Catwoman (comic book)

Because of satisfactory reception to Mindy Newell's 1988 Action Comics arc featuring Catwoman, "The Tin Roof Club", in February 1989, DC Comics released a four-issue Catwoman limited series penned by Newell, with art by Joe Brozowski and Michael Bair.[1][2] A spin-off of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One,[3] the miniseries expanded on Year One's scenes through Catwoman's perspective and explored Catwoman's established origin as well as her established past as a prostitute in Year One.[3][1][2] The series also introduced Catwoman's nun sister, Magdalene.[1] While the series' editor teased to a fan of Newell's Action Comics arc the possibility of Newell writing a Catwoman monthly series given adequate sales, the audience for the comic was lacking and its last issue was Catwoman's last major appearance for years.[1]

In 1993, DC launched Catwoman's first ongoing series, originally written by Jo Duffy, pencilled by Jim Balent, and inked by Dick Giordano.[4][5][6] Balent drew for the series for six years straight, with Bob Smith providing most of the series's inks, until its 77th issue, after which they were replaced by penciller Staz Johnson and inker Wayne Faucher. [7][6] Other writers who took on the series include Doug Moench, Deborah Pomerantz, Chuck Dixon, Devin Grayson, John Ostrander, Bronwyn Carlton, and John Francis Moore.[8][9] The series put the character on a new direction, moving away from grittiness towards flamboyance: her design was changed to consist of lengthy hair and a vibrant purple costume from her previous buzz cut and gray color palette established in Year One, and her stories consisted of action and extravagant heists in place of "grim realism".[5] The series focused on Catwoman's adventures and heists, often international, with a revolving cast of characters, and also tied in to various comic crossover events, such as 1994's "Knightfall".[5] In the series, Catwoman's Year One origin was minimized, with her time as a dominatrix only appearing on a short portion of a single page in the origin retelling Catwoman #0, and was altered in one of its annuals, showing Catwoman's former prostitution as a way for her to deceive and rob clients, and integrating a subplot involving martial arts with Catwoman tangling with a group of ninjas.[5] The series also told her tragic backstory, with Catwoman's parents having died when she was a child, with her mother dying by suicide and her father from alcohol poisoning; Carlton in the series's 81st issue added to it, depicting her mother as a dark-skinned Latina, making Catwoman a half-Latina.[8] In July 2001, the series ended in its 94th issue because the Batman editorial team decided to cancel and relaunch the series for writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke's different take on the character.[10][11]

Brubaker was offered to write Catwoman by editor Matt Idelson after Idelson asked him for his opinion on the series at the time, which Brubaker thought was "kind of insulting to women readers" after having read advance copies of the comic which featured Catwoman in "naked shower fights", mentioning that he preferred Catwoman in the 1960s and 1970s comics as well as in Batman: Year One, and suggested to Idelson to take the character back to her "East End roots" while incorporating the "classiness of the high-society thief".[11] Brubaker later accepted Idelson's offer to write the series, under the condition that they change Catwoman's design and artist, describing the previous artist as a "cheesecake artist".[11] After searching for artists to draw the series, Brubaker sought Cooke after seeing advance copies of Cooke's art on Batman: Ego. Cooke agreed to draw the series, but mentioned that he would only draw for the first storyline given the short space in his schedule from a delay in Cooke's then-current project, DC: The New Frontier.[11] Cooke's pencils on the start of their tenure on the series, originally going to be Catwoman #95, impressed DC; DC decided to postpone its release for six months then relaunch it, making the series' writer at the time rewrite their final issue with Catwoman's seeming death and having Brubaker and Cooke write a backup story for Detective Comics that would lead into the relaunched Catwoman comic.[11][10]