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Holly Robinson is a friend and ally to Catwoman, who has also been the second Catwoman. Growing up on the streets of Gotham as a runaway, she turned to prostitution and met Selina Kyle. Kyle took care of Holly, eventually training her as a replacement.

Origins

Running away from an abusive home, Holly began living on the street as a prostitute at a young age. When she was 13, she met Selina Kyle, who was four years older at the time. Holly was getting sexually abused by a cop, and Selina punched him out to rescue her. Holly has said this was the first time someone showed her she could fight back. They escaped from the scene together, and Selina began taking care of Holly like a younger sister.[1]

Year One

 Main articles: Batman: Year One and Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper

Holly began working with Selina under an abusive pimp named Stan in the East End.[2] Her underage status got Stan into a fight with a drifter, who was actually Bruce Wayne in disguise.[3] Holly woke Selina up when Batman was fighting Branden, which inspired Selina to become Catwoman. Selina punched out Stan, and bought her own expensive costume.[4] They began living together, with Selina stealing valuables as Catwoman to pay for expenses.[5] Holly grew increasingly concerned for Selina, as she kept putting her life in danger.[6][7] When Stan died, Holly was questioned by the cops, and one of them abused her. Catwoman was determined to kill this man, but Batman stopped her. Catwoman realized she was a danger to Holly, and left her at a convent with her sister Magdalene Kyle.[8]

The Tin Roof Club

 Main article: Catwoman: The Tin Roof Club

In one version of history, Holly grows up to marry a wealthy businessman in New Jersey. Selina keeps in touch, and they have regular meetings at the Tin Roof Club.[9] Selina hides an expensive brooch stolen from a museum with Holly. When she comes to collect it, Holly reveals that she gave it to her husband for safe-keeping.[10] The house explodes, and Holly dies in the explosion. Selina pursues Holly's husband Arthur, who admits to killing Holly so he could keep the brooch.[11] Catwoman frames him for her own murders, and it's implied that he'll be killed by Holly's friends in prison.[12] This story and Holly's death were erased during Zero Hour.[1] Selina was changed to have never been a prostitute, which alters the details of the time they spent together.[13]

Back on the Streets

Some time after Selina became Catwoman, Holly attempted to clean up her act by staying in a convent where Selina's sister Maggie was a nun. However, Holly never felt entirely a part of that world, and a few years later she and Maggie left the convent and parted ways. Holly returned to the streets, became addicted to drugs, and went back to prostitution.[14]

Anodyne

 Main article: Catwoman: Anodyne

After a series of brutal murders of working girls, Holly returned to the apartment that she and Selina had shared years earlier. She found that Selina had also returned, and was happily reunited with her friend.[15]

Holly began working for Catwoman as a spy of sorts. She pretended to be a part of the street life when in actuality, she was gathering information about what was happening on the streets of the East End. While the job gave Holly a new sense of purpose, she was troubled by the fact that she still viewed the world from the mindset of a junkie, even though she had managed to quit drugs several months before reuniting with Selina.[16]

When Catwoman interfered with his plans, Black Mask attempted to destroy her life with help from Sylvia Sinclair, a childhood friend of Selina's who had a grudge against her. Holly's friend Maggie Kyle was kidnapped by Black Mask, who tormented Maggie until she suffered a mental breakdown. Holly was also kidnapped and beaten, and eventually Holly killed Sylvia to save Selina's life.[17] These events left Holly severely traumatized, and she isolated herself for a time. She stole some of Maggie's painkillers, tempted to fall back into old coping methods. However, she didn't take any of the drugs, and healed to some degree when she reconnected with Selina.[18]

Selina decided that Holly needed time away from Gotham City to heal from the ordeal with Black Mask. She also felt that Holly needed training if she was to be involved in Catwoman's crime-fighting. She took Holly to a rural safehouse, where she had arranged for Holly to be trained in hand-to-hand combat by Ted Grant.[19] They then embarked on a road trip across the country, traveling through several cities before ending up in St. Roch, where Selina and Slam Bradley had located Holly's brother Davey. Holly was overjoyed to be reunited with her brother, who had also run away from home and had traveled around the world.[20]

Holly later became the supervisor of a group of street kids known as the Alleytown Gang, training them to act as a network of spies and informants for Catwoman.[21] At one point, Selina disappeared for a period of time and Holly took to wearing the Catwoman costume to intimidate criminals.[22]

Around this time, Holly established a relation with Karon. Together, they lived on a safe apartment on the East End and after Selina's return, they would use the place as a safe point. When the gang war broke out in Gotham, Selina took Spoiler to their apartment and left her under Holly's care.[23] However, Spoiler escaped the place, much to Holly's concern.[24]

Catwoman Vol 3 60

New Catwoman

When Selina Kyle discovered that she was pregnant, she decided to retire as Catwoman and turn her attention to caring for her daughter. At Selina's request, Holly Robinson took her place as the new Catwoman.[25]

On one of her early outings as Catwoman, Holly was ambushed by Angle Man and was caught on film administering a brutal beating to the villain.[26] Reluctant to ask Selina for help, Holly turned instead to Ted Grant for guidance. Wildcat continued to offer advice and training to Holly, and the two occasionally patrolled Gotham together.

Holly was later arrested for the murder of Black Mask (Selina had actually committed the crime). She was rescued from jail by Selina and took a short break from being Catwoman. While Selina was getting Holly's name erased from the police database, Holly again suited up as Catwoman to rescue a kidnapped girl from being executed by a new villain named Blitzkrieg. She saved the girl, but not before being unmasked on a live video feed to the internet.

After the girl's rescue, Holly was confronted by Jim Lenahan, a Gotham detective who had become obsessed with capturing Catwoman. They were interrupted by Hammer and Sickle, who wanted Selina dead, and were perfectly willing to dispose of Holly in the meantime. Lenahan was killed by the Russian supervillains, but Selina arrived in time to help Holly. The two Catwomen managed to escape from the GCPD and defeat Hammer and Sickle. However, the police believed that Holly was responsible for Lenahan's death. Holly's identity as Catwoman was now public knowledge, and she was wanted for murder. She left Gotham City to begin a new life as a fugitive.[27]

Countdown

Holly arrived in Metropolis, where she rescued an elderly homeless man from being crushed by falling debris.[28]Homeless herself, she was offered a place to stay by a mysterious woman who called herself Athena. Holly accepted the offer to stay at an Athenian Women's Shelter for battered and abused women.[28] One of the shelter's residents was Harley Quinn, who was attempting to reform. Holly and Harley became friends, even though Holly was often exasperated by Harley's antics. After some time at the shelter, Holly concluded that something suspicious was going on, and decided to investigate further.[29]

Holly and Harley were brought to Themyscira, home of the Amazons, for combat training.[30]They later encountered Hippolyta, who informed them that Athena and her Amazons were imposters. It soon became apparent that Athena was actually the nefarious Granny Goodness, who intended to train these fake Amazons - Holly and Harley among them - to be her new Female Furies.[31]

After Hippolyta revealed Granny's deception, Holly, Harley and Mary Marvel followed Granny as she retreated to Apokolips.[32] With Mary's powers, the group managed to free the Greek gods, and Holly was granted the powers of Diana (Goddess of the Hunt) as a reward, displaying both archery skills and feral, cat-like physical enhancements.[33] Upon returning to Earth, Holly lost these powers. After witnessing the "Great Disaster" on Earth-51, she returned to Gotham City alongside Jason Todd and Harley Quinn.[34]

Holly and Harley lived together for some time until Holly moved away.[35] Before moving however, Selina asked Holly to forge some documents and present them to the authorities in order to siphon away Thomas Elliot's fortune, as part of Selina's vengeance against Hush.[36]

Holly was one of the millions who fell under the influence of the Anti-Life Equation, and became a member of the Female Furies, fighting to defend Darkseid's reign over Earth.[37] However, she was saved by Superman and the other heroes after they defeated Darkseid.

Holly decided to begin a new life elsewhere with money she received after helping Selina steal Tommy Elliot's fortune.[38]


Abilities


  • Holly Robinson actually died in The Tin Roof Club.[11] Ed Brubaker brought her back over ten years later for his Catwoman series in Anodyne.[15] In an interview, he admitted that he simply did not realize she died.[39] This is addressed in a story titled "Why Holly Isn't Dead" where Holly complains to Selina about death in comics. The story implies that her resurrection was due to Zero Hour, or whatever.[1]
  • Following her death, Holly was briefly replaced with a girl named Arizona who reminded Selina of her.[40]
  • Holly Robinson is also known as Holly Go-Nightly.

Related

Footnotes


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