, through issue #25 when I finally decided that "buying new comics and not reading them is stupid." I read #1 for the first time just now. It's not bad... pretty much exactly what I expected. Judging by the first issue, I can see that the criticism this run has received over the years is justified. It flows directly from "Knightfall" with Catwoman (reluctantly) working for Bane. The post-Crisis/"Year One" Catwoman falls into two catagories...
Continuity Implants
Modern Continuity
That run of stories, in that order, presents a chronological look at the post-Crisis/"Year One" Catwoman, and I see Catwoman #1 as the long-awaited integration of the pre-/post-Crisis/"Year One" Catwoman. Someday, perhaps someday soon, I may go back and read Catwoman #2-25, which had always been my intention. As far as this thread is concerned, Catwoman #1 is cover-dated August 1993, and the next Catwoman story I plan to deal with here is cover-dated November 1995.
...the next Catwoman story I plan to deal with here is cover-dated November 1995.
SCRATCH THAT! I forgot about "#0" (which, in comic book numbering, falls between #14 and #15).
This story pretty much supplants "Her Sister's Keeper" and leads directly into "Batman: Year One." Of course, in today's "everything's in" theory of continuity, DC would probably say both of these mutually exclusive origin stories somehow "happened."
I'll see you back here in 1995.
Is it 1995 already?
CATWOMAN ANNUAL #2:
Forced to take refuge in the worst slum of Gotham City, teenager Selina Kyle is taken in and tutored by a mysterious sensei who would play a pivotal role in the shaping of Catwoman.
SHADOW OF THE BAT #43-44 - "The Secret of the Universe" (Parts 1 & 3)
Catwoman is approached by the Council of Three, representatives of a South Sea culture from whom Cat-Man stole their cultural/religious artifacts. they offer her $1 million to get hem back, and she responds, "I don't like Blake anyway -- so just give me the adress, and the deed is done!" I don't know precisely what happens in Catwoman #26 (part two), but in SotB #44 she has the artifacts. Meanwhile, Batman is busy with the Ratcatcher, who has bred a new species of intelligent rats. The covers of SotB #43 (Batman vs. Ratcatcher) and #44 (Catwoman vs. Cat-Man) form a diptych. When Catwoman returns the artifacts to the Council of Three, she not only charges them the $1 million (which I thought she was going to waive based on her comments in the previous issue), she also substitutes fakes in their place, which wasn't very professional of her.
The titular "Secret of the Universe," BTW, is "survival" (as in, "of the fittest").
"TERROR" - (Legends of the Dark Knight #137-141)
Another story that takes place early in Batman's career (when James Gordon was still captain). It mixes up Batman, Catwoman, Scarecrow and Hugo Strange. Excellent on all levels.
GOTHAM KNIGHTS #8-11:
The only issue of Gotham Knights I ever bought was #11, and I bought that for the "Batman: Black & White" back-up feature. I never really even looked at the main story, nor had I ever intended to, but it features Catwoman on the cover and I'm doing this "discussion" thing, so... Last week I went to my LCS and bought #8-9. (i would havebought #11, of course, but they didn't have it in stock.) The story features Hugo Strange and Catwoman. Strange is after Bruce Wayne (with the intention of "becomimng" Batman himself), but Catwoman also plays a part in his plans. When Batman is apparently killed during an encounter with Strange, Nightwing and Robin become involved. The end of part three reveals that Bruce Wayne is still alive, but I have no idea at this point how the story is resolved.
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