Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Batman/Catwoman #3, by Tom King, Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey.
DC Comics are no strangers to putting subtle nods to the past in their comic books, especially when it comes to celebrating their many famous employees. In the latest issue of Batman/Catwoman, the retired feline criminal name-drops both of her creators, and it has much more symbolism than it first appears.
Within the issue, the daughter of Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne, Helena, has taken up her fathers mantle and become Batwoman. She discovers that, in Florida, a body has been found that could possibly be The Joker. While the corpse undergoes DNA testing, Helena goes to tell her mother about it, but while she attempts to explain the situation, Selina seems to be having a completely different conversation about how she got to where she was today. During her somewhat bizarre monologue, she mentions "I was abandoned in a dumpster near the corner of Kane and Finger".
This is an obvious reference to DC Comics creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, who are famous for the creation of Batman, as well as many of his supporting cast, including Catwoman. She first appeared way back in 1940, just a year after The Dark Knight debuted, in Batman #1. This involved Catwoman, known simply as "The Cat" at this point, attempting a heist on a boat, before being thwarted by Batman and Robin. Even then Bruce had a fondness for her, allowing her to escape the police.
However, this double name drop is significant for multiple reasons. While on a base level it may just be an interesting way to honor her original creators, the importance lies within the context of the story. As she said, her parents left her there, abandoning her on the streets, which caused her to grow up and become who she is today. If she had been kept by her parents, or even placed somewhere different, she may have still grown up to be Selina Kyle, but only by being left on this street corner did she become Catwoman. Therefore, both in the real world and the DC Universe, Catwoman was "created" by Kane and Finger.
The other reason this tribute is important is because it recognizes the impact of Bill Finger. It is widely believed that Kane came up with the idea of a vigilante named "Bat-Man" who had a loose, Superman-like design, while Finger went on to create a new look for him, change his backstory, and create the character people are familiar with today. However, due to a deal made by Kane, Finger wasn't officially recognized as the co-creator until Zack Snyder's' Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016.
To this day, it is unknown exactly how many characters were invented by Kane and how many were invented by Finger, as the former's name was the only one ever on the byline. Catwoman's "creation" on this street corner, therefore, helps to give Finger some of the credit he was wrongfully denied for all those years.
While it's little more than a throwaway line, this issue recognizes in a very clever way how some of DC's most popular characters would not exist without the creative geniuses of both Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
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