Cat-Man and Kitten

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Cat-Man and Kitten (also Catman and Kitten and The Cat-Man and the Kitten) were a pair of superhero characters created by Charles M. Quinlan and Irwin Hasen and first published in 1940 by now-defunct Holyoke Publications. Due to circumstances in World War II, a radically-altered version of the characters would be published in Australia during WWII and reprinted in the 1950s. AC Comics would later revive the characters in the 1980s.

The Cat-Man character may also have been an influence for the DC Comics anti-hero Catman; there may also be a link between Kitten's costume and DC's decision to alter their villainess "the Cat" as Catwoman. The characters share a common theme with another feline-suited pair of heroes, Astro City's Leopardman and Kit-Kat.

1 Golden Age
2 Australian Revision
3 Modern Age
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Golden Age

In 1940, Holyoke published Crash Comics Adventures #4 and 5, which first showed Cat-Man. Cat-Man was David Merryweather, a man raised in Burma by a tigress after his parents had been killed. From living with tigers for years, he gained superhuman abilities, such as super-strength, enhanced agility, natural night vision and the legendary "9 lives" of cats. Eventually, David returned to the U.S., where he was horrified by criminals preying on the innocent. To stop this, he became a private investigator; later, he would become an officer in the Army. Assigned to stateside duties, he donned an olive and orange costume with a black cat's-head symbol and became Cat-Man.

Cat-Man proved popular enough to earn his own series in May, 1941. In #5, Cat-Man encountered Katie Conn, a young girl raised by her uncle, a villain who unsuccessfully tried to kill Cat-Man, at the cost of his own life. With no one else to turn to, David became a legal guardian to Katie, who eventually designed matching red and yellow costumes, fighting alongside Cat-Man as the Kitten. As the series continued, Katie matured and David was promoted to the rank of captain.

Cat-Man Comics ran for 32 issues, until 1946, when Holyoke folded. Eventually, the characters fell into the public domain.

[edit] Australian Revision

Cat-Man would appear in a radically-altered, black-and-white version by Australian publisher Gordon & Gotch when American import laws during WWII hindered access to the Holyoke comics. In this Australian revision, Cat-Man had no secret identity or powers, and continued to wear the Crash Comics outfit. However, Cat-Man was a superb fighter and a brilliant inventor, armed with a Luger pistol, a pair of night vision goggles with the ability to temporarily blind foes with a light that emanated from the goggles, and a utility belt similar to Batman's.

Cat-Man was based in a mountaintop headquarters, with his primary area of operations being that of the Australian outback. However, when situations needed he would range all over the globe to fight crime. When he did so, he was assisted by his male sidekick, Kit; his fiancée Terri West, an employee of the United Nations; and her father, Professor West, a famous scientist.

The Australian Cat-Man would run for a shorter period than its predecessor, spanning twelve issues. In the 1950s, Tricho would reprint them as Catman Comics #13-22. The characters also appeared in the Giant Phantom Comics series.

[edit] Modern Age

AC Comics' revival of Cat-Man and Kitten

In the 1980s, publisher AC Comics created a retconned version of the characters as part of their universe.

In this version, 20-year old Katie Conn, a petite girl with acrobatic skills and some knowledge of self-defense, met Lt. David Merryweather at a USO dance during WWII. After a few months of dating, he revealed to her that he was the hero Cat-Man. Initially aiding him in secret from the sidelines, eventually she designed a costume similar to his red-and-orange one and joined him on patrol as Kitten. The pair married after several years of dating, and eventually decided to enter the Vault of Superheroes, a suspended animation program being run by the US government to preserve heroes should they be needed in the future.

Released from the Vault in the 1980s, they adapted to modern life, and became allies to Miss Victory and the members of Femforce. Unfortunately, their primary nemesis, Dr. Macabre, was also revived from a similar hibernation and continues to pose a threat to the Merryweathers.

AC Comics has printed modern stories of Cat-Man and Kitten in its Men of Mystery anthology; it also reprints some of the Holyoke stories that do not contradict its current continuity.

Due to the female-oriented nature of the AC Comics universe, the duo is sometimes billed as Kitten and Cat-Man.