Holly Robinson (DC)

Latest revision as of 15:07, 8 December 2023

Holly Robinson takes the cowl in Catwoman v3 #53.

Holly Robinson is a female comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Holly Robinson in Catwoman v3 #20.

Holly Robinson

She was 13 years old at the time when she was out on the streets and approached by a cop who was attempting to sexually abuse her. Holly was saved by Selina Kyle who was 4 years older than her and who punched the cop allowing the two to flee the scene. The encounter made her realise for the first time that she could fight back rather than just accept her circumstances. Selina came to take Holly under her ring and show her how to survive on the cruel streets. (Catwoman Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)

Holly was with Selina as the two began to work under an abusive pimp named Stan in the East End. (Catwoman v1 #1) Her underage later got Stan into trouble with a drifter who was wandering the area. (Batman v1 #404)

After Stan died, Holly came to be questioned by the cops where one of them came to abuse her. After learning this, Catwoman looked to kill the man but was stopped by Batman. It was then that Selina came to believe that she was a danger to Holly and decided to leave her with her sister Maggie Kyle at the convent. (Catwoman v1 #4)

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. (Catwoman v3 #1)

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. (Catwoman v3 #6)

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. (Catwoman v3 #16)

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. (Catwoman v3 #19)

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. (Catwoman v3 #20)

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. (Catwoman v3 #24)

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. (Catwoman v3 #26)

At one point, Selina disappeared for a period of time and Holly took to wearing the Catwoman costume to intimidate criminals. (Catwoman v3 #32)

Three prostitutes were savagely murdered in the East End, and Catwoman prowled the streets to find the killer. She caught Guillermo Duran in the act of attacking another woman, and they fought, but she was forced to let him escape when she saw that the girl, Virna, was still alive. Catwoman took her to the hospital, where she was treated by Leslie Thompkins. Slam Brady and Holly Robinson showed up to help her investigate the case, and Holly knew that all the girls targeted worked for Romanian crimelord Guillermo Duran. Catwoman confronted Dragos, who legitimately didn't know that his henchman Duran was out to get his girls. He said he cared about his girls, and Catwoman called him on his bull, saying she knew he was a slaver. After some threats from her Dragos promised to help her investigation. Slam learned that Dragos ran a dog-fighting ring, and suspected it was connected to the killings. He interrogated pound worker Curt Harris, who sold strays to Dragos, and roughed him up until he revealed the location of the next fight. Catwoman caught Duran in the midst of another attack, but he eluded her again. The victim was dead, and vowed that no more women would die in East End under her watch. (Catwoman v3 #41)

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. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #183) However, Spoiler escaped the place, much to Holly's concern. (Nightwing v2 #97)

Catwoman

Later on, Selina Kyle came to discover that she was pregnant an decided to retire as Catwoman in order to care for her daughter. At her request tough, Holly Robinson was chosen to take her place as the new Catwoman. (Catwoman v3 #53) Catwoman woke up bound on top of a building, and Angle Man had already removed her mask. He said he was keeping it as a souvenir, and admitted that he had no idea who she was. He wanted to keep her death simple, and prepared to roll her off the edge of the roof, but Catwoman used her claws to break her bounds and attacked Angle Man. He stabbed her in the shoulder with a triangle, and she saw red, beating him bloody before running off into the night. Holly returned home, and refused to talk to Karon about what happened. She realized she nearly died, and needed someone to speak to. She decided not to bother Selina, who was surely busy with her child, so she tried her trainer Wildcat, but he was otherwise occupied fighting crime. One of the late night TV host Film Freak's contributors caught Molly on tape beating Angle Man, and the clip spread like wildfire, but fortunately Holly's face couldn't bee seen on the film. (Catwoman v3 #54) Wildcat accompanied Holly on her nightly patrol, and she got a kick out of watching him bulldoze through a group of robbers. Wildcat said that since they did not have superpowers it was always smart to attack brutally and end fights quickly. He lit a cigar and advised she not take up smoking if she continued as Catwoman. Selina couldn't resist gearing up as Catwoman and running the rooftops. One of Film Freaks goons took a shot at her, but Holly came to her rescue. One of Film Freak's contributors caught footage of the two Catwomen talking in an alley. (Catwoman v3 #55)

Selina said she knew she made the right decision picking Holly as Catwoman, and they picked up a cab back home. Holly thought they should be more inconspicuous, but Selina assured her that cabbies saw too many weird things in Gotham to care about two women dressed like Catwoman. Holly got a call from Wildcat about busting up a chop shop, and went on her way, while Selina went to her safehouse to catch up on a few hours sleep before daybreak. Wildcat and Catwoman made short work of the crooks, but Wildcat chided her for calling him by his real name, reminding her that secrets were the only thing that protected them. They played gin into the night, and when she requested they switch to Texas Hold 'Em Wildcat said fads passed, but the classics were always good. She asked why they weren't busting heads, and he told her that sometimes you had to sit back and observe the rhythms of the city, which she thought sounded pretty deep coming from a brawler. Green Lantern Alan Scott told Wildcat Per Degaton was wrecking havoc in Manhattan, and asked for his help. Wildcat said farewell to his protégé, since he had to save the world again. Catwoman walked home, but was closed in by a police barricade, and Detective Lenahan said he was arresting her for the murder of Black Mask. (Catwoman v3 #57)

The pair continued to follow Mary to a structure where they were barred by a locked door but Harley was able to break it with her gun. Inside, they found a device that contained the captive Greek gods with Mary freeing them. Calling on their power, she came to be revealed to be Mary Marvel with the grateful gods deciding to bestow some of their powers on their mortal rescuers. This saw Thalia empowering Harley Quinn with some of her powers whilst Holly gained the blessings of Diana the goddess of the hunt. With their abilities, they sought to track down Granny Goodness who sent many of her minions to stop them. The three managed to easily defeat their foes but upon arriving at Granny's location they found the New God to had already been slain by an unknown assailant. (Countdown v1 #10)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. She was an orphan that grew up in the same orphanage as Selina Kyle with the two becoming friends. Kyle saw anger in Holly and sought to get her to control her rage by training her. Around five yeas ago, she fled from Wayne House and was picked up in the East End four years ago. She was later handed over to the GCS and disappeared from files into sealed records where she took the name of Catherine Ann Turley. After their orphanage was attacked by terrorists, an angry Holly responded by using the skills taught to her by Selina to murder the perpetrators. However, she became horrified at her actions and turned to Catwoman who knew that her friend would get the death penalty for her actions. As a result, she took the blame and took responsibility for the deaths leading to her getting the sentence instead. Batman tracked Holly Robinson down as he was searching for the missing Catwoman but she slashed him with a blade and escaped with her going on a flight to Kahndaq. (Batman v3 #15) She later sought shelter with Talia al Ghul with Catwoman and Batman seeking her out as Selina intended to marry the Dark Knight but wanted to meet with Holly one more time. (Batman v3 #35)

Overview

Personality and attributes

For a time, she came to operate as the new Catwoman who helped watch over and protect the East End. (Catwoman v3 #53) At one point, she came to assume the alias of Catherine Ann Turley. (Batman v3 #15)

Selina was the first person to make her realise that she did not have to accept what life had given her and that she could fight for more. After their first encounter, Selina was said to had looked out for Holly and took her under her wing. (Catwoman Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)

Powers and abilities

For a time, she was gifted a portion of the strength and skill of the goddess Diana thus making Holly into a huntswoman. With these abilities, she could use a bow with incredible skill along with increased senses where her eyes turned cat-like whilst she had an improved sense of smell. (Countdown v1 #10)

Holly was once a den mother to a group of street kids known as the Alleytown Gang, who acted as informants for Catwoman. (Catwoman v3 #26)

Notes

• Holly Robinson was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli where she made her first appearance in Batman v1 #404 (February, 1987) and later appeared as Catwoman in Catwoman v3 #53 (March, 2006).
• In an interview, Ed Brubaker admitted that he simply did not realize Holly had died

In other media

Television

• In Batman: The Animated Series, a character analogous to Holly Robinson named Maven appeared in the setting of the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe who was voiced by actress Mary McDonald Lewis. She was portrayed as Selina's best friend and knows all about her exploits as Catwoman. She would appear in the two part episode "The Cat and the Claw" and "Cat Scratch Fever".

Films

• In Batman: Year One, Holly Robinson made an appearance in the animated film adaptation where she was voiced by actress Liliana Mumy.
• In DC Showcase: Catwoman, Holly Robinson appeared in the 2011 direct-to-video animated short-film where she was voiced again by actress Liliana Mumy.

Video games

Appearances

• Batman v1: (1987)
• Catwoman v3: (2006)
• Catwoman Secret Files and Origins v1:
• Countdown v1:
• Batman v3:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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