From: akhale@pollux.usc.edu (Abhijit Khale)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Catwoman: feminist or femme fatale?
Date: 19 Nov 1992 23:28:45 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: pollux.usc.edu

In article <faber.722192982@cs.wisc.edu> faber@loon.cs.wisc.edu (Ted) writes:
>tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Lady Johanna Constantine) writes:
>
>>maguire@zappa.jpl.nasa.gov (Kevin Maguire) akhale@pollux.usc.edu 
>>(Abhijit Khale) and tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Lady Johanna Constantine) 
>>collecting Bat-women deleted - the list includes:
>>Selina Kyle, Vicki Vale, Talia, Julie Madison, Linda Page, Kathy Kane,
>>Silver St. Cloud, and Nocturna.
>

>	I see no reason that the Julie and Silver relationships don't exist
>	post-Crisis, since those romances ended painfully, and never showed
>	signs of reappearing.  In fact if Silver is ruled
>	out-of-continuity, I may scream.  Kathy Kane is problematical 
>	(I went to high school with a Kathy Kane, if anyone cares) because 
>	of the whole BatWoman thing.  Nocturna's history changed with Jason's
>	so I doubt she's on the list anymore, and frankly I'm drawing a blank
>	on Linda.

I wouldn't really characterize Nocturna as a major batlady, since she only
appeared in a few stories, and was primarily a Moench/Conway creation, rarely
used by anyone else, and I dont think she was ever that sympatico with Bruce.
(less than say Poison Ivy).  Although I first mentioned Linda, I would prob-
ably take her off that list as well, since she's golden age and quite obscure.
All the others have had fairly important roles in the life of the Batman
and belong in any collection of bat-ladys.

Kathy Kane actually had a lot of adventures with Batman, but these happen to
be some of the worst Batman stories ever written, complete with dinosaurs
and aliens. Since the post-Crisis Batman never had such a phase, kathy's
existence becomes doubtful. Also, Bette Kane (flamebird)'s who's who entry
explicitly says she has no known relatives (she was Kathy's niece pre-Crisis).
Also, some of the spotlights on the Bronze Tiger in Suicide Squad mention
his fights with Batman when he was a member of the league of assasins, but do
not mention that he was part of the team which killed kathy kane. All of which
indicates that kathy never existed post-Crisis.

I doubt very much that Julie existed post-Crisis. As far as I know, Julie
hasn't turned up at all post-Crisis (she wasnt there in Year one or two, 
or in any of the early LOTDK stories I've read, which would be the  logical
time for her to turn up). 

As for Silver, the only hint that any of those great Engelhart stories ever 
happened is a few throwaway lines Engelhart mentions in (gak) Millenium.

Post-Crisis, I think only Selina, Vicki and Talia are definites. 

>>Selina is the most important.  Just a preferrence on my part.  Vicki is
>>downright annoying, Lois Lane complex and all, and Talia always reminds me
>>of a bad B-movie.  Sorry Denny. 

Yeah, I dislike the Vicki Vale character : the poor persons Lois Lane.

Selina has had lots of different characterizations. I liked her early 80s
version, where she went straight. The current character leaves me rather cold.
In particular, the old Selina Kyle never used to kill, while the current one
has no such scruples. I suppose in the new DC universe were heroes go around
killing, its too much to expect villains to refrain from doing so, but I 
think the character has lost something with that. 

Talia is an interesting character, and so is her daddy Ra's, but my personal
favorite bat lady is Silver St. Cloud. The panel and story in which bruce
and Silver bid each other goodbye has to be one of the most touching batman
stories ever. 

Abhijit
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc