Catwoman (1989 mini-series)

[The Laughing Fish]

I read this 4 issue mini-series awhile ago, which takes place during Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. It's a backstory to Selina Kyle's life as a prostitute, as she decides to fight back against her abusive pimp Stan. But things get complicated when Stan retaliates by kidnapping Selina's sister, a nun called Magdalene.

I wasn't ever keen on the idea of Catwoman being a prostitute, and I'm still not, but I was curious to read what this was about. I thought the series had some potential, but I didn't find to be that memorable, and I even forgot how it even ended. The relationship between Selina and her sister felt underdeveloped and could've been explored more. I guess the idea was both sisters came from a troubled family home, particularly how one succumbed to a destructive lifestyle while the other seeks refuge to devote herself to a religious cause. But still could've been done more.

I got to say I thought devoting the entire series to only having a no-name pimp as the arch-nemesis made it rather boring. Catwoman begins a path towards anti-heroism, but the whole storyline with her pimp dragged on too long. There's only one point in the run where it does something different: she becomes vengeful against a drunk cop who had beaten up Holly, but that gets resolved quickly thanks to Batman's interference. One positive aspect is when Catwoman embraces her new life as an outlaw, she now spares the young Holly from the perverted world of prostitution by handing over her care to Magdalene. But it would've been much "better" to me if Catwoman had to face a crazed killer stalking prostitutes as to mark her territory. It's still not something I would've wanted to read, but it would've been more fulfilling when you consider the message condemning violence against women.

Nonetheless, here are some observations I had while reading this run.

The cat motif is played out here, with Magdalene feeding cats and revealing to another nun how her family used to own a lot of cats. The inspiration to Selina Kyle adopting her Catwoman persona is based on a gimp Catsuit her pimp once forced her to wear, and actually wore it to first strike back at him. Of course, it should be pointed out that Selina's inspiration was encouraged even further when she saw Batman in action against the SWAT team.

Selina agrees to undergo with strict combat training with Ted Grant aka the former Wildcat, who she was secretly referred to by a detective investigating her case against Stan. Gradually, she transforms from being a meek victim to a hardened, dirty fighter, much to Grant's satisfaction. Now of course, this backstory was adapted for the CW's version of Black Canary in Arrow, in yet another example of how that show takes ideas from Batman mythos and applying them to non-Batman characters. But I digress.

The scene in Year One where Bruce Wayne goes undercover and fights Selina in the streets is recreated here, except the only thing that's retconned is he knocks out Stan who tried to knife him, before getting stabbed by Holly, which makes Batman's investigation into the nun's kidnapping more sense as well as understanding who was responsible for it.

Read it if you're a huge Catwoman fan, but lower your expectations.