This year, DC Comics’ Catwoman celebrates her 80th anniversary! She was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane as a romantic foil to Batman and has been Batman’s most enduring femme fatale since her first appearance as “the Cat” (real name Selina Kyle) in Batman #1 (1940).

From the beginning, Catwoman was never intended to be a killer or evil. Instead, Kane and Finger created her as a “friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman’s rather sterile life,” and was meant to be a love interest that would engage Batman‘s wits even as he tries to reform her. They decided to use a “cat,” which they saw as “kind of the antithesis of bats,” explaining:

I felt that women were feline creatures and men were more like dogs. While dogs are faithful and friendly, cats are cool, detached, and unreliable. I felt much warmer with dogs around me—cats are as hard to understand as women are. Men feel more sure of themselves with a male friend than a woman. You always need to keep women at arm’s length. We don’t want anyone taking over our souls, and women have a habit of doing that. So there’s a love-resentment thing with women. I guess women will feel that I’m being chauvinistic to speak this way, but I do feel that I’ve had better relationships with male friends than women. With women, once the romance is over, somehow they never remain my friends.

– Bob Kane, Batman and Me (November 1989)

To mark the 80 years since her first appearance, DC Comics has published  a 100-page spectacular boasting a whole host of covers, stories and pin ups. For our part, we’ll be celebrating along with a few ideas of our own. Meanwhile, check out these amazing variant covers for depicting Catwoman throughout her eight decades:

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Which is your favorite one? Let us know in the comments!