Huntress
Huntress (English for 'huntress') is the name of several comic characters who appear in publications by the US publisher DC Comics . The characters mostly appear as secondary characters in the Batman series and related titles. Occasionally, however, DC also appears miniseries that have Huntress' name in the title.
The original Huntress, who appeared in comics from the 1940s, was a costumed villain . The second Huntress is a costumed superhero without superpowers. The third Huntress, when it is the second to a modernized version is a vigilante practicing Vigil Antin , which comes because of their methods more common with Batman in conflict.
Versions and release history
Huntress I
The original Huntress made her first appearance in Sensation Comics # 68 (cover date August 1947) and was a costumed criminal named Paula Brooks , who was frequently involved with the costumed hero Wildcat. In the series Young All-Stars from the 1980s it was retrospectively determined that she had worked as a costumed superhero under the name Tigress before her criminal career as Huntress . She later married the super villain Sportsmaster aka Crusher Crock. The two also operated under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Menace and later had a daughter named Artemis, who took over the costumed identity of Tigress from her mother.
Huntress II
The second Huntress made her first appearance in DC Super Stars # 17 (cover date November / December 1977). At that time the DC Universe was divided into a multiverse with several parallel earths. On one of these earths, the so-called "Earth-2", Batman (Bruce Wayne) began his career as a costumed crime fighter in the 1930s. He later had a daughter, Helena Wayne , with Selina Kyle (former super villain Catwoman ) , who assumed the identity of the costumed heroine Huntress as an adult. After her comic debut, other Huntress adventures appeared as second stories in the original Wonder Woman comic series and in the Batman Family series . She was also a member of the superhero team Infinity Inc. and the Justice Society of America . During her career as a superhero, Helena witnessed the death of both parents.
In the course of the crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986), the various parallel earths of the DC multiverse were merged into a single earth. Since the Batman of this new, unified earth, according to official DC historiography, was significantly younger than the Batman of the old "Earth-2", he also had no daughter in this version, which retrospectively had never existed. Even before the remaining parallel earths finally merged, Helena Wayne died in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 12 (cover date March 1986).
In the course of the crossover Infinite Crisis (2007) the DC multiverse was re-established, and on the new version of "Earth-2" there is also a modernized form of Huntress / Helena Wayne.
Huntress III
After Huntress / Helena Wayne was retroactively declared non-existent in the wake of the Crisis on Infinite Earths , DC Comics introduced a new Huntress in issue 1 of the Huntress miniseries (cover date April 1989), which retained the first name of its quasi-predecessor, but not was related to Batman / Bruce Wayne or Catwoman / Selina Kyle.
Helena Bertinelli is the daughter of a mafia godfather from the fictional US metropolis Gotham City , who was the only six-year-old who survived the murder of her father's family. As an adult she fights organized crime in the identity of the costumed vigilante Huntress, while in her identity as Helena Bertinelli she works as a primary school teacher.
Due to her violent methods, she repeatedly comes into conflict with Batman, but she also occasionally helps him deal with major crises. She has also worked with Batman's allies Robin (Tim Drake) and Nightwing (Dick Grayson, the former first Robin), and she even had a brief relationship with Nightwing.
In the meantime, Helena was also working as the new Batgirl in a costume she had designed herself (trying to give the impression that Batgirl and the Huntress, who was active at the same time, were different people) until her Batman took off the costume. At Batman's suggestion, Huntress was also a member of the JLA (Justice League) until Batman expelled her from the team because of her violent methods. Huntress was also one of the allies of the Birds of Prey .
In the TV series Arrow , Huntress appears as Helena Bertinelli in a recurring supporting role.
Publications with the name Huntress in the title
The first comics that DC published under the Huntress title were the booklets of an independent Huntress series that appeared from April 1989 to June 1990 and reached a total of 19 editions. The comics in this series - which was set up as a continuous, monthly series with an indefinite term - were written by the author Joey Cavalieri and illustrated by the illustrator Joe Staton . Inker Bruce Patterson and Dick Giordano were hired for the ink drawings . The series was eventually discontinued due to declining sales.
A second Huntress series followed between June and September 1994, designed as a four-part mini-series. The booklet of this series was authored by Chuck Dixon , while the graphic design of the comics was done by the illustrator Michael Netzer.
In 1998, after a four-year release hiatus, the One Shot Huntress / Spoiler: Blunt Trauma , written by Dixon, and the four-part miniseries Nightwing / Huntress by Devin Grayson, in which Huntress goes on a hunt for criminals with the title hero of the series Nightwing , followed.
In 2000, the series continued with the six-part miniseries Huntress: Cry for Blood , written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Rick Burchett .
From May to July 2008, DC Comics released the six-part miniseries Huntress: Year One . It was written by Ivory Madison and drawn by Cliff Richards. Her career is told again: How she had to watch the murder of her family as an eight-year-old child until the point in time when she created her new identity in order to get revenge.