Karon

9 years ago - 15-year-old Karon comes out as gay, and her mother throws her out of their home. In a homeless shelter, she meets Holly Robinson and nurses her through a drug overdose. She goes on to help Holly fight her addiction.

8 years ago - 16-year-old Karon finds a job at a deli in the East End, continuing to attend High School despite being homeless.

7 years ago - 17-year-old Karon gets her own apartment in the East End and graduates high school. She is worried that Holly Robinson will relapse back into drug use if the street gangs trying to recruit her are successful, but when they are stopped by Slam Bradley she expresses her relief, and she and Holly start dating.

6 years ago - 18-year-old Karon starts reaching out to other wayward kids of the East End, acting like a sort of den mother to make sure everyone is okay.

5 years ago - 19-year-old Karon learns that Holly Robinson's roommate Selina Kyle is Catwoman when Holly is kidnapped by Roman Sionis's men and escapes to save Slam Bradley. She tells Holly she needs to know everything she's doing, and for her to listen when told she's going too far.

3 years ago - 21-year-old Karon sees Holly Robinson's need to take over as Catwoman and understands that it is helping her, so she supports her despite worrying about her safety.

1 year ago - 23-year-old Karon is beaten up by some of Oswald Cobblepot's thugs when they try to expand into the East End. Holly Robinson goes on a mission to push them out.

This is a bit of a stretch for us. Technically we're putting her in among the Batman supporting cast, but this is Batman's love interest's sidekick's love interest. This is a supporting character of a supporting character of a supporting character.

But the fact is if you are going to include Holly Robinson, then you absolutely, unquestionably have to include Karon. She is a vital part of what makes Holly work and also breathes life into a part of the lore of Gotham that simply wouldn't have it otherwise.

Karon's Comic History

Karon appeared for the first time in issue #6 of Ed Brubaker's 2002 Catwoman series. While expanding and defining the world of Selina Kyle, we met the girlfriend of her sidekick Holly Robinson, a lanky, bespectacled queer girl working at a deli who clearly cared for and worried about Holly. She was an immediate burst of wholesome, compassionate energy. Holly as a character underwent a lot of chaos and hardship, and the fact that she had an unwavering support system in Karon seemed like a lifeline for her.

In the storyline where Selina retires as Catwoman and Holly takes over, unfortunately, Holly wound up in over her head, and as the book swerved back to Selina, Karon was badly injured, Holly had to leave Gotham... and that was actually the last time we saw Karon, as the comics have never returned to the elegant and satisfyingly complex worldbuilding of this series.

Our Karon Story

To answer the very first question we got here; no, Karon never got a last name in the comic, but more to the point, she was always very actively introduced as JUST Karon. One gets the sense that it's actually a choice she made, to only go by her first name, so we decided to treat it that way. We invented a pretty traumatic backstory for her, but we felt like it brought her into the equally traumatic world where Holly grew up. We wanted her to feel like a constant in her girlfriend's life, a pillar of stability and support, and even made a point to have her set boundaries for Holly's new career as a pseudo-superhero to make sure that she takes care of herself. Karon's role as a caretaker of the kids of the East End even starts to define Holly's priorities, making protecting Karon and protecting their home the same thing. Karon does so much to define the Holly Robinson Catwoman, and we love it.

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