Catwoman #55

Issue Details

Synopsis

SHARED MENTALITY Selina Kyle has received ten bouquets of flowers in the last ten days, but this latest one is the first to get her worried. Attached is a note that reads, "I know who you really are." The delivery man thinks she has a stalker and warns her to be careful, and when he's gone (with the bouquet she refused), her answering machine picks up a call.   "Why didn't you keep the roses, Selina?" her 'admirer' asks. "I know you like roses. I know all about you."  Selina runs to pick up the phone and demands to know how he got this number and what he knows about her. He says he knows her type, a thrill-seeking gold-digger, and tells her names and phone numbers aren't difficult to come by when you have connections. She threatens to call the cops, but the cops won't learn anything except that Warner Samson noticed her at the Gotham Museum Annual Charity Auction and begged the organizer for her number.   Selina remembers Warner Samson as the self-made millionaire who created the Samson Armored Car Security Fleet, and she asks Mr. Samson what he wants. He says that should be obvious and tells her he'll be in touch before hanging up.   Selina's neighbors the Phillipses come by to commiserate with her about her stalker, which they heard about from the doorman Ned, but Artie grows tired of his wife's gossiping and drags her off after she asks Selina why she isn't married.   Selina mourns her privacy now that the entire building is gossiping about her, and she goes on a walk to clear her head. She enters the elevator only to find Stanley, the new elevator operator and Ned's cousin, who came to his new job before he could be fitted with his uniform because the building is increasing its security due to Selina's "problem."   Selina stops by Pet Perfection to pick up her cats' food, and Billy the clerk tells her that a man came by earlier to drop off tickets for the musical "Cats." He thinks it's a romantic gesture, but Selina is angry that Samson knows where she shops. She tells Billy to take the ticket himself, and he goes to the theater that night.   Catwoman uses Samson's presumed distraction and takes her motorcycle to his house where she sees Samson's wife silhouetted in the window. She looks closer and sees that the woman is nursing a black eye. Catwoman is disgusted.   She considers all the things she could do to get her revenge on Samson, and she decides to steal the codes to his armored car fleet, which will open half the bank vaults in the city. She can't do that right then, however, so instead she goes undercover as a temp named Alida in his office.   Samson propositions Selina immediately, and when he's gone back to his office, she strikes up a conversation with his secretary Celia, who used to be vice president of the company until she rejected Samson's and he demoted her, forcing her to take the secretarial job or never work in Gotham City again.   Selina brings Samson coffee and overhears him placing another order of flowers to be delivered to her apartment. She pretends to believe he's sending flowers to his wife, and he plays along, telling her to order a scarf or something for his wife while he's at his health club and she's in his office working on an invitation list for the office's New Year's Eve party.   Ransacking his desk reveals nothing, however, which forces Selina to follow him to his health club, the golf course, the Playboy Club, and the news agent in various disguises. He thought he was impressive for finding her name and address, but she's learning his every habit and whim.   He returns to his office to find a snake-patterned scarf that "Alida" ordered for his wife. Celia tells him Mrs. O'Shaughnessy is here to see him, and Selina enters in another disguise. She claims her bank recommended she use one of his armored cars to move her jewels, but she isn't sure how it all works...   Samson explains the process in detail, during which he reveals that the only person who has the codes to the armored cars is him and he keeps a list of words which he converts into the codes using a mnemonic device. Selina knows she has to steal the list, which is on his person at all times.   Selina meets Samson for a dinner date disguised as "Miss Becker," who called him up and claimed they met a charity dinner months ago. As he insults womankind for predictability, laziness, and materialism, Selina slips his wallet out of his pocket. She butters him up until he reveals that the codes aren't the high priority he pretends they are... He just uses the names of women in his little black book  Selina excuses herself to go powder her nose. In the bathroom, she throws Samson's wallet in the trash and climbs out the window to go back to his office where he left his little black book.   She stops at her apartment building to change into her Catwoman costume, stopping only long enough to tell Ned and Stanley that she doesn't want the police involved in her "stalker problem."   Catwoman ransacks Samson's office until she finds his little black book. The trick he uses isn't obvious, so she copies the contents and decides to loosen his lips at the office's New Year's Eve party.   "Alida" approaches a morose Samson on the yacht as he sulks about how "Miss Becker" ran out on him in the middle of their date. Alida flirts and flatters him into showing her how he remembers the mnemonic devices.   Samson's good mood ends when a waitress, Susie, brings him the wrong drink. He calls Judge Laster to investigate the custody of Susie's son Jason, claiming that she's an unfit mother. Susie is distraught, and Selina is forced to decide between waiting for Samson to finish writing the code down or helping Susie. She chooses Susie, grabbing Samson's phone out of his hand before he can finish saying her name.   Selina tells Susie to leave, and when Samson angrily demands who she thinks she is, she asks, "Who do you think I am?" She reveals all the identities she's used when shadowing him around the city, and she ends her speech by saying he'll never know who or where she is. But she'll be watching him, and if he ever so much as frowns at a woman again, she'll take his life apart.   He realizes she was after his security codes, but she tells him that while they were attractive at first, she would much rather steal his confidence.