Lian Harper (Prime Earth)

I have no memories of a childhood. No visions of an early birthday, candles or cake. No idea what the world looks like from up on my father's shoulders. No memories of paper lanterns or of lions dancing to the rhythm of fireworks. All I have is a recurring dream. And a mask.

— Shoes ^src

Shoes, real name Lian Harper, is the daughter of Arsenal and Cheshire. She was presumed dead as a child but in fact lost her memories and grew up on the streets of Gotham City. As a teenager she adopted the vigilante identity Cheshire Cat and spent some time as Catwoman's sidekick before reuniting with Cheshire.

History

Early Childhood

As a child, Lian was apparently killed by The Electrocutioner. Her father and the world at large believed she was dead.^[1]

In reality Lian had somehow survived, but had lost her memory. She would have recurring dreams of being rescued from a band of ninjas by a masked woman and abandoned on the steps of a church.^[2]

Alleytown Strays

Years later, now known as "Shoes", she joined the Alleytown Strays, a group of street kids in Gotham's Alleytown area. They survived as thieves and muggers living in "The Nest", a building which had once been the headquarters of Mama Fortuna. One day she and her friends attempted to rob a wealthy woman who wandered into Alleytown. Shoes stole the woman's watch only to find that it was fake and in the process the woman had pickpocketed her Gamekid. Later that day back at The Nest, Catwoman arrived and announced that she had bought The Nest and intended to turn the Strays into a gang of thieves under her leadership.^[3] The Strays helped Catwoman to bring down the organised crime groups operating in Alleytown and become the "Queen" of Alleytown.^[4]

Shoes later became an amateur vigilante in Alleytown as Cheshire Cat wearing a homemade mask based on the one from her dream. Her first attempt at heroics went poorly as she was outnumbered and overpowered by her larger opponents. Catwoman arrived to save her and accepted her as a protégé.^[2]

Fighting the Magistrate

Shoes accompanied Catwoman to Siddhart Roy's house to rescue Poison Ivy, who was working for Simon Saint, a wealthy businessman plotting to take over Gotham.^[5] The GCPD, supplemented by Saint's Magistrate forces, cracked down on Alleytown looking for Catwoman. They arrested the Strays and demanded they tell them everything they knew about her. Shoes told them they would never find Catwoman, recounting a story from Selina’s own days as a Stray when she memorised the entire network of service tunnels beneath the city, allowing her to move about undetected.^[6]

The Strays were released and retreated to Catwoman's secondary headquarters at an abandoned railway terminal. Shoes was sent out as Cheshire Cat to tap into the Magistrate's communications network, allowing the Strays to monitor the Magistrate's communications and talk to each other through undetected backchannels.^[7] While doing that she realised that the signal being sent by "Oracle" announcing that Batman was dead was in fact a trap designed to lure out the Batman Family. Catwoman tried to leave Alleytown and was intercepted by a squad of Magistrate soldiers, but Cheshire Cat arrived to help her fight them off and told her the signal was a fake.^[8] Catwoman thanked her for stopping her from abandoning Alleytown, and Shoes replied that Catwoman inspired the people of Alleytown to stand up and fight for themselves rather than run.^[9]

A band of villains seeking redemption, including Lian’s mother Cheshire, joined Catwoman's fight against the Magistrate.^[7] After the Magistrate was defeated, Cheshire approached Shoes and introduced herself as "Jade".^[10]

Lian's father learned she was alive, but his mind was taken over by Darkseid and he was drawn away to Earth Omega before he could look for her.^[11] Roy eventually returned and began searching for her.^[12] He reunited with his old friends the Titans and they promised to help him find her.^[13]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Acrobatics^[8]
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): Shoes has received some training from Catwoman but is still inexperienced.^[2]
Stick Fighting: She wields two batons as her primary weapons.^[2]
Thievery^[3]
Throwing^[2]

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Skateboard^[3]

Weapons

Batons^[2]

Notes

Lian Harper was created by Marv Wolfman and Eduardo Barreto, first appearing in New Teen Titans (Volume 2) #21. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Lian Harper first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Catwoman (Volume 5) #25 by Ram V and John Paul Leon.
- Although Shoes first appeared in Catwoman (Volume 5) #25, her identity as Lian Harper was not revealed until DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1. It was not revealed that Lian had existed in the history of the current DC Universe until Infinite Frontier Secret Files #2.
There was no indication that Lian Harper existed in the post-Flashpoint universe prior to the Infinite Frontier event. It appears she was added to the history of Prime Earth following the "unknotting" of the timeline after the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal.

Trivia

Lian's hair is naturally black, but she dyes it blue. She also wears blue lipstick and nail polish.