Catwoman #0

This volume is issue #0 of DC's Catwoman series following the "New 52" relaunch, and also the first issue by writer Ann Nocenti on the series, titled "Zip Me Up." The story is not a smooth adventure but revolves around Selina Kyle's "secret origin": she asks herself, "Do you know what it's like to be an orphan?" and "I thought my name was Selina Kyle, but now I'm not so sure." The narrative cuts back and forth between past and present—as a child in Miss Olliver's shelter she was trained as a thief and searched after every score; as an adult she infiltrates Gotham's city government under a false name, working as the mayor's "protocol and invitation management" clerk, trading gossip for her boss while using her position to pull files in search of her lost brother. When she discovers her own file lists a Russian name and that her identity is not what she thought, the computer promptly "accidentally" crashes. The price of truth comes fast: the benefactor who promised her "a top-floor office once you earn trust" pushes her off the roof. In the fall she is caught by an awning, crashes into an alley, and a crowd of Gotham's cats gathers to lick her, and Selina is convinced she "is someone." Only about thirty-odd pages, the issue nonetheless plants the mystery of her origins, her identity anxiety and the "cat" symbolism all at once, and sets the tone for Nocenti's subsequent arcs involving demons, an underground city and a thieves' tournament. This volume is issue #0 of the series (the New 52 "Zero Issue" initiative).