The Complete Definitive Origin of Catwoman

I have a slightly-more-than-passing interest in comics, which is to say that I find them interesting and have a couple of favorite artists, but remain unfamiliar with most of the esoteric details that actual fans are aware of. That said, I've always thought Catwoman was one of those lesser Batman foes, without any kind of historical intrigue. Today, Dr. Von Fangirl proved me wrong. Sorry, Catwoman.

The history compiled in Dr. Von Fangirl's post goes beyond common knowledge and delves deep into out-of-print minutiae regarding Selina Kyle's turn to our favorite pleather-wearing bad girl.
If you were to wander into a comic shop and ask the clerk behind the counter why Selina became Catwoman, chances are they wouldn't be able to tell you in great detail. Not because she doesn't have a detailed history, but because most of the comics that touch on her origin stories are out of print--and have been for a long, long time. In fact, this problem isn't limited to just the clerk in the comic shop; so little information is available online regarding Selina's origins that there is no way to get a complete picture of who she is from any source.

About eighty percent of Catwoman’s post-crisis comics appearances remain uncollected, including all of her 90‘s solo-series (except four issues in ‘The Cat File‘--which is out of print). This means the only way you’ll find them is by scouring back issue bins--and even then, you might not know what to look for. If you ever want to read Selina’s complete origin story, it’d take forever to track everything down and piece it together.

Thus, after nearly nine months of preparation, searching, research and hard work, I have compiled the most complete post-crisis Catwoman origin in history. Since I own about four hundred of Selina’s four hundred-sixty comics appearances published since the crisis--indeed, I own EVERY appearance from 1986 to 1999 as well as her 1989, 1993 and 2002 series and am slowly filling in what few gaps are left--I was able to comb through every appearance, looking for mentions of her origin so that nothing would be left out.

It's a long post, but worth it if you like knowing things other people don't--it's full of those. Read more at Well, What's the Matter? Link

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