Catwoman 80th Anniversary Special #1: 'Helena' Is Not The Love Letter To Helena Wayne Tom King Thinks It Is

Catwoman 80th Anniversary Special #1 dropped this week, and well...I found it a bit underwhelming compared to the other anniversary comics that came out this year. Namely, the #750 anniversary issues for Wonder Woman and The Flash that were genuinely great, and Robin 80th Anniversary Special #1, which was also a favourite. For the 80-year-old feline fatale, however...I lamentably only liked four stories out of the ten that were featured: 'Skin the Cat', 'The Catwoman of Earth', 'Addicted to Trouble', and 'The Art of Picking a Lock.' Out of the four, 'The Catwoman of Earth' was the closest I got to getting a pre-Crisis Catwoman story.

 

As much as I would love to talk about the four stories I did enjoy from the Catwoman anniversary special (and I'll probably do it as a Patreon exclusive), I'll instead be focusing this post on the Tom King and Mikel Janín 'Helena' story. I will not be reviewing the story itself since my thoughts on Tom King's take on Batman and Catwoman is already pretty well known. But I will focus on King's interpretation of Helena Wayne's origin.

Parallel Realities? Missing Memories? All of the Above? Batman #44 Drops Some Clues

Tom King's Batman has been something of a wild ride in that its been looking to recover past history while at the same time telling new stories since the start of Rebirth in 2016. Though King has been doing his part to follow the standards set by DC president and CCO Geoff Johns for the Rebirth project, very little has been coming together in terms of continuity and (specifically) how the past and its various reboots fit into the current one.

Supposedly, Johns' own series, Doomsday Clock, is set to provide all the answers for all the various changes DC has undergone since its inception in 1938, right through Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flashpoint. However, given that the series is being released on a bimonthly schedule, it'll be a while before we see how any of these pieces will come together. We may, however, have gotten a hint in this week's Batman #44. Spoilers ahead!