Catwoman/Selina Kyle Appreciation Thread

[Tzigone]

Selina Kyle has had several backstories into what her childhood was like and how she ended up Catwoman. To be honest, none of the ones that I know do are all that great. Do you have a favorite one? Do you have an idea what DC should do when they have their next reboot or continuity-altering-event that affects Selina? Her background isn't something I think is that important, but it'd be nice to have a good one.

[Frontier]

Selina Kyle has had several backstories into what her childhood was like and how she ended up Catwoman. To be honest, none of the ones that I know do are all that great. Do you have a favorite one? Do you have an idea what DC should do when they have their next reboot or continuity-altering-event that affects Selina? Her background isn't something I think is that important, but it'd be nice to have a good one.

I prefer the one where she and her sister ended up homeless and having to make a living on the streets because their (normal) parents died.

[Tzigone]

I prefer the one where she and her sister ended up homeless and having to make a living on the streets because their (normal) parents died.

I certainly prefer the mundanity of it. It's the sister (and especially what ended up happening to her) that I dislike.

[Frontier]

I certainly prefer the mundanity of it. It's the sister (and especially what ended up happening to her) that I dislike.

I like Maggie and how she impacts Selina's character, personally.

[godisawesome]

Selina Kyle has had several backstories into what her childhood was like and how she ended up Catwoman. To be honest, none of the ones that I know do are all that great. Do you have a favorite one? Do you have an idea what DC should do when they have their next reboot or continuity-altering-event that affects Selina? Her background isn't something I think is that important, but it'd be nice to have a good one.

The way I see it, her different origins work out sort of like this:

- The best executed is the “Selina and Maggie are orphans in a bad way, Maggie becomes a nun and Selina ends up being a victim of sex trafficking before meeting Batman and becoming a cat burglar in a costume for… (sexy?) reasons.” Her Sister’s Keeper is very well written… but also extremely too dreary, and stuck trying to honor Frank Miller’s out-of-left-field “hooker = supervillain/superhero” concept.

- The most ambitious/bonkers is a Doug Moench’s from her first solo comic, that actually *did* try and give her skillset some explanation, albeit mostly in a King Fu movie way. Sadly, it’s not Moench’s best work, and isn’t nearly as good at explaining how she became a super-thief.

- Then there’s the “secret gangster’s daughter” story, which was rather lackluster with the Calabrese idea, ambitious but still underutilized Falcone connection from Jeph Loeb, and a genuinely engaging if still-unconnected-to-her-skills-and-talents idea from Matt Reeves in his movie. I like the last one a lot, but more for putting emphasis on Falcone as her nemesis and making that an odd parallel with Bruce.

- Then there’s the Silver Age and Golden Age ideas of her kind of just being a thief who used an amnesia story one time to get out of consequences.

To me… here’s what would make a decent Selina/Catwoman story:

- Yes, she’s Falcone’s illegitimate daughter from back before he climbed to the top of Gotham’s criminal underworld, but she also has Maggie as a half-sister who she has to look out for when their mother is killed (likely by Falcone).

-Selina starts out as a street thief, trying to shelter Maggie, who’s not cut out for that life. She pushes herself into learning a bunch of thieving skills, but takes some licks as well, and may have been forced into prostitution briefly, around the time that Maggie joined the Church.

- Selina reacts to being victimized by Gotham by “sharpening her claws” by learning to fight and flee - preferably via Ted Grant (boxing) and maybe one martial arts master, and just sheer cussed dedication to becoming an acrobat and parkour artist.

- Since now professional-thief Selina still has a quiet need to be a “big sister” to someone that she vocally denies but habitually practices, she ends up looking out for Holly Robinson and getting her out of prostitution, keeping them fed and housed with a lot of freelance, professional thieving jobs (corporate espionage, art theft, etc.)

- This is when she first encounters Bruce in Crime Alley when he’s checking things out, and she *does* get some later inspiration to dress up a bit when Batman premieres (and demonstrates her awareness and scouting abilities by figuring out he’s the same “vagrant” she saw earlier), but starts with a simpler series of “costumes”, like a Cat-eared hoodie she wears while “on the clock” as a thief, and a cat-themed masquerade mask when she’s hobnobbing with the rich for her jobs.

- Her first encounter with Batman in costume, though, is when she gets particularly angry at the Falcones screwing with Maggie’s mission in downtown Gotham, and (despite Maggie’s protests) deciding to rob the Falcones in revenge, steals some of their family jewelry and the bank accounts numbers for some of their slush funds… and ends up interrupted by Batman attacking the Falcone’s that night, where the Falcone’s lose but she makes her name by managing ti escape Batman either on camera or by the media.

- The press the “Catwoman” gets for handling Batman better than Falcone, and the pure, undiluted adrenaline rush that she experienced confronting Batman, makes an elated, triumphant Selina spend some of her money on a costume, and then become the real Catwoman.

[Tzigone]

- This is when she first encounters Bruce in Crime Alley when he’s checking things out, and she *does* get some later inspiration to dress up a bit when Batman premieres (and demonstrates her awareness and scouting abilities by figuring out he’s the same “vagrant” she saw earlier), but starts with a simpler series of “costumes”, like a Cat-eared hoodie she wears while “on the clock” as a thief, and a cat-themed masquerade mask when she’s hobnobbing with the rich for her jobs.

I never could get behind the retcon that Bruce in any way inspired her to be Catwoman. It's so very inherently unequal - he inspires and shapes her future dramatically, while she has no impact on his. Admittedly, she is a supporting character to him, but I still don't like it.

[Frontier]

I never could get behind the retcon that Bruce in any way inspired her to be Catwoman. It's so very inherently unequal - he inspires and shapes her future dramatically, while she has no impact on his. Admittedly, she is a supporting character to him, but I still don't like it.

Well, the encounter with her on his first night out was pretty impactful for both of them in my opinion.

[godisawesome]

I never could get behind the retcon that Bruce in any way inspired her to be Catwoman. It's so very inherently unequal - he inspires and shapes her future dramatically, while she has no impact on his. Admittedly, she is a supporting character to him, but I still don't like it.

I get that.

Catwoman, Joker, Riddler and a handful of other villains and characters overtly own the theatricality of the nom de guerre in a way that can't just be "that's what everyone calls them" way; if Selina's sewing intentional cat ears onto her mask or cowl, she's embracing and broadcasting that identity in a way similar to Bruce and Batman.

Explaining why that is should be a fun exercise; that's why I like the overall idea in my little "head canon origin story" of her having a cat-eared hoodie or something already when the media first records her adventures, and her just loving the hell out of the Catwoman moniker and memes.

On another note, one other thing that I've been thinking about very as just a fun little background detail for Selina...

...As Bruce grew up a fan of Zorro movies, Selina as a young girl stole herself a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel. And while Bruce is totally fine with admitting that he's a bit of a copy cat for Zorro, Selina is mildly insecure about the fact her favorite story growing up was a hopelessly romantic and idealistic swashbuckler when she tries to project cynicism and a roguish self-interest...

...Which should eventually result in a Cavalier-based adventure where Batman really gets into the swashbuckling and Selina finds herself embarrassingly hot for it because its a reversal of her usual flirtation with him.

[signalman112]

Art by Kit.

CatwomanKit.jpg

[Frontier]

Art by Kit.

CatwomanKit.jpg

Very retro pinup but it works very well .

[signalman112]

Foreign reprint cover.

CatwomanLaderlappen.jpg

[MajorHoy]

Foreign reprint cover.

Which I'm guessing is from Batman #256 (May-June 1974)

[Frontier]

Ah yes, that infamous costume...

[WebLurker]

Ah yes, that infamous costume...

Remember Casually Comics did a video on it (here). Think it kinda sits in the same category as Wonder Woman's '90s biker chick outfit ; objectively it's probably not good and the character's more iconic looks fit better, but they're so unique it's kinda hard to truly hate them.

[Frontier]

Remember Casually Comics did a video on it (here). Think it kinda sits in the same category as Wonder Woman's '90s biker chick outfit ; objectively it's probably not good and the character's more iconic looks fit better, but they're so unique it's kinda hard to truly hate them.

I loved these videos .