Catwoman
Cover ofCatwoman #1 Art by Joe Brozowski andMichael Bair
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Format	List (vol. 1) Limited series (vol. 2-5) Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	List (vol. 1) February – May 1989 (vol. 2) August 1993 – July 2001 (vol. 3) January 2002 – March 2010 (vol. 4) November 2011 – July 2016 (vol 5) September 2018 – present
No. of issues	List (vol. 1): 4 (vol. 2): 94 (vol. 3): 83 (vol. 4): 52 (plus oneSpecial and twoAnnuals) (vol. 5): 67 as of September 2024 (plus fourSpecial and twoAnnuals)
Main character(s)	Catwoman Batman
Creative team
Written by	List (vol. 1): Mindy Newell (vol. 2): Jo Duffy Doug Moench Deborah Pomerantz Chuck Dixon Devin Grayson John Ostrander Bronwyn Carlton John Francis Moore (vol. 3): Ed Brubaker Will Pfieffer (vol. 4): Judd Winick Ann Nocenti Genevieve Valentine Frank Tieri (vol. 5): Joëlle Jones Ram V Tini Howard Torunn Grønbekk
Artist	List (vol. 1): Joe Brozowski (vol. 2): Jim Balent Staz Johnson (vol. 3): Darwyn Cooke Brad Rader Cameron Stewart Javier Pulido (vol. 4): Guillem March Adriana Melo Rafa Sandoval Patrick Zircher Mirko Colak Tano Alquiza Aaron Lopresti (vol. 5): Joëlle Jones Fernando Blanco David Gianfelice Nina Vakueva Emanuela Lupacchino Cian Tormey Laura Braga Liam Sharp Caspar Wijngaard Nina Vakueva Nico Leon Fabiana Mascolo
Colorist	List (vol. 1): Adrienne Roy (vol. 2): Adrienne Roy Pamela Rambo Noelle Giddings Gloria Vasquez (vol. 3): Matt Hollingsworth Paul Mounts Lee Loughridge Jeromy Cox June Chung (vol. 4): Tomeu Morey Blond (Rob Schwager) Jérôme K. Moore Sonia Oback David McCaig Gabe Eltaeb (vol. 5): Laura Allred John Kalisz FCO Plascencia Jordie Bellaire Jeremiah Skipper David Baron Antonia Fabela

Catwoman is anAmerican comic book series featuring theDC Comics characterCatwoman as itsprotagonist. The title was first released in 1989 as alimited series written byMindy Newell, and was since published as anongoing series starting in 1993 with its second volume.

Because of satisfactory reception toMindy Newell's 1988Action Comics arc featuring Catwoman, "The Tin Roof Club", in February 1989, DC Comics released a four-issue Catwomanlimited series penned by Newell, with art by Joe Brozowski andMichael Bair.^[1][2] Aspin-off of Frank Miller'sBatman: Year One,^[3] the miniseries expanded onYear One's scenes through Catwoman's perspective and explored Catwoman's establishedorigin as well as her established past as aprostitute inYear One.^[3][1][2] The series also introduced Catwoman'snun sister, Magdalene.^[1] While the series' editor teased to a fan of Newell'sAction Comics arc the possibility of Newell writing aCatwoman 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]

DC launched Catwoman's firstongoing series in 1993, originally written byJo Duffy,pencilled byJim Balent, and inked byDick Giordano.^[4][5][6] Balent drew for the series for six years straight, withBob Smith providing most of the series's inks, until its 77th issue, after which they were replaced by pencillerStaz Johnson and inkerWayne Faucher.^[7][6] Other writers who took on the series includeDoug Moench, Deborah Pomerantz,Chuck Dixon,Devin Grayson,John Ostrander,Bronwyn Carlton, andJohn 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 previousbuzz cut and gray color palette established inYear One, and her stories consisted of action and extravagant heists in place of "grimrealism".^[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'sYear One origin was minimized, with her time as adominatrix only appearing on a short portion of a single page in the origin retellingCatwoman #0, and was altered in one of itsannuals, showing Catwoman's former prostitution as a way for her to deceive and rob clients, and integrating a subplot involvingmartial arts with Catwoman tangling with a group ofninjas.^[5] The series also told her tragic backstory, with Catwoman's parents having died when she was a child, with her mother dying bysuicide and her father fromalcohol poisoning; Carlton in the series's 81st issue added to it, depicting her mother as a dark-skinnedLatina, making Catwoman a half-Latina.^[8] In July 2001, the series ended in its 94th issue because the editorial team decided to cancel and relaunch the series for writerEd Brubaker and artistDarwyn Cooke's different take on the character.^[10][11]

Brubaker was offered to writeCatwoman 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 inBatman: Year One, and suggested to Idelson to take the character back to her "East End roots" while incorporating the "classiness of thehigh-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 onBatman: 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, initiallyCatwoman #95, impressed DC; DC decided to postpone its release for six months then relaunch it with Brubaker and Cooke'sCatwoman, 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 forDetective Comics that would lead into the relaunchedCatwoman comic.^[11][10] The backup centered onSlam Bradley, a private detective hired to investigate her death.^[11][10]

In writingCatwoman, Brubaker considered the character's background and motivations of having been an orphaned child "raised in the system in the worst conditions" and "ended up on the streets", and thought of her compassion for "other people like her", "people who the system doesn't care about, the cops don't care about and who, really, Batman doesn't care about", establishing it as the foundation for the character's stories.^[12] In the book's first issue, Catwoman, having seen the police's disregard for the series of murders of prostitutes, declares, "I will speak for them. Because no one else will."^[13]

Cooke's Catwoman redesign featured a black, practicalcatsuit with a cowl with tiny cat ears and goggles resembling the eyes of a cat. Cooke also gave her a short haircut.^[13]

Brubaker'sCatwoman debuted in January 2002.^[10] It differed from the previous series, being a "character-driven crimenoir comic"^[14] with interconnected story arcs, a permanent supporting cast, and a fixed setting,^[13] as well as Catwoman being anantihero,^[3] becoming the resident protector of the East End borough.^[13][15][16] Catwoman's supporting cast consisted ofHolly Robinson (Catwoman's teenage friend fromBatman: Year One^[11] that Brubaker reintroduced as Catwoman's street informant),^[13] Slam Bradley, andLeslie Thompkins (a volunteer doctor and ally of Batman who works in low-income neighborhoods), with Batman being a regular guest character.^[14] After Cooke, other artists pencilled the series such asBrad Rader,Cameron Stewart, andJavier Pulido.^[14]Matt Hollingsworth colored the series.^[14] In 2002, the series won its creators theGLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for its depiction of alesbian couple, Holly and her girlfriend, Karon.^[11] In 2003, Brubaker and Hollingsworth were nominated for theEisner Awards forBest Writer andBest Coloring, respectively, for their work on the series.^[17] Brubaker'sCatwoman ended in January 2005 on its 37th issue.^[13] Brubaker planned for Catwoman to die pregnant with a child whose father is unknown as a culmination of a storyline of her taking over the East End, with Holly taking over the Catwoman role; however, DC disapproved of Catwoman's pregnancy being with an unknown father, and with Brubaker having set up the storyline throughout the series and not wanting to "just go back to the drawing board", Brubaker decided to quit writing the series.^[11]

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