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In honor of the new Birds of Prey series coming on the WB network, I
decided to play around with the current incarnation of one of my favorite
pre-Crisis heroes.
Originally, she was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman of Earth-2 and her
mission was capture her mother's killer. Raised in Wayne manor, exposed to
her father's continuing legacy and trained from an early age in his and her
mother's unique brand of physical fitness, it seems unlikely that she would
not end up as a costumed crimefighter.
Helena Wayne was something of a prodigy, graduating law school at the age
when most people finish college, her life was changed by her mother's return
to crime and subsequent death. Lured out of retirement by a blackmailing
former partner in crime, Selina Kyle-Wayne was murdered by her blackmailer,
when Batman intervened. Bruce Wayne, heart-broken by the death of his wife,
burned his costume at her grave site. A few nights later, Helena stood over
that grave and swore an oath of vengeance for her mother.
The Huntress was born.
Like Power Girl, the Huntress was as attempt to expand the cast of
characters on Earth-2, at a time when most of the characters were holdovers
from the Golden Age. With the Huntress, it was a logical step to take, it
was about time for the Golden Age heroes to have some kids. Also, Batman had
been single since the 30s and spending most of his time with a young boy,
people were really starting to talk.
Helena captured her mother's killer and embarked on a heroic career or her
own, joining the Justice Society of America and becoming Gotham's guardian,
after her father's death.
Unfortunately, the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths cut her career
short. Of all the characters in DC comics, only three had been continually
published since the Golden Age, Superman, Wonder Woman, and of course,
Batman. Unlike the Flash or Green Lantern, the Silver Age versions of these
three characters had come through, unchanged. Except for the Silver Age
Hawkman, who assumed the same name in his secret identity as his Golden Age
counterpart, all other Silver Age characters had new secret identities. The
conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths left us with a universe comprised of
the remnants of five others. With Earths 1 and 2 included, there was a
problem. Earth-1, home of the Silver Age heroes included modern duplicates
of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, so the Golden Age versions of these
characters had to be eliminated. In addition, all of their related
characters, supporting casts, etc. had to be eliminated, as well. This meant
that Helena Wayne was doomed from the beginning of the Crisis.
Fortunately, no great character can stay dead forever.
Of course, since the current incarnation of Batman can never be allowed to
evolve, else someone might actually become interested in the character
again, a new Huntress could not be tied directly to Batman. Enter Helena
Rosa Bertinelli, mafia princess. Originally, it played like a bad mafia
movie, with Helena surprised to learn about the "family business". Then,
when her family is massacred by a rival gang, she vowed to avenge her
family's death in true Hollywood-mafia-style.
Her first costume was an attempt to maintain the basic color scheme of the
old Huntress, while updating the lines and removing some of the Batman
influence. Originally, she had a strange three-pointed cape, that somewhat
approximated the scalloped "bat-cape" look, but it soon evolved into a
regular cape. The "new Huntress" showed even more skin than the old one and
had a unique addition, almost unseen in comics, she wore a gold crucifix. To
me, this was DC playing to the stereotype Italian Catholic, the way comics
have always tended toward simple ethnic stereotypes.
Over time, she would evolve and make her way more firmly into the Batman
family, though she remains on the periphery, still. Helena Bertinelli has
never shared Batman's squeamishness, where it concerns killing her
adversaries. I haven't kept up with her, as I never liked the character in
this incarnation, until her appearance in Grant Morrison's run of JLA.
As she matured, her costume became a bit less revealing. This gave her a
"darker" appearance, making her seem more sinister and serious. Her choice
of weapons is not well thought out. Typical of people unfamiliar with
weapons, comic book writers and artists seem enamored of medieval weapons,
to the exclusion of more powerful, more reliable weapons. Huntress's
crossbow pistol is a perfect example. While the crossbow is a dangerous,
powerful weapon, in the diminutive pistol-form, it is a toy. The prods (the
limbs of a bow) cannot possibly impart enough energy to drive a spike into
stone or concrete, from which to swing. If they were that strong, she'd need
tools to cock the thing. Medieval crossbows often required the soldier to
step down on a stirrup at the front of the weapon while catching the
bowstring on a hook attached to his belt. Others used a scew-jack type
arrangement to cock the bow. Modern crossbows, and these are the powerful,
shoulder-fired crossbows, use a hinge-action in the stock to provide the
necessary force to cock the weapon. A little crossbow pistol with folding
limbs, would be realtively weak and fragile.
Of course, in comics, we are not limited by the merely possible, so this
argument is not really relevant, but it's one of my pet peeves. However,
thanks to the Batman movies of Tim Burton and the popular television
animated series, a handy little gadget has been introduced into the
Bat-arsenal which would eliminate the puny crossbow pistol. I figure, while
I'm working on her costume, I'll correct the weapons problem, as well.
My intention, while designing this costume, was to bring back a few of the
elements I liked from the original Huntress costume. To that end, I extended
the "points" at the top of the mask to give it more of Bat-family look. I
made the costume a bit more revealing, but lengthened the boots and gloves
to evoke the original costume, as well.
In addition to the costume changes, I have given her a grapnel-gun, similar
to the ones Batman and the other "Gotham Knights" use, these days. I realize
that they're too small to carry the miles of rope that Batman seems to leave
hanging all over Gotham, but, again, it's comics, we can fudge a bit. I just
assume that they have spare reels of line in those ubiquitous utility belt
pouches. Maybe Alfred goes around cleaning up after them, when they're done.
At some point, I figure Huntress has to mellow a bit or she's going to have
an aneurism. I like characters that are "driven", but when they're as
intense as she usually is, it wears me down.
Well, that's all for now. Until next time.....
I got email from a reader recently, with some suggestions. Everyone is
invited to do the same! I'm always looking for inspiration.
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