DC Comics and Catwoman #43 Spoilers follows.
BTAS / Batman: The Animated Series Villain Makes Their Comics Debut! What’s Her Star Trek Connection?!
The issue has a few more variant covers below to complement the main cover above.
The promise of the book can be discerned from its solicitation.
CATWOMAN #43
Written by TINI HOWARD
Art by BENGAL
Cover by JEFF DÉKAL
Variant cover by JENNY FRISON
1:25 variant cover by SOZOMAIKA
AAPI variant cover by TAKESHI MIYAZAWA
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)VROOM VROOM! We all have that friend we call when we want a wild girls’ night out—and for Catwoman, that friend is Harley Quinn. It’s a night of hip whips and hot laps at the roller derby, complete with a little road-trip crime. It might even be the type of girls’ night that gets sealed with a kiss, if Catwoman’s allies back in Gotham can hold down the fort while the Cat’s away…
Well, the book ends with Red Claw confronting Catwoman.
The character first appears in the Batman: The Animated Series on September 5, 1992 in an episode titled The Cat and the Claw Part I (BTAS Season 1, Episode 15)
She also appeared in two more episodes:
- The Cat and the Claw Part II on September 12, 1992 (BTAS Season 1, Episode 16).
- The Lion and the Unicorn on September 15, 1995 (BTAS Season 2, Episode 12).
The character was the believed to be from Eastern Europe and was the head of a terrorist group whose members had red bear claws tattooed on one of their shoulders. The character was originally to be called Red Dragon, but producers landed on Red Claw later.
The character would actually unmask Batman in their battle on the Batwing, but she was ejected and fell into the ocean before she could see is face.
That was the last of three appearances during BTAS.
The character was voice by pop culture icon Kate Mulgrew.
The actress would go on to play Captain Katheryn Jane on Star Trek Voyager for its seven season run which would begin on January 16, 1995.
She would reprise her role, but now as Admiral Janeway in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis.
Mulgrew also returned to voice a the USS Protostar’s Emergency Training Holographic Advisor modeled on Katheryn Janeway in the animated Star Wars: Prodigy; season 1 ran for 10 episodes beginning on October 28, 2021 with a second season in production.
Her time voicing Red Claw preceded Mulgrew’s Star Trek run. The actress’ earlier claim to fame would have been starring as Mrs. Columbo in the same-named TV series, for one season, totaling 13 episodes. That run was not collected on DVD in English as I understand, but it is available in French. Viewers can enable English subtitles if needed.
Mrs. Columbo did not match the longevity and success of her “husband” Lieutenant Columbo who played the rumpled detective from February 20, 1968 to January 30, 2003 over 69 episodes / films. That entire has been collected a few times in DVD.
Kate Mulgrew has gone to have quite a long and successful career, primarily on the small screen, with all her roles noted on her IMDB page.
Catwoman #44 lands in stores on June 21, 2022 and it will presumably continue from Catwoman #43’s cliffhanger featuring the Red Claw.
