Catwoman is awesome. She is just enough of a hero to have morals, yet at the same time, she does what needs to be done. Well that is how she is in her current life. Back in the gold and silver ages, Catwoman was all villainess. But those stories were years old and with the 1990’s coming up, writers wanted to take the Batman universe (among others) in a whole new direction. So we get the Year One stories. It is in this story that we get introduced to Catwoman’s “Robin”. It is in Batman: Year One that we get introduced to Holly Robinson.
Holly is the child of the love him or hate him comic man himself, Frank Miller. Her first time in comics was in Batman #404, again this was during the Batman: Year One arc. In this story arc, Holly was a 13 year old run-away who became a prostitute. Frank Miller writing a female who has to objectify herself? I’ll bet that is the last time that happens. As it happens, Holly was soon harassed by a corrupt cop in Gotham (shocker) and had to be saved by Selina Kyle. Since the Year One stories where retellings of character origins, Selina was not yet Catwoman when she rescued Holly. It was not long after that Selina took up the costume of Catwoman. Holly, who was Selina’s best friend, was quick to figure out who Catwoman was. Being around Catwoman was a good thing for Holly though, since she tried to clean up her act. Holly even joined a convent, the same one where Selina’s sister Maggie was in. This was short lived however as Holly felt like she did not belong. Holly left and was soon back on the streets, doing the same things she did when she was 13.
A year after Holly’s creation, there was a fun little story called “The Tin Roof Club”. It was a 4-part Catwoman story that had a good bit of Holly in it. In this story, Holly had married a mobster and then died by her husband’s hands. Well, her husband’s explosion at least. This was the end of Holly Robinson.
That is until 2002 when the new Catwoman book launched and Holly was retcon’ed back. Ed Brubaker, the man who wrote the Catwoman book, simply said that he was unaware that Holly had died. While that might be the case, I do have to say that you need to do better research. Ret cons, to me, are not something to do at the drop of a hat. In a later story called “Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins”, it was written that the events of “The Tin Roof Club” never happened. That is kind of a weak way out of issues with characters if you ask me. Anyway, Holly was back.
This girl, Karon, was not as big a character. I really don’t know that much about her. What I do know is that in 2004, Karon and Holly’s relationship in comics won it a GLAAD award. If you don’t know what that is, here is a link.
So time passes and Maggie, Selina’s sister, comes back to the comics. Maggie is tortured by Black Mask, her husband killed as well. Holly was captured as well and was beaten by a woman named Sylvia Sinclair. Holly had to kill Sinclair to save Selina, but the weight of it all had taken its toll on Holly. Over time, and a road trip which had many good events for Holly, one in which she meets her lost brother again, Holly did get better. For a short time, Selina was missing and Holly donned the Catwoman costume to help convince people that Catwoman is still around.
When Selina did come back, she was pregnant. To be able to raise her child in a safer world, Selina decided to pass her mantle of Catwoman over to, whom else, Holly Robinson. With this, Holly officially became Catwoman II. Holly, as Catwoman, was alright. She was a good character but at the same time, she was not Selina at all. It was like when Barbara gave the Batgirl name to Cassandra Cain. While both good, the second is never the first.
Holly’s life as Catwoman, however, was not that great. Selina killed Black Mask before she gave her mask to Holly, but it is now Holly who was to pay the price. Selina saved Holly from this. But soon after, a villain named Blitzkrieg was able to get Holly to unmask for a live internet feed. With her ID now public, villain’s Hammer and Sickle killed a cop who was obsessed with capturing Catwoman. Of course, his death was blamed on Holly. It was after this that Holly dropped the mask and fled.
And now we get to Countdown. I really don’t want to talk about it, so here is the link to Linkara’s review.
In Countdown, Holly joined with the Amazon Furies that was founded by Granny Athena, became best friends with Harley Quinn, saved the Greek Gods from Apokolips, gained super powers, and then lost those same powers the second she returned to earth. Yeah, the story was a mess. After Countdown, Holly and Harley moved in together. But that did not last. Soon, Catwoman asked for help in stealing the fortune of Thomas Elliot, also known as the villain Hush. Holly, who helped, got a chunk of his money and used it to begin a new life.
And that’s it. After that, Holly just fell off the face of DCU. There was very little talk about her and no one even knows where she is. With the relaunch that happened half a year ago (yeah, time flies) there is currently no talk of her again. But I remember her, and now I hope you know a bit more about her as well.
All images (c) DC
All images (c) DC
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