Helena Kyle
3 years ago - Helena Kyle is born, the daughter of Selina Kyle. Selina retires as Catwoman, handing over the mantle to Holly Robinson. and moves with Helena to the Université Notre Dame Des Ombres. Bruce Wayne pays for Helena's full tuition.
It's very rare that one very small storyline in just one comic can open up so much potential storytelling. The One Year Later story that played out in the pages of Catwoman was a brief one, but the introduction of Helena Kyle and everything she meant for Selina and for Selina's story was staggering. Given what a huge change she could have made, it's actually kind of understandable that they ultimately didn't follow through with it, but that doesn't mean that we can't.
Helena Kyle's Comic HistoryWhile there are tons of references across DC history to Helena WAYNE, Helena Kyle is actually a unique character with her own much smaller footprint. The name specifically refers to a character from a particular storyline that occurred in 2006 - 2007 in issues 53 - 72 of Catwoman. In the aftermath of the recently-concluded Infinite Crisis crossover every book in the DC lineup jumped ahead one year, wildly disrupting ongoing storylines across the board, but in a few isolated cases we got some interesting stories out of it, and Catwoman was one of them . It began with Selina having retired as Catwoman, with the role taken over by her young roommate Holly Robinson... and with Selina giving birth to her daughter Helena.
The story admirably didn't waste a lot of time over who Helena's father was; the important thing was that she was Selina's, and we got to watch her commit to becoming a mother with the same look-don't-leap abandon that she brought to everything. It was a really interesting direction to take the character, but unfortunately this is comics and everything eventually has to return to the status quo. Selina realizes that there was absolutely no way she could ever truly protect her child from the endless violence and danger that is her life, and she makes the impossible choice to give up her daughter to protect her. It was absolutely gut-wrenching to read, and the character seemed to collapse into despair, falling back into old habits and losing a lot of the redemption she'd earned over the series. It absolutely make you wonder what could have happened if they'd chosen to continue with this new direction... |
Helena Kyle's Story & Possible FutureIn a world where we're finally allowing these characters to evolve and grow without constantly returning them back to a status quo, the idea that Selina would retire to raise a daughter just feels like such an amazing way for her story to develop. We love the idea of Selina enrolling her infant daughter in a hidden European finishing school that trains some of the best operatives in the world... and then literally moving in herself so that she's present for her daughter's life. It's the clear and obvious solution to the seemingly insurmountable problem the comic presented; if your child will never be able to escape the danger of the world, then you make damn sure that it's the world who should be scared of HER.
Of course, there will always be the question of who Helena's dad is. There are a few possibilities, but I don't think Selina is going to be forthcoming... |