Real
Name: Shirlee Bryant
THE CAT
Real
Name: Shirlee Bryant
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Would-be servant of Mal Donalbain
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mal Donalbain
Enemies: Mal Donalbain (he mind-controlled her), Dr. Tumolo
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: The Cat#1 (November, 1972)
Powers/Abilities: Shirlee had peak mental and physical abilities. She could memorize the workings of complex mechanical devices, even when she had no experience of them.
Considering that she and Greer Nelson underwent the same experimentation, Shirlee most likely also possessed the same ability to sense the emotions of others, be it human or animal, though she didn't demonstrate this.
Shirlee, as the Cat, also wore a costume equipped with retractable claws that allowed her to scale walls. The costume was also equipped with a throwing claw-hook that acted as a grappling hook.
History:
(The Cat#1 (fb)) - After the death of her husband, Greer Nelson ran into her old physics teacher Dr. Tumolo, who, upon hearing Greer’s situation, invited Greer back to her lab, where she asked Greer to be her lab assistant. During her time as a lab assistant, Greer was introduced to Dr. Tumolo’s project to fulfill the potential of womankind. The only problem was that the project was funded by Mal Donalbain, who insisted that Shirlee Bryant be made a test subject to the experiments.
The next day, Shirlee arrived to become the first test subject of Dr. Tumolo’s experiments, although secretly Dr. Tumolo was experimenting on Greer as well. Shirlee (as well as Greer) was conditioned to receive the maximum amount of stimuli, to perceive mental and physical impulses to an almost psychic ability.
Several weeks later, Greer had achieved peak human efficiency where Shirlee seemed uninterested and undedicated. Deciding that Donalbain’s involvement only served to jeopardize the project, Dr. Tumolo decided to call off his involvement. Later that night, she visited Donalbain’s penthouse and discovered that all of her technology had been memorized by Shirlee and duplicated almost exactly by Donalbain himself. As Dr. Tumolo continued to search Mal’s penthouse, she discovered Shirlee, dressed in a cat-like costume, expressing disinterest in wearing it to some men, including Donalbain. Donalbain suggested she wear a collar on her costume and then she would certainly see eye-to-eye with him. The collar allowed Donalbain to control the mind of Shirlee, much to his satisfaction. He then announced that he would create hundreds of women under his mental control, before ordering Shirlee to attack and disable the men around her, which she did with ease. He then ordered her to climb to the top level, which she did by using the claws on her costume to scale the wall. Once at the top of the room, Donalbain ordered Shirlee to use her claw-hook to swing across to the other side of the room. Unfortunately lacking the grace and skill to use the weapons, Shirlee missed with her claw-hook until it was too late. Shirlee fell to her death, with her claw-hook sinking into the bottom of the wall.
Comments: Created by Linda Fite, Marie Severin, and Wally Wood.
For those who are interested, after Shirlee died, her death was avenged:
(The Cat#1 (fb)) - Frightened, Dr. Tumolo rushed to her lab where she attempted to call the police. As Greer arrived on campus, she witnessed the explosion of Dr. Tumolo’s lab. Greer arrived in time to watch Dr. Tumolo die, her last words stating that Donalbain took her notes and now knew about the experiments performed on Greer as well. Vowing to avenge Dr. Tumolo’s murder, Greer took one of the cat-like costumes and became the new Cat.
(The Cat#1) - After tracking down Mal Donalbain, Greer was drugged and when she awoke, she overheard one of Donalbain’s thugs commenting that she was wearing the same costume as Shirlee. When she came to her senses, she confronted Mal Donalbain and unsheathed her retractable claws. Deathly afraid of being touched, Donalbain turned his gun on himself.
Profile by Proto-Man
Clarifications:
This character, the Cat, has no known connections to
images:
The Cat, in costume: (The Cat#1) p22, pan1
The Cat, Shirlee Bryant: (The Cat#1) p18, pan1
Last updated: 10/28/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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