February 16th, 2015 ·In celebration of my birthday here are my twenty-two favorite Batman and Catwoman moments of all time. Because what better way to celebrate your birthday than with making lists of Batman and Catwoman?  This list was damned hard to put together, with more than 75 years of history and only twenty-two spots open many, many, MANY great moments ended up getting cut. Anyways here we go. They be all night. 20. Catwoman (New 52) #18Was this a good story? No, not really but it had one really great panel where Catwoman hugs Batman for no other reason than she can tell he’s upset about something and wants to make him feel better. 19. Worlds’ Finest: feat. Batman and Superman #29This is exactly how I pictured Batman and Catwoman’s courtship. Say what you will about Christopher Nolan but he did something that no writer has done with Batman and Catwoman in I can’t remember how long: made them have a happy ending where they actually end up together. 17.  Batman: The Long HalloweenWhen she said “You’re mine, Ivy!”

I read it as “Ivy! Get your hands off my man!” 16. Batman: The Brave and the Bold “Flirterers!”Batman wants to “rehabilitate” her. Batman and Catwoman’s reunion after Bruce Wayne’s year of being “dead” was also the last major bat/cat story before the 2011 reboot. After how hot they left things before Bruce died it seemed they picked up right where they left off (after Selina gives him the business for not reaching out to her sooner). 14. JLA: The Nail Everything about this makes me swoon. How Selina offered to follow Bruce into a suicide mission, how they stop mid argument because she says she can’t live without him. 13. Batman: Black and White #6 “She Lies at Midnight”Only a woman close to his heart could get so under the skin. Batman and Catwoman go on a date while in costume and have spagetti Lady and the Tramp style. 11. Gotham City Sirens #26My overall feelings on GCS are meh, however it did drop one of the biggest revelations about Batman and Catwoman’s relationship.

Basically Zatanna offered to mind-wipe Bruce from Selina’s mind which she actually considered but ultimately rejects. The biggest problem with their relationship is Batman’s inability to let go. She says even when they were together he was so focused on his next move that she felt alone, which is actually pretty sad. But it also shows us just how emotionally involved they actually are. By far the best of Batman and Catwoman in the New 52, for more visit my review. 9. Superman and Family #211Hey, remember when DC Comics celebrated marriage? Had to dig this out of the early ‘80s. Can we talk about how Selina is feeling up Bruce while he’s working out? Now that’s some sex-xxxy bat/cat. I also think she wore those boots while they did it. I’ll always feel some type of way about Len Wein but we do a lot to him, as he was the first writer to give Batman and Catwoman a real relationship, and ultimately led to this little moment. I’m not an expert on the Golden Age but this may be the first time Batman declared his love for Catwoman. 

6. Injustice: Gods Among UsWhenever I talk about Catwoman in the Injustice comics the phrase “ride or die” always comes up. I’m pretty behind on Year 3 so if it’s going to break my heart like in the video game, DON’T TELL ME. Such a simple story: Catwoman breaks into a museum and for once it’s not to steal something. She wants to play! Despite that scowl that Batman adorns across all thirteen pages, you know he secretly likes the game. Tim Sale deserves two panels. 4. “Heart of Hush” Yes, I know Catwoman was almost fridged. What Laptop Should You Buy QuizI am well aware, but I’m willing to overlook it because we get this tender moment where Bruce (gasps) opens his heart to woman he loves and admits his love for her. Chocolate Lab Puppies For Sale In Long IslandDo you have any idea how long I waited for that moment. Huf T Shirt Cheap

Probably the biggest moment in bat/cat history. It’s great not just because Catwoman finally gets to know Batman’s identity but because he tells her his identity because he trusts her and wants their relationship to work out. This led to the best decade for Batman and Catwoman ever, period. Wait is that Batman? Our Batman being vulnerable and talking about his feelings to the woman he loves? I’ve read this issue about a million times and I still can’t believe it’s real. The rest of volume three of Catwoman may have been a depressing series of endless tragedies, but this one issue made all of that worth it. 1. The Brave and the Bold #197This is, hands down, the greatest Batman and Catwoman story of all time. Batman was stuck at one point in his life, Catwoman wanted to start over and by letting their guards down and opening their hearts they found love and happiness with each other. In an age where Dan Didio won’t let the batfamily be happy and superheros aren’t allowed to get married, this is a story to cherish.

Personal note, I dropped twenty bones for this issue, which is the most expensive single issue comic I own and it was worth every penny. Batman vol 1 #1, by Bill Finger and Bob Kane Catwoman first appeared in the first issue of Batman’s solo title, as did some other guy called the Joker. She would then go on to appear in the second and third issues as well, something even the Joker didn’t do. Selina was intended to be an opposite number to Batman — Kane and Finger believed cats to be “the antithesis of bats” — as well as a foe who was more of a friendly rival who could add a spark of romance to Batman’s otherwise grim life. She was inspired by 1930s film star Jean Harlow, who had apparently made quite an impression on a young Bob Kane. This story is Catwoman’s first appearance, before she dons a costume (she first wears a mask — a terrifyingly realistic cat mask — in “The Batman vs the Catwoman”) and even before she is called Catwoman (that’s in her second appearance), but otherwise, many of her classic elements are there: a burglar and jewel thief who flirts with Batman (this story is the source of that well-known “Quiet or Papa spank!” panel)

, who may or may not have intentionally let her escape. Catwoman’s earliest escapades can be found collected in the Batman Chronicles series of paperbacks. Best of the rest: “The Joker Meets the Cat-Woman” (Batman vol 1 #2), “Fashions in Crime” (Batman vol 1 #47), “The Batman vs the Catwoman!” (Batman vol 1 #3), “Your Face Is Your Fortune!” (Batman vol 1 #15), “Claws of the Catwoman!” (Batman vol 1 #42) 1950s: “The Jungle Cat-Queen!” Detective Comics vol 1 #211, by Edmond Hamilton and Dick Sprang Catwoman would go on to be a popular recurring character throughout the ’40s and into the ’50s. Her character developed with the introduction of an origin story — she committed crimes due to a head injury she had sustained as a flight attendant — and her relationship with Batman caused her to reform for a time and actually help Batman fight crime. After a few years, she returns to crime, but then vanishes for years due to comics’ greatest threat: the Comics Code Authority, who had very strict ideas about how women should be portrayed and whether or not it was okay for the hero to flirtatiously let the villain go.

The selection here represents Catwoman’s last appearance of the Golden Age in 1954. This is a story of the classic jewel thief Catwoman, who with the help of some big cats under her command, traps Batman and Robin on a secluded island and strips them down to loin cloths. And then she would disappear for twelve years until… Best of the rest: “The Crimes of the Catwoman” (Detective Comics vol 1 #203), “The Secret Life of the Catwoman” (Batman vol 1 #62), “The King of the Cats” (Batman vol 1 #69), “Catwoman—Empress of the Underworld!” (Batman vol 1 #65), “The Sleeping Beauties of Gotham City” (Batman vol 1 #84) 1960s: “The Catwoman’s Black Magic!” Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71, by Leo Dorfman and Kurt Schaffenberger Most of what we consider the classic Batman rogues’ gallery disappears from the pages of the comics for the majority of the ’50s, largely due to the Comics Code. Batman would instead fight sci-fi monsters and generic gangsters for much of the decade.

But in 1964, editor Julie Schwartz would give the Batman line a kick in the pants with the so-called “New Look” era, which reintroduced many of the classic villains, just in time for them to make their TV debut in the 1966 Batman series. Catwoman, however, did not make her triumphant return in the pages of Batman despite her alluring portrayal by Julie Newmar on TV. Instead, she came back to comics in the pages of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, in a story in which she hypnotizes Lois into believing that she herself is Catwoman, and then turns Superman into a cat. Best of the rest: “Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman” (Batman vol 1 #197), “The Case of the Purr-loined Pearl” (Batman vol 1 #210) 1970s: “From Each Ending… DC Super Stars #17, by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton After being reintroduced to the pages of Batman in the late ’60s, Catwoman would make sporadic appearances, changing costumes with some regularity, but more often appearing in reprints of Golden Age stories than in new material.

The Golden Age version of Catwoman — who, in DC’s cosmology of the time, lived on Earth-2 — would feature in recurring stories through the ’70s and early ’80s about the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman that picked up with her reforming from a life of crime and saw her finally marrying Batman. This story recounts much of what happened after that. While this story is nominally the origin of the original Huntress (daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman), much of the focus is on Catwoman, who, years after having retired from both crime and crime-fighting, is blackmailed into donning her catsuit once again, with tragic results. Best of the rest: “Catwoman’s Circus Caper” (Batman vol 1 #256), “The Curious Case of the Catwoman’s Coincidences” (Batman vol 1 #266), “Fist of Flame” (Wonder Woman vol 1 #201-202) 1980s: “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne” The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #197, by Alan Brennert and Joe Staton In the mid-1980s, Catwoman, just like every other DC hero and villain, saw her whole continuity revised by the changes brought on by Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Catwoman, specifically, was no longer an amnesiac flight attendant but was now, thanks to Frank Miller‘s milestone work “Batman: Year One,” a professional dominatrix who became something of a Robin Hood of the Gotham slums, particularly to protect a young runaway in her protection named Holly, who had turned to prostitution. But despite the sweeping changes of “Year One,” the selection here is one last (literally) story of Earth-2 Catwoman, widely considered to be the best Catwoman story of all time. This tale recounts how Batman comes to fall in love with Selina after a dose of fear gas from the Scarecrow cuts him off from everyone he had previously considered an ally. Best of the rest: Catwoman: Her Sister’s Keeper #1-4, “The Last Laugh!” (Detective Comics vol 1 #569-570), “Shadow of the Cat!” (Batman vol 1 #323-324), “A Night on the Town” (Batman vol 1 #392), “Never Scratch a Cat” (Batman vol 1 #355), “Terror Train” (Batman vol 1 #345-346), “The Kill Kent Contract” (Superman Family #211), “Batman: Year One” (Batman #404-407)

Catwoman vol 1 #15-19, by Chuck Dixon and Jim Balent Over fifty years after her first appearance, Catwoman finally starred in her first solo ongoing series in 1993, by various writers including Jo Duffy, Chuck Dixon, and Devin Grayson, but primarily drawn by artist Jim Balent. Her ongoing series was full of action-packed international adventures and capers as Selina worked as a morally gray thief and sometimes bounty hunter and government agent. The selection here is full of action in the familiar Chuck Dixon style, and sees Selina forced to work as a spy after being kidnapped by a government organization who blackmails her into committing a seemingly possible robbery. Selina must use her wits to navigate the political intrigue and danger around her while also working to turn the tables on her captors. Best of the rest: “Catwoman Year One” (Catwoman vol 1 Annual #2), “Sisters in Arms” (Batman vol 1 #460-461), Catwoman: Defiant, “I’ll Take Manhattan” (Catwoman vol 1 #66-71), “Ace of Killers” (Hitman #15-20), “Larceny Loves Company” (Catwoman vol 1 28-30)

Catwoman vol 2 #12-19, by Ed Brubaker, Cameron Stewart, and Javier Pulido Catwoman was majorly revamped in the early 2000s following the end of her previous ongoing series and apparent death at the hands of Deathstroke the Terminator. The second volume of her ongoing saw her given a stylish new costumed designed by Darwyn Cooke and starring in noir-tinged adventures by writer Ed Brubaker. With protege Holly and private detective Slam Bradley as supporting characters, Selina appoints herself the protector of Gotham City’s East End while still carrying on as a cat burglar. “Relentless” is perhaps the height of this era of the book, in a tense story that sees Selina falling into the bad graces of Gotham’s underworld, as the Black Mask takes revenge on Catwoman’s Robin Hood-style activities against him by striking out at those closest to her, including her sister and Holly. Best of the rest: “Only Takes a Night” (Catwoman vol 2 #32), “Crooked Little Town” (Catwoman vol 2 #5-10), Catwoman: When in Rome #1-6, “Wild Ride” (Catwoman vol 2 #20-24), Selina’s Big Score, “The Dark End of the Street” (Detective Comics vol 1 #759-762, Catwoman vol 2 #1-4), “It’s Only a Movie” (Catwoman vol 2 #59-64), “The Bat and the Cat” (Batman Confidential #17-21)