Comics Explained: Batwoman

Batwoman, a.k.a Kate Kane, is one of DC's biggest heroes at the moment headlining her own series for several years. Batwoman has been praised due to her being lesbian making her one of the most popular LGBTQ+ characters in the comic book industry at the moment. She is so popular that a Batwoman TV series is going to be made soon. Two people have held the mantle of Batwoman with two similar names - Kathy Kane and Kate Kane - thanks to DC's publication history which incidentally linked to LGBTQ+ issues. This current version of Batwoman is an integral part of the DC universe but before we look at her we have to look at her predecessor: Kathy Kane. 

Moral Panic and Batwoman

Batwoman's origin lies in a moral panic. During the early-1950s the US was obsessed with possible leftist subversion in what is known as the 'Red Scare'. This in turn fed into fears over morality where every bit of media ranging from plays to books were scrutinised. For example, movies were barred from allowing villains or morally grey people to win which is why a key plot point was changed in the adaptation of Rebecca. Psychologist Fredric Wertham was concerned about possible normalisation of sex and violence in comics and he published his research in 1954 in a book called Seduction of the Innocent. This book caused waves and the moral panic it generated led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority which rigidly delineated what could or could not be published in comics which was a small tragedy in of itself. The Authority killed off the Silver Age horror comics and set back LGBT representation in comics for a reason I'll get onto later. However, Wertham's approach was far from scientific. Stan Lee of Marvel described him saying that he 'said things that impressed the public, and it was like shouting fire in a theater, but there was little scientific validity to it. And yet because he had the name doctor people took what he said seriously, and it started a whole crusade against comics.' Wertham falsified some of his evidence like saying that a Captain Marvel comic featured a decapitation when it was clear in the comic that Captain Marvel had invisible ink spilt on  his head; had a very small, and cherry picked, sample size; exaggerated his results, like a comic book fan said that he 'sometimes' stole comics but Wertham wrote that he 'often' stole; and simply made ludicrous claims like Wonder Woman being strong meant that she was a lesbian. LGBTQ+ rights were appalling in 1950s America, and to an extent it still is, so homosexuality was seen as being depraved. In his book Wertham accused Batman and Robin of being gay. In 1956 Batwoman was introduced as Batman's love interest to dispel this accusation.

The First Batwoman

Batwoman's debut

During the moral panic Batwoman was introduced in 1956's Detective Comics #233 as a female love interest for Batman. Kathy Kane as Batwoman in that comic managed to beat some criminals before the arrival of the Dynamic Duo before teaming up and eventually discovering the secret identities of their counterparts. The comic proudly declared: 

There's only one Batman! That's been said many times and has always been true, for no other man has ever rivaled Batman as a champion of the law, nor matched his superb acrobatic skill, his scientific keenness, his mastery of disguise and detective skill! But now, in one suspenseful surprise after another, Batman finds he has a great rival in the mysterious and glamorous girl...The Batwoman!

The 1950s were very sexist, Second Wave feminism is often seen as starting in the 1960s, and Batwoman exemplified this. Instead of a utility belt she had a utility purse full of lipstick, hair nets, and makeup. When she was inducted into the Bat Family Batman even said to her 'Now look, Kathy - one crime-fighter in the family is enough! A wife's place is in the home.' Batwoman often tagged along with Batman and Robin during their fights with villains including Firefly and Lex Luthor becoming very popular with the fans. In Batman #139 she even got her own sidekick in the form of Bat-Girl. Kathy's niece came to visit and learnt of her aunt's identity, and then wanted to become a vigilante as well. Kathy agreed thinking that it would then put the girl off but she loved it and helped Batwoman fight a gang with Batman and Robin. She stayed around becoming the first Bat-Girl.

In the mid-1960s DC was rebooting its comics such as introducing the new Green Lantern and Flash. Batman-editor Julius Schwartz wanted to bring Batman back to his roots and thought the sillier aspects of the comic, including Ace the Bat-Hound and Bat-Mite, had to go. Despite their popularity Schwartz decided that Batwoman and Bat-Girl were too unrealistic to continue so scrapped them. When asked to bring in another female member of the Bat Family to entice a greater female audience towards the Batman TV series despite fan requests Schwartz opted to create a new character. In Detective Comics #359 Barbara Gordon was introduced as the new Batgirl. Unlike Kathy Barbara was a career person (reflecting how a new wave of feminism had shifted views since Kathy's debut) with a PH.d. and was in charge of Gotham Public Library. Batgirl quickly became far more popular than Batwoman would ever be. This would not be the end for Batwoman. Batman Family #10 saw Batgirl struggling against Cavalier and Killer Moth so Batwoman came out of retirement to help fight them. Her return only lasted two years. In 1979's Detective Comics #485 she would be killed on Ra's al Ghul's orders by a manipulated League of Assassins. 

Batgirl and Batwoman fighting together

Kathy would have some other appearances. When she was Batwoman there were a few issues of Batman where Alfred wrote 'what-if?' scenarios where she and Batman married, retired and their son became the new Robin after Robin became Batman. Grant Morrison in Batman Incorporated #4 reintroduced Kathy Kane. Morrison was very into bringing back aspects of Silver Age Batman but his writing was very hit and miss - it was Morrison where we got the lines 'Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman.' In this story we find out that Kathy Kane is Bruce's aunt via marriage who initially helps him fight crime, they briefly become loves (Morrison's run was bad at times) before dying which turns out to be false with her really being an assassin.

Kate Kane - Origins

52 #11, Batwoman's debut

Now we get to the current Batwoman - Kate Kane. Those new to DC will need to know about Crisis on Infinite Earths. This comic saw the destruction of every DC universe and a new one being created so Kathy Kane ceased to exist until Morrison brought her back. Kate debuted in 52 #7 as DC wanted to revitalise its female heroes in the Bat Family after seeing a drawing of Batgirl by Alex Ross. Originally Barbara Gordon was chosen but as she was paraplegic in her role as Oracle they decided to not go with her in order to have disabled representation. It was decided that Batwoman should be brought back and it was decided that she should be lesbian as by now the Comics Code Authority had largely been ignored for a longtime. Immediately the LGBTQ+ community, including the magazine Out, praised the decision. Kate Kane would debut in 52 #7 but it would take until 52 #11 for her to appear as Batwoman.

Kate Kane's origins have been shown through several comics including Detective Comics #858 and #859. Born into a Jewish and military family Kate and her twin sister Elizabeth were on the move a lot. While working with NATO and stationed in Brussels an Illuminati-esque group called the Religion of Crime kidnapped Kate, her sister, and mother as her father led the squad to rescue them. Unfortunately her mother and sister were executed traumatising the young Kate. To impress her father she entered the Marines but was dishonourably discharged when her relationship with another female Marine was outed. By that time Kate's father had married a wealthy heiress so Kate became a socialite like her pre-Crisis counterpart. She was pulled over one night by officer Renee Montoya and the two formed a relationship but Montoya split with her thanks to Kate just drifting through life. However, one night gave her reason. A mugger tried to attack her but she managed to defend herself just as Batman arrived. Impressed by her skills he commended her but advised her not to make a habit out of it. The thrill of defending herself and seeing Batman in person convinced her to become a vigilante. With her father's help and fortune she trained for three years before becoming a new crime fighter: the Batwoman.

Intergang and Religion of Crime

Batwoman soon became a crime fighter and encountered Renee again who had become the new Question after the death of the previous one. Together they were following a group called Intergang who was funnelling advanced weaponry into Gotham. At this time they also rekindled their relationship. During the investigation she found a sacred text to Intergang, called the Book of Crime, had a prophecy foretelling the brutal murder of 'the twice named daughter of Cain'. They would also be joined by Dick Grayson (Nightwing) who became infatuated with her, likely because of her similarity to Batgirl. Also, my favourite moment in the Intergang story is Renee spending Hanukkah with Kate. It was a cute little side moment showing their growing relationship.

Kate and Renee together on Hanukkah

Anyway Intergang believed that Kate was the prophecised 'daughter of Cain' whose death would leave Gotham in flames and sent assassins to kill her. They almost succeeded leaving Kate badly injured. Between Detective Comics #854 and 863 a new battle with Intergang and the Religion of Crime took place. The Religion had been revived under a woman named Alice who spoke in Alice in Wonderland quotes who used hallucinogenics to fight with. Alice used Kate's opposition to killing against her spitting a hallucinogenic covered razor blade at Kate's face when she was dangling her over the side of a building for information like Batman does in Batman Begins. Eventually Kate learns that Alice plans to destroy Gotham by spraying toxic gas over the city. She went to fight Alice and went to grab the woman who finally said something not originally written by Lewis Carroll 'You have our father's eyes'. Alice then stabbed Kate in the arm causing her to let go with the knowledge that she had just let her sister fall to her death.

Batwoman and Alice

Gotham after Batman

Batman would die in 2008's Final Crisis so Batwoman would be one of Gotham's heroes to fill in for him. She joined the Network which was a group of Gotham's heroes who agreed to protect Gotham together now that Batman had died. We see her in the miniseries Cry for Justice where it is implied that she has become Gotham's main protector and to show her importance she was meant to join the splintered Justice League. In Cry for Justice Green Arrow and Green Lantern broke off to form their own Justice League angered by the inaction of the League and were joined by several other heroes including Supergirl, Congorilla, and Captain Marvel Jr. Batwoman was originally meant to join this team as well but when it got bumped down to miniseries from a full series this was abandoned. Bruce Wayne, obviously, returned and she would fight alongside him again. 

Flashpoint and Rebirth

DC destroyed its realities and started again following 2011's Flashpoint forming the New 52. So far DC has been vague with what is canon from the pre-Flashpoint universe and what is not - largely its based on what fans like. Kate Kane, as one of DC's most popular character, was quickly brought back and her origins have been revisited for new readers in Secret Origins Vol.3 #3 and Batwoman Vol.2 #0. Her origins are the same as her pre-Flashpoint version except instead of her family being murdered by the Religion of Crime they were murdered by generic terrorists. Also, the time between her fighting off a mugger and meeting Batman and later becoming Batwoman has been shortened. However, Batwoman Vol. 3 has shown that something else had happened after being discharged and meeting Batman. Now Kate went on a spiritual journey arriving in the Mediterranean where she bumped her head on some coral, going unconscious and later being saved by the leader of a secret island near Malta called Coryana. Kate and the island's leader, Safiyah, developed a romance much to the chagrin of Safiyah's lover Tahani. Suddenly a bacteria started killing off Coryana's foxes and Kate suspected one of the warlords whom Safiyah immediately had executed despite Kate's opposition to it. Kate then found out that the bacteria was from the coral she had bumped into and Safiyah knew and lied to protect her. Angered that Safiyah killed someone to protect a lie she left Coryana. 

Against the Weeping Woman

I will go over one of the most interesting Batwoman stories, one from Batwoman Vol. 2. Gotham's Latino community was shocked when women were being kidnapped and drowned by a ghost named the Weeping Woman. Both Batwoman and her partner, Detective Maggie Sawyer, decided to investigate as Kate started reluctantly training her cousin, Bette. During this she was also approached by Batman to work with him but she declined. The US government had formed the Department of Extranormal Affairs (DEO) to investigate metahumans and their attention had turned to Gotham believing that the vigilantes could be metahumans. Agent Cameron Chase hoped to find out Batwoman's identity with the intention of getting Batman's through her. He originally thought Batwoman could be Maggie until she found the vigilante going through her files. Batwoman managed to tracked the ghost to a boat house where the spirit almost drowns her. Traumatised Kate decides to hold off from training her cousin who is attacked by an unknown metahuman. Meanwhile, Kate learnt the origin of the Weeping Woman: a mother whose children were taken away from her she drowned herself. To counteract the ghost's water magic Kate set fire to the boat house and as the ghost was evaporating she revealed that she had been manipulated by something, or someone, called Medusa. As Kate evaporated the ghost Chase used Bette's condition to get information about Kate's identity. Despite Batman's warning Kate agrees to help the DEO take down Medusa in return for Bette. Since then Batwoman has had several other interesting story lines.

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