Best Catwoman Runs: 6 Comics Ranked, from 1987 to 2022

Selina Kyle was born in 1940 and only got a lasting regular series at the end of the twentieth century. Her great moments are therefore scattered across solo series, Batman stories where she plays second fiddle and a few miniseries. Ranking "her best runs" means choosing coherent blocks of reading, not following a single timeline. Here is our selection, from the most accessible to the most specialized.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issue numbers, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of artwork or protected dialogue.

How we ranked these runs

We used three criteria. First, Selina's place in the story: we keep the arcs where the plot is organized around her, even when Batman is present. Second, self-containment: a reader should be able to jump in without knowing eighty years of continuity. Finally, the mark left behind: some runs fixed a costume, a neighborhood or a tone that later writers pick up.

This ranking is not a ranking of market value. The most sought-after single issue in a character's collection is almost never the one with the best story, and the last section deals with value once the reading question is settled.

Top 1: Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke, Catwoman (2002)

The third Catwoman series starts in January 2002 with issue 1. Ed Brubaker, who would later make his name in crime fiction, anchors Selina in Gotham's East End, the working-class neighborhood where she grew up, and gives her a lasting supporting cast, including Holly Robinson and the detective Slam Bradley. Darwyn Cooke draws the first issues and redesigns the costume: a practical full bodysuit, goggles pushed up on the forehead. Cameron Stewart takes over the art afterward. Cooke also did the one-shot Selina's Big Score, published the same year, a heist told as a noir comic with a retro elegance.

This run matters because it establishes the modern Selina as the protagonist of a street-level crime story, with a moral code of her own and a stable setting. No prior knowledge of Gotham is needed to enjoy it, and that accessibility weighs as much as its quality in its first place. The start is certain, issue 1 of 2002; sources disagree on the exact end of the creative team, so we do not fix it. The page on Ed Brubaker places this work within his body of work.

For collecting, the first single issues are easy to find and issue 1 remains the series' marker. The collected editions gather the first arcs. Selina's Big Score exists as an album and shelves separately from the numbered stack.

Top 2: Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One (1987)

Four issues of Batman, #404 to #407, dated February to May 1987. The story covers Bruce Wayne's first year in Gotham and that of Lieutenant James Gordon, and Selina appears in the background, in a register of urban survival that contrasts with the elegant cat burglar of earlier decades. Miller writes, Mazzucchelli draws, Richmond Lewis colors and Todd Klein letters.

The run matters because Selina's past as Brubaker, Balent and their successors took it up starts from this rewrite. It suits anyone who wants to understand the matrix of the modern version, while knowing that Selina is not the subject of the story: she plays a secondary but foundational role. Our entry on Batman #404 details the publishing context of this first chapter.

The simplest format is the collected edition, which gathers the four issues. The original single issues form a set of four to complete, with the usual caveat: the first chapter is the most sought after and its condition makes the gap vary markedly.

Top 3: Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Catwoman: When in Rome (2004-2005)

A six-issue miniseries that sends Selina to Rome in search of answers about her past, extending the criminal universe of Gotham that Loeb and Sale had explored in their earlier Batman stories. Sale gives the Eternal City angular silhouettes and a film noir light; Loeb builds a personal investigation more than a heist.

The story matters because it treats Selina as the center of a closed story, with a beginning and an end, which few of her series have done. It suits the reader who already knows the basics of the character and who enjoys Sale's style. It is also one of the reference stories cited in the comparison between the 2004 film and the comics, which our film versus comics article details.

The miniseries exists in six single issues, simple to complete, and in a collected edition. It is a good example of a short set for which the choice of format is mostly a matter of taste.

Top 4: Tom King and Clay Mann, Batman/Catwoman (2020-2022)

Tom King, who had made Selina the stake of a long suspense thread in his Batman series, devotes to her with Clay Mann a twelve-issue series that follows Bruce and Selina at several moments of their lives. The narration jumps from one era to another, and the series treats the relationship as the central subject rather than as a backdrop. It has King's formal rigor, his effects of repetition and his taste for mirrored structures.

The run matters because it pushes the relationship between the two characters the furthest and serves as the conclusion of a writing cycle. It suits the reader who already knows Batman well: without that, the nods to continuity lose their effect. The page on Tom King gives the context of his other series.

The format is the reader's choice: the twelve single issues are recent and easy to find, while the collected edition suits continuous reading better. Alternate covers are numerous: note the variant designation in your inventory.

Top 5: Jo Duffy and Jim Balent, Catwoman (1993-2001)

The second Catwoman series begins with issue 1 in August 1993, written by Jo Duffy and drawn by Jim Balent. It is the first long-running monthly series devoted to the character after the 1987 rewrite. Balent establishes himself there as the dominant artist, with a purple costume and a very marked 1990s style, and the series runs until about 2001.

It matters because it proves that a monthly title on Selina can hold up: without it, the 2002 relaunch would have had no precedent. It suits the collector who wants to follow the character's publishing history, more than the reader looking for a canonical story. The end number is not agreed on in the sources we cross-checked, so we leave it aside.

On the collecting side, it is a long series, made to be followed by issue number: issue 1 of 1993 is the marker, and most of the following ones are easy to get. For the choice between the original format and a reprint, our article Catwoman, collected edition or single issue explains how to inventory each item separately.

Top 6: Joëlle Jones, Catwoman (2018)

The series relaunched in 2018 opens with issue 1 after the split between Selina and Bruce in Batman #50. Joëlle Jones writes and draws the launch, in an urban crime register. The art has a sharpness that recalls Cooke's work.

It matters because it offers a contemporary version of the character, without the weight of an event, and because it shows that the solo series can be rebuilt around a writer-artist. It suits the reader who wants a recent, readable entry point. The rest of the series changes teams, and sources disagree on the exact division of the cycles: we limit ourselves to the start, namely issue 1 of 2018.

The format: recent single issues, easy to find, or the first collected edition of Jones's cycle. A modern series lends itself well to buying in a lot.

Which one to start with, depending on your profile

You're new to Catwoman. Start with Brubaker and Cooke, opening with Selina's Big Score and then the first issues of the 2002 series. No prerequisites are needed.

You mostly read Batman. Year One, then Tom King and Clay Mann's Batman/Catwoman, give you the relationship and its two poles, from the beginnings to a later cycle.

You like closed stories. When in Rome fits in six issues, with a beginning and an end, and opens with a strong visual asset.

You collect by era. Follow Jo Duffy and Jim Balent's series for the 1990s, then Brubaker's for the 2000s, then Joëlle Jones's for the 2010s. You will have three clear starting markers.

You're looking for the origins. Go back to the 1940 milestones with our article on the first appearance of Catwoman, then work through the list above in order.

What these runs are worth as a collection

The value of these runs is read in ratios. The first sets the recent item against the older one: the issues from 2018 to 2022 are plentiful, while those from 1987 or 1993 were less carefully preserved. Scarcity therefore comes down to condition, more than to print run.

The second ratio sets the first issues against the following ones. In every series on this list, issue 1 concentrates the attention, and the other issues sell at a markedly lower level: that is the logic of these series, not an anomaly. For miniseries like When in Rome, the complete set is the natural unit of collecting.

The third ratio sets the listing against the completed sale. An asking price is a seller's intention. A Catwoman #1 from 2002 and a Batman #404 are not priced the same way: the first depends mostly on condition, the second also on the edition, newsstand or direct, which you need to identify before comparing copies with each other. This method avoids paying for the name of the story rather than the actual item.

Finally, keep your inventory item by item: the single issue, the collected edition, the large-format album and the variant are distinct lines. The most common mistake is to merge them into one, and it skews every later estimate. For a broader approach, see also our guide to hardcovers versus single issues.

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