Norm Rapmund

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

Retcons are a weird thing, but they're a constant of the superhero comic book world. Helena Bertinelli was introduced as the Huntress in the 1989-90 ongoing series The Huntress, a dark, sort of moody noir series that stood on its own, though she did meet Batman once and was also a member of the Justice League International's American branch (since she lived in New York City). She faded away, but in 1992, Chuck Dixon brought show more her back for a two-issue story in Detective Comics, and then a key role in Robin III: Cry of the Huntress (1992-93), and finally her own miniseries (1994). Each of these tweaked her origin a little bit: soon she was from Gotham, not New York, and the exact details of how her family had been murdered fluctuated with each new story. Her origin got a wholesale retelling in 2000 with Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood (the only one of these I haven't actually read), and then another one in 2008 with this series, Huntress: Year One.

As you read new versions, it's sometimes hard to judge them on their own merits. The original Huntress series by Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton isn't perfect, but it is distinctive, with dark, moody artwork and a heroine who's not always attractive, physically or elsewise. Though later takes on the Huntress would be darker and more violent, and though the plots of the ongoing sometimes got silly, there's a real sense of the series trying something not because it's tried and true, but because it's new and distinctive. The 1990s would take "dark and gritty" in bad directions sometimes, but I enjoyed what The Huntress seemed to be striving towards, even if it didn't always hit it.

So, my problems with Huntress: Year One aren't really its own fault. Its Huntress is a different character than the one created by Cavalieri and Staton, and she has a somewhat different history. I'm not sure what I think of her being raised in Sicily, or having a lost love: I liked the damaged, lonely warrior of the original series that didn't have anyone to support her. But the story Madison Ivory and Cliff Richards tell here is not bad, just different, and on its own merits, it's pretty good-- if nothing exceptional.

Instead of the gritty urban vigilante aspects of the character, this really focuses on mafia princess components, as Helena untangles a conspiracy to deprive her of her inheritance, and much worse, that runs from Sicily to the Vatican to Gotham, and leads to her meeting Batman, Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, Bruce Wayne, and Catwoman, among others. Like a lot of conspiracy stories, some of it went over my head, and there's a lot of characters to keep track of, but Ivory keeps things pretty interesting, and I enjoyed the clean linework of Cliff Richards, Art Thibert, and Norm Rapmund, especially their regal, statuesque Helena.

But I just couldn't shake the versions I'd read before from my head. Usually, I feel like I'm better at this. Oh, well.

Batman "Year One" Stories: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

A cerebral take on the original Doom Patrol or X-Men hasn't enough heart to make me care about any of the characters. And the plot boils down to two rival scientists sending their secret agents against each other in a clandestine war, so the stakes feel super low.

FOR REFERENCE:

Originally published in single magazine form in Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution ["The Vigil: See No Evil"] and The Vigil #1-6.

Contents: See No Evil [Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution] -- Jig in a Storm [The Vigil #1] -- show more Weather Warning [The Vigil #2] -- Shadow [The Vigil #3] -- The Check Hook [The Vigil #4] -- Check Mate [The Vigil #5] -- All the Fish [The Vigil #6] show less

Gives the origin story of the Huntress as reimagined after the big DC continuity cut. Instead of being the daughter of Bruce and Selina Kyle she is the last remaining member of the Bertinelli mob family. I liked the story and it was neat to see Batman and Cat Woman pulling at Helena to be a certain way and she still decided to be her own person. Her story is sad and it's made her tough. I see how she became what she is.

Gives the origin story of the Huntress as reimagined after the big DC continuity cut. Instead of being the daughter of Bruce and Selina Kyle she is the last remaining member of the Bertinelli mob family. I liked the story and it was neat to see Batman and Cat Woman pulling at Helena to be a certain way and she still decided to be her own person. Her story is sad and it's made her tough. I see how she became what she is.