Catwoman #72 - DC

Selina takes the final step in burying her past life this issue. She created the Irene identity to try to shield her daughter from her life as CatWoman. To many people knew who Selina was and what she did. That's also why she got Holly to help her out. To throw them even more off her trail. She was hoping that everyone would just forget about CatWoman, or think that she was dead. But she still had people come after her in her home. And she started dreaming about Helena being in trouble, or being threatened by the likes of the Joker or who knows who else. So she had Bruce help her fake Irene's death. It was very public, and very final. Everyone would think that this Irene woman and her daughter were killed in an explosion. But she found herself still worried about Helena. So then she got Bruce to put her in a nice home. She didn't want to know where, and she didn't want to know who. That way nobody could ever try to extract the information from her. But she found that to be heartbreaking. So now she's calling on Zatanna for help. Really, she wants 2 things from her. First she wants her to make her forget about her daughter. She can't stand the heartbreak, and she thinks it would be better to just forget that it ever happened. Secondly she wants Zatanna to take back whatever they did to her in the satellite. Whatever it was that made her turn to good. But as Zatanna explains, they never did anything like that. Sure she nudged her just a bit, but as she explains, Selina was already well on her way to turning her life around. She also talks her out of the memory wipe. "If I work my mumbo-jumbo, then your daughter's gone. Forever. Right now, at least, you still have a tiny bit of her to hang onto. If I cast my spell, as far as you're concerned, she will have never existed. Don't do that to her, Selina. Don't do it to yourself." But as Selina leaves she does say, "Go home . . . and maerd." Which she does. She dreams of Helena as a teenager. And it makes her happy. She wakes up refreshed, but her apartment is completely empty. And she hears a ticking. As she jumps out the window, and her apartment explodes, she realizes that she truly has nothing else of her old life to hang on to. She's truly free to begin anew.