Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper

{{DC Database:Storyline Template
 * Title                  = Her Sister's Keeper
 * Image                  = Catwoman Vol 1 1 Textless.jpg
 * OfficialName           = Her Sister's Keeper
 * Aliases                =


 * Universe               = New Earth
 * Locations              = Gotham City, East End


 * Heroes                 = Catwoman
 * Villains               = Stan the Pimp
 * Others                 = Batman, Holly Robinson, Magdalene Kyle, Ted Grant


 * Titles                 = Catwoman
 * Collected              = Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper
 * Creators               = Mindy Newell; J.J. Birch
 * First                  = Catwoman #1
 * Last                   = Catwoman #4


 * Quotation              =
 * Speaker                =
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 * HistoryText            = Her Sister's Keeper is a Catwoman storyline written by Mindy Newell with illustrations by J.J. Birch. It's published in the 1989 Catwoman mini-series, marking the first time Selina Kyle received her own title. This is Newell's second Catwoman story, following her arc The Tin Roof Club in Action Comics Weekly. The story is a companion piece to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, expanding on Kyle's actions during that story. This series is one of many Post-Crisis reboots, establishing Catwoman's origin story in the New Earth continuity following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Synopsis
In a Gotham City mission, a nun named Sister Magdalene takes in stray cats and prays for her sister. Selina Kyle is found beaten and dying in an alleyway by another nun. When she wakes up in the hospital, a cop named George Flannery encourages her to press charges against her pimp. She refuses, but he gives her a number where she might find help. Selina returns to her apartment and cats in the East End, where she's visited by her abusive pimp Stan. He tells her that he loves her, and makes her wear a catsuit for her next client, despite her protests. Selina calls the number Flannery gave her, which belongs to former boxing champion Ted Grant. Grant teaches her how to fight, and encourages her to cut her hair short. Selina meets Bruce Wayne for the first time while he's posing as a drifter to practice crime-fighting. Wayne gets into a fight with Stan over the child prostitute Holly Robinson, and Selina fights Wayne to protect Holly. The next day she asks Ted to teach her how to use a whip. Holly wakes her up to an explosion one night, as the violent SWAT officer Branden has cornered Batman. They go to see Batman in action, and Selina is inspired by his use of an animal costume. Ted becomes satisfied that she's learned to fight for herself. Selina puts on the catsuit Stan gave her, and prepares to take a stand against him.

Stan kicks a cat on the street, and Catwoman confronts him. She ties him up with her whip, scratches a huge scar into his face, and throws him into the trash. Sister Magdalene runs outside and sees Catwoman, who she believes to be her long-lost sister, but Catwoman runs away. Magdalene files a report, and talks to Flannery about Catwoman. She then begins asking everyone on the streets about Selina's whereabouts. Selina takes Holly and leaves Stan, then spends money on a real Catwoman costume. Selina confronts Maggie as Catwoman, and Maggie tells her that their father died two months ago. Maggie insists that Selina can't keep running away like their mom did, but Selina does anyway. Selina begins living alone with Holly, stealing jewels as Catwoman to pay their expenses. Maggie disappears, and Flannery interviews Selina about it. Selina goes to Jefferson Skeevers for information, and learns that Stan has kidnapped Maggie.

Catwoman hunts down Stan's whereabouts, and Batman also starts investigating Maggie's disappearance. Flannery brings Selina in to interrogate her, believing that she's Catwoman, but Selina is totally uncooperative. When she leaves the station, she avoids the cops sent to tail her, and escapes into the rooftops. Catwoman tracks Stan to an abandoned theater, where he's about to push Maggie off the catwalk. Stan throws her off and Maggie clings for her life, as Catwoman tries to murder Stan. In the struggle, Maggie and Stan are both sent falling to their deaths. Batman arrives and saves Maggie, but Stan dies on impact. Catwoman runs away again.

Stan is taken out in a body bag. Holly arrives at the crime scene, and gets questioned by the police. One of the officers abuses her, a Captain named Edward Strunk. Batman talks to Magdalene about Catwoman, and how dangerous he believes her to be. Selina later visits Maggie in her convent, and talks about the costume. The sisters each accuse each other of wearing different uniforms to escape their problems. Maggie withdrew to become a nun, and Selina loses herself in the vicious Catwoman persona. Holly reveals she was abused, and Selina tries to tell Flannery about Strunk, but he won't listen. Catwoman goes to kill Strunk, and Batman barely stops her. They talk about their relationship as different sides of the same coin. Catwoman shares a kiss with Batman, but this seduction is a ruse, and she violently wounds him before escaping. In the aftermath, Catwoman leaves Holly in the convent, and Maggie knows she will never return.


 * Issues                 =
 * -- Metamorphosis
 * -- Downtown Babylon
 * -- Gothic Baptism
 * -- Consecration

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