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Catwoman Reading Order

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Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Catwoman is the name used by notorious Gotham City’s burglar Selina Kyle who’s known for loving cats and for using a bullwhip as a weapon. Originally, she was an adversary of Batman, but became some kind of antiheroine, and even an ally of the Dark Knight—and more on the romantic side.

Even if Catwoman made her first appearance in Batman #1 (1940) under the name “The Cat,” she had to go away for a time between September 1954 to November 1966 after losing the battle against the Comics Code Authority. She came back to commit more crimes in the pages of the DC Comics titles. But those stories are not part of the current continuity, so we will focus on what is called the “Modern Era” of DC Comics.

Like others like her, her origins are not clear, multiple authors revised them, but it is firmly established that Selina Kyle grew up on the streets of Gotham, and spent some time in an orphanage and a juvenile detention center. She was working as a dominatrix at some point (in Batman: Year One) before becoming a successful thief who likes to rob the rich and powerful men of Gotham.

Catwoman had her first solo ongoing series in 1993 and took part in the major events of that era. At one point, she fought with the Justice League and later completely reformed, but it was more complicated than a crisis of conscience. Talking about a Crisis, after Infinite Crisis (see reading order), Selina is no longer Catwoman. Holly Robinson took over for a short period of time. Later, Catwoman formed the Gotham City Sirens with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. At one point during the New 52 era, Eiko Hasigawa became Catwoman (and Selina was one of the Gotham City crime bosses). With Rebirth, Catwoman occupied a prominent role in the third volume of Batman, her relationship with Batman played a major role in the story.

Catwoman Comics Reading Order

First, if you want to read some classic Catwoman tales, pre-Crisis, and a little more, take a look at the 75 Years celebration book:

  • Catwoman: A Celebration of 75 Years
    Collects Batman (1940) #1, 3, 65, 69, 323-324, Batman ’66 #15, Batman: Gotham Adventures #4, The Brave and the Bold #197, Catwoman (vol. 1) #1, Catwoman (vol. 2) #28, Catwoman (vol.3) #20 & 52, Catwoman (vol. 4) #35, DC Super Stars #17, Gotham City Sirens #1, Solo #1, Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71, and Wonder Woman (1942) #201-202.

 

Or the more recent Batman Arkham: Catwoman trade that also contains Catwoman’s origins and a few other stories:

  • Batman Arkham: Catwoman
    Collects Batman (1940-) #1, #3, #266, #332, #355, Batman (1968-) #210, Catwoman (1993-) #57, Catwoman (2001-2010) #10, Catwoman (1988-) #2, Catwoman (2018-) #1, Catwoman: When in Rome (2004-2005) #4, Detective Comics (1937-) #122, Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985-) #4

The Modern Age Catwoman

The Modern Age era started after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The DC Universe was relaunched and Catwoman found a growing place in Batman’s world. Chronologically, Selina Kyle first reappeared during the first year of Batman’s adventures, quickly getting her own miniseries.

DC is launching a new collection, DC Finest, a new line of affordable, large paperbacks focused on characters and stories rather than creators in which the first Catwoman stories are being collected. If more volumes quickly come, part of the following Reading Order will be rebuilt around them. But for now, in order to keep everything comprehensible, what’s in the DC Finest volume is only indicated next to the previously published books.

 

In 1993, Catwoman got her first ongoing series drawn by artist Jim Balent and written at first by Jo Duffy and later by Chuck Dixon and others. It counts 94 issues, plus annuals and other special ones-shots, but it has not been fully collected for now, by far. However, the full series is available in Digital format.

Catwoman also took part in the Batman Legacy storyline, but the collected editions overlapped with Contagion.

  • Birds of Prey: Manhunt
    Collects Birds of Prey: Manhunt #1-4.
  • Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale
    Collects Batman: Gotham Adventures #4; Detective Comics #203; Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70–71, Catwoman (vol. 2) #54; Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1; Batman #1, 197, 210, 392;
  • Batman: Cataclysm
    Collects Batman #553-554, Detective Comics #719-721, Batman Shadow Of The Bat #73-74, Nightwing #19-20, Catwoman #56-57, Robin #52-53, Azrael #40, Batman Chronicles #12, Batman Blackgate #1, Batman: Huntress/Spoiler #1, And Batman Arkham Asylum Tales Of Madness #1.
  • Batman/Wildcat
    Collects Batman/Wildcat #1-3, The Brave and the Bold (1955) #88, 97, 110, 118, & 127, and Catwoman/Wildcat #1-4. (Set after Catwoman vol. 2 #60)
  • Batman: No Man’s Land
    Catwoman played her part in the crossover event, go here for the full reading order.
  • Birds of Prey Vol. 3
    Collects Birds of Prey (1999-2009 1st Series) #12-21 and Nightwing (1996-2009) #45-46.
  • Batman: Officer Down
    Collects Batman #587, Batman: Gotham Knights #13, Birds of Prey #27, Catwoman #90, Detective Comics #754, Nightwing #53, Robin #86

This volume concluded in July 2001 with Catwoman (vol. 2) #94. But Selina Kyle came back during the following autumn.

Catwoman of East End

In 2002, Catwoman is back with her new solo series, first from Darwyn Cooke, then Ed Brubaker. They wrote some of the best Selina Kyle stories, and everything is now collected in one big book.

  • Catwoman of East End Omnibus
    Collects Detective Comics #759-762; Catwoman #1-37; Catwoman Secret Files #1; Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score #1.

But if you want the paperback editions, here is the listing of the previously published books:

At that point, Ed Brubaker left the title. Will Pfeifer wrote the second half of the series. It also is a good time to read Hush, a story taking place during that time.

Gotham City Sirens

Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn are trying to fly on the straight and narrow. Tired of playing by other people’s rules, regardless of which side of the law they’re on, these tough ladies have a new agenda that’s all their own, and they’ll use any means necessary to pursue it.

Catwoman New 52

After the famous Flashpoint crossover event, DC Comics relaunched 52 series, one of them was Catwoman written first by Judd Winick, then by Ann Nocenti.

Justice League - Catwoman Reading OrderTrinity War & Forever Evil. Catwoman joined the Justice League of America in the book Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous, then got involved in the Trinity War/Forever Evil events. You can find the reading order for those two crossover events here.

Catwoman Rebirth

Unlike with New 52, Catwoman didn’t get her own title at the beginning of the Rebirth era. But she ended up playing a bit part in Batman by Tom King with the famous wedding and more.

Following her near-miss wedding with Batman, Catwoman hits the streets to expose a copycat who’s pulling heists around Gotham City. It’s a new run coming from artist and writer Joelle Jones.

It’s the end of Joelle Jones’ run on Catwoman, Ram V took over the writing duty on the series after that (multiple artists worked on the book alternatively).

Batman/Catwoman by Tom King starts here, but it’s Black Label, not regular DC. BTW, the excellent Black Label miniseries Catwoman: Lonely City can be read whenever you want.

Following Dark Nights: Death Metal (optional for Catwoman), the DC Universe went to the future with Future State. It’s a possible future, but nothing is set in stone, you can skip it if you want to.

  • Future State: Dark Detective
    Collects Future State: Dark Detective #1-4 (main story), Future State: Catwoman #1-2, Future State: Harley Quinn #1-2, Future State: Robin Eternal #1-2, Future State: Batman/Superman #1-2.

Catwoman Infinite Frontier

A new era started for the DC Universe, but the Catwoman series continued, still written by Ram V.

After Ram V left the title, Tini Howard became the new writer of the Catwoman series.

Catwoman Dawn of DC

The Dawn of DC era is not a relaunch of any sort, more of a global editorial initiative. Things didn’t change for Catwoman.

The Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War event is taking place right after the Nightmares of Knight Terrors. It’s a Gotham event that uses the different members of the Bat-Family, check out our dedicated article to know what to read to be up-to-date.

  • Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War
    Collects Batman (2016) #137-138, Catwoman (2018) #57-58, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines #1, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Scorched Earth #1, And Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #1-2.
  • Catwoman Vol. 4: Nine Lives
    Collects Catwoman #59-68.

More to come!

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