The Early Romance of the Bat and the Cat!

But wait, wasn't Bruce Wayne engaged?

In one of several stories in Batman #1 (1940), we meet The Cat, a mysterious female con artist who dons disguises to gain access to jewels, and who flirts with Batman to escape once caught (there’s even a joke where Dick accuses Bruce of letting her get away, which it’s heavily implied he did). It’s a dynamite debut, solidifying a character who was clearly poised for greatness, already sharing chemistry with the title character from the first moment her real face was shown. 

Then, later that year (#1 was published in April, #3 in October) The Cat returns, continuing the trend of utilizing disguises for her crimes above all else, and a focus and yearning for jewels. However, this issue, things in their relationship develop even further, with The Cat planting a kiss on Batman’s lips! 

This dynamic, of course, thrilled fans. In the 1940s, a lot of the expectations of a relationship involved doing things “right”. Finding a girl, brief romance, proposing, getting married and slotting yourself the whole way into the exact societal dynamics of a man and his fiancée or wife. Batman and Catwoman’s dangerous, contentious and heated dynamic bucked that trend, a fairly risky move for a medium that was then largely aimed at kids and teens! 

However, there was one major wrinkle. Bruce Wayne was engaged! Julie Madison, Bruce’s then-fiancée, debuted even before Robin! Making her first appearance in the story of the Mad Monk, she was by that point a major aspect of the social dynamics of the story. This was compounded by the fact that it was rare for any of Bruce’s friends as a socialite to appear in more than a single issue by then, and Commissioner Gordon wasn’t around for a while. So aside from Bruce, Dick, and recurring villains like Joker, Julie was the most relevant recurring character in the story. 

She wouldn’t last much longer, though, in the face of Cat’s initial popularity. Julie’s final regular appearance was in the spring of 1941, in Detective Comics #49, when she changed her name to Portia Storme and moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career (this also served as the debut of the initial Clayface, a washed-up actor named Basil Karlo with a mad-on for young stars). The couple parted on good terms, but officially ended their engagement. Ironically, she even cited the reason behind it as the alleged lazy attitude of Bruce’s socialite persona (the one he put on in his civilian identity)! 

As time went on, and The Cat’s appearances stayed fairly sporadic (many other villains recurred, and one-off gangsters filled up many other story slots), another love interest took the “main” slot in Bruce’s life, a nurse and ex-socialite named Linda Page who called him out on his perceived laziness but gave him the time of day anyway, and was fascinated by Batman. Linda lasted longer, and even got the honor of being the first love interest of Bruce’s to be portrayed in live action (in the 1943 Batman serial).

However, The Cat continued appearing, and continued using disguises, and Bruce and The Cat even became engaged briefly, due to Bruce Wayne proposing to her while she was in disguise as Linda! This wouldn’t be the last time a Bruce Wayne proposed to a Selina Kyle, but for now, it was not and could not be real. 

One thing you’ll notice about this discussion of The Cat, is that we simply do not use her real name. This is on purpose, as for many many years, The Cat is not given a real name, and this continues into her time as Catwoman! The name Selina Kyle, first unveiled in Batman #62 (all the way in December of 1950), came well after Catwoman traded her giant grey cat-helmet for a slinky purple dress and mask with a green cape. 

Selina Kyle, revealed to be an amnesiac plane-crash survivor who reforms as soon as she regains her memories, remains tied to Batman and Robin throughout her time reforming, through first a cat-themed villain brother, then her old gang, and who knows what else? The Bat can’t seem to get enough of the Cat…

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