Abbey Adoption Cat

Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. The supervillain was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel .

The original and most widely known Catwoman, Selina Kyle , first appears in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) in which she is known as The Cat . As an adversary of Batman, she was a whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high-stake thefts. For many years Catwoman thrived but from September 1954 to November 1966 she took an extended hiatus due to the newly developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation with the Comic Code.

Since the 1990s, Catwoman has been featured in an eponymous series that cast her as an antihero rather than a supervillain. The character has been one of Batman's most enduring love interests, and is almost always depicted as his one true love. Many modern writers have also interpreted her activities and costumed identity as a response to a history of abuse.

A popular figure, Catwoman has been featured in most media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience on the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman motion picture. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns . Halle Berry starred in a stand-alone Catwoman film in 2004, which was a complete box-office flop, although only loosely based on the Batman character.

Catwoman was ranked #11 in IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Villains Of All Time List. She was also ranked #51 on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list.

Character and publication history

There have been many versions of Catwoman's origins and backstory seen in the comic books over the decades. Overall, Catwoman or Selina Kyle still remains as the most popular female character in the Batman Universe.

Creation

Batman's creator, Bob Kane, was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. She was partially inspired by 1930's film star Jean Harlow who at Kane's then-early and "impressionable age ... seemed to personify feminine pulchritude at its most sensuous." Wanting to give his Batman comic books sex appeal and someone who could appeal to female readers as a female Batman, Kane and writer Bill Finger created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." She was meant to give a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game with him trying to reform her. At the same time this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or completely evil.

As for using cat imagery with their Catwoman, Kane states he and Bill Finger saw cats "were kind of the antithesis of bats."

Golden and Silver Age versions

Catwoman — then called "The Cat" — first appears in Batman #1 as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive woman (unnamed in the first story). Although the story does not have her wearing her iconic catsuit, it establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman.

Batman #62 revealed that Catwoman (after a blow to the head jogged her memory) is an amnesiac flight attendant who had turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived (although in the one of the last issues of The Brave and the Bold , she admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of the past life of crime). She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 and #69, until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203. Selina appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954) for her final appearance until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954.

In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterwards, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never actually had amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in an abusive marriage, and eventually decides to leave her husband. However, her husband keeps her jewelry in his private vault, and she has to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoys this experience so much she decides to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus begins a career that repeatedly leads to her encountering Batman.

The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by a criminal into going into action again as Catwoman (as shown in DC Super-Stars #17).

Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70 (November 1966); afterwards, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics.

Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do; this version of Catwoman was assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that couldn't be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two.

Modern Age version

Tangled origins

Catwoman's origin — and, to an extent, her character — was revised in 1986 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One , a revision of Batman's origin. In this version, Selina Kyle is reintroduced as an independent and more modern minded woman. She is a prostitute in order to survive and wants to break away from her abusive pimp (and former boyfriend). She witnesses his crimes and because of an event which occurs to her (nun) sister, fears for her sisters' life and begins to study self defense and martial arts. Her teacher inspires Selina to become more than what she has been and she realizes that prostitution is no life for her or for "Holly". Holly Robinson is a young runaway who idolizes Selina, but is much too young to be on the streets as far as Selina is concerned. Selina shares her home with Holly after she takes her in. As the story progresses Selina is led to a bit of burglary, she dons a catsuit costume that her now former pimp gave to her the day that she told him she was out of the business. After costuming herself so as not to be revealed, she gets a taste for burglary and begins to do it in more of a Robin Hood way than an actual thief. This is, however, how she runs into Batman. After a small confrontation, she begins to be inspired to stay in her costume and become the "catwoman" after seeing Batman in action with others. Selina gets the idea that if there is a "bat" why can't there be a "cat"?

The 1989 Catwoman limited series (collected in trade paperback form as Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper ) by writer Mindy Newell and artist J.J. Birch expanded on Miller's Year One origin. Her Sister's Keeper explores Selina's early life as a prostitute and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp Stan abducting and violently abusing her sister Maggie who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series but is expanded in "Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper".

Portions of Her Sister's Keeper and the Year One origin conceived by Miller remain canonical to Catwoman’s origin, while other portions have been dropped over the years. It has been implied that Her Sister's Keeper was rendered non-canonical by the events of Zero Hour , and subsequent writers have rejected Miller's choice to make the post- Crisis Catwoman a prostitute. In an attempt to harmonize the various versions, some writers have posited that Catwoman, early in her career, pretended to be a prostitute in order to scam lonely men and rob them.

However, characters associated with Catwoman's past as a prostitute have remained a part of her supporting cast. Holly, from Batman: Year One, and her sister Maggie (from Her Sister's Keeper ) have appeared regularly in the Catwoman series. Some elements of Her Sister's Keeper remain clearly non-canonical, however, such as references to her father only recently dying.

In this version, she has gymnastic and martial arts training, which is perfect when it comes to leaping roof to roof, or taking down whoever stands in her way. With her gymnastic background, Selina quickly learns martial arts at the instruction of the "Armless Master" who clearly inspires her greatly. Her mother, Maria, shows great interest and approval, as well as support, in the gymnastic phase of Selina's life. <

Cats and Kittens Toronto - Abbey Cat Adoptions Home

Based in Toronto. Listings of available cats, cat care articles, how to adopt a cat, fostering and volunteer information.

...

Cats and Kittens Toronto - Successful Abbey Cats

Here at Abbey Cats, the adoption process may take a little longer than you are expecting. That’s because we are attempting to make the best possible match between cat and ...

...

Abbey Cat Adoptions | Facebook

Welcome to the official Facebook Page of Abbey Cat Adoptions. Get exclusive content and interact with Abbey Cat Adoptions right from Facebook. Join Facebook to create your own Page ...

...

ABBEY's Web Page

My name is Abbey and I'm mom to Spirit who has already been adopted by some ... You may also apply to adopt or foster a pet on-line. Cat adoption form- click here

...

Abbie

Dog Adoption Day Schedule ... Cat Friendly: Unknown Kid Friendly: Unknown Size: Small ... Abbey was rescued from a rural Virginia road, along with ...

...

Abbey's Web Page

For more information on Abbey, please email: maedoouro@live.com or call Dan/Mary at 836-1638 Can't adopt today? Consider fostering! All you need is time to spend with your foster cat ...

...

Cat Adoption and Cat Rescue --- Mississauga, Ontario ...

Mississauga, Ontario, Quebec Cat Adoption. Adopt a Cat in Mississauga, Ontario, Quebec and Save ... Abbey Cat Adoptions is a registered Canadian charity dedicated to finding permanent ...

...

Cat profile for ABBEY (In Loving Memory) 97-8, a ...

Checkout ABBEY (In Loving Memory) 97-8's Catster profile. She is a female Domestic Long Hair cat. ... on them...and my daddy got to witness an adoption ...

...

Cat profile for Abbey , a female Domestic Medium Hair

Kitten boo, Cuteness-pie, Abbey-girl, Da boo, Kitten boo bye, Hula boo Kitty ... We were lucky enough to adopt her from a wonderful cat rescue in Mill Valley, CA.

...

Abbey Cat Adoptions

Note to Callers: Adoption calls are returned within 24 hours. If you do not receive a call back within that period, chances are that we've tried to reach you with no access to ...

...