Cats, and Poison Ivies, and Girls Named After Motorcycles, Oh My!
The long and convoluted history of Catwoman with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. This thing ain't dial-up safe, seeing as there is over fifty scans below.
Catwoman first runs into Poison Ivy after Gotham's had its big earthquake. Against her better judgement, Selina has take it upon herself to stop potential looters. Selina manages to escape and track Ivy down. Catwoman chooses to smash the formula in Ivy's face, thus defeating both obstacles at once.
While Selina can be said to the victor of her battle with Ivy, her relationship with Harley is a little bit more complicated. When the two meet, Sel is currently in jail. She's not reacting well to being imprisoned, though it's not just the imprisonment making her act strangely. They end up in cells next to each other and Harley makes Selina tell her about her childhood. Yes, the art is hideous, thanks for asking. In case you didn't believe me about Selina being a little crazy. Her actions lead to a riot among the inmates, who capture a few of the guards. Those officials who are not captured decide to send a strange new guard in to negotiate with the prisoners. Harley may be silly, but she's not at all nice in this story. She decides to torture Commissioner Gordon with Selina's help, because Catwoman holds a grudge against him for putting her in jail. Both the Commish and Batman think that Selina is solely responsible for the torture, but they can't figure out why she's doing it. When therapists go evil... It's not a pretty sight. And thus ends the partnership of Harley Quinn and Catwoman. On a rather sour note, I must admit. Their next meeting is much more friendly. I really love the way continuity is used here. Those are familiar with Harley and Cat's past, get an added layer of depth, and those are not, aren't left confused. While Ivy is also at the party, she and Catwoman never really get a chance to talk. At least, not until Jeph Loeb released the infamous Hush. (And while I actually really really like most of Loeb's work, it would nice if it felt like he was at least slightly familiar with Catwoman's past run-ins with Harley and Ivy.) Gee, it might have helped Ivy a little bit if she'd used that trick on Catwoman the last time. Y'know the time when Selina kicked her ass? Unless Dini's disregarding Hush, it would be hard to see how he could establish Sel and Ivy as friends. Ivy manages to get away, so the BatCat team borrows Superman's dog to track her down. Harley ends up attacking an opera in Gotham. Yeah, she has good taste. The three gals of Gotham have a complicated history with each other. A really complicated, I'll-kill-you-type-history. Frankly, I'm looking forward to seeing them interact in Gotham City Sirens, though I hope Dini doesn't just disregard their past history. It's some interesting stuff. (Though not necessarily, good stuff...)