Huntress #1

[aeka]

Not sure how this works if you've already posted two pages from the preview, so just to be on the safe side, I'll just post two pages from the Huntress book that wreaked of all shades of awesome. ♥








So long story short, Helena discovered human trafficking and she's doing something about it. All in all, aeka likes. ♥

Characterisation-wise, Helena Bertinelli is still the fiery Italian we all love with a whole lot of boot to smash someone's jaw. She does however feel a bit more toned down than her post-Crisis self, though this may change later as the story progresses. I did particularly notice that Levitz blended elements of the Helena Wayne personality onto Helena B (namely her one-liners) while leaving the rest of her character in tact for the most part, but when I write a proper review of this issue on my Huntress blog, I'll be able to support this better. :P

Hope you guys pick this one up. :)

[Edit]: She's Helena Wayne. (01/13/2012)

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

i am SO glad these did not really give away spoilers (even though i am not one to shy away from them) i wanted to remain pure for this one *stop laughing!*

i THINK the toned down ness might be Levits keeping some of the development she had in birds of prey where she learned to not... you know, be so eager for the kill switch.

[aeka]

i THINK the toned down ness might be Levits keeping some of the development she had in birds of prey where she learned to not... you know, be so eager for the kill switch.

I hope that's the case, though I still wouldn't put it past her to beat the shit out of some "garbage" with a metal pipe and leave them dangling over a ten story building if they hit her berserk button.

(And given the subject matter this book touches upon, I wouldn't put that far from maybe.) :P

I do hope Helena rejoins Birds after this.

[thefiretonight]

I really enjoyed this. I came into the book never really paying much attention to Helena before. I bought it mostly because I love Marcus To's art. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it!

I wonder which way it's going to end up at the end. Is Helena from Earth 2 or DCnU? The letters page was purposely teasing! Ha.

[aeka]

Only DCnU Helena wears a cross on her costume. :P

Earth-2 Helena shows cleavage and wears her daddy's cape. :3

[darkknightjrk]

"She does however feel a bit more toned down than her post-Crisis self."

Really? In the first page of the book, Helena's monologuing to herself how many bodies she's going to leave behind in Italy once she's done.

But yeah, it's pretty good. It's kinda funny that her whole plot seemed to be "get the chain to come up to my hotel so I can beat the shit out of them."

[aeka]

I meant toned down in the sense that she doesn't seem as angry in this book as she did when she first started out, and that she's not as eager to kill as before.

But like I said, this may change later. :P

[mommy]

On a completely superficial level, I'm glad the artist got rid of the belly window. It made no sense for a normal human to fight organized crime without any armor over her belly, and her costume looks much better this way. Here's to hoping future artists keep her with this costume for a while.

[darkknightjrk]

Totally--I'm fine with the revealing costumes when it's characters who are invulnerable or generally super-powered, since it allows for that suspension of disbelief a little more. But for regular humans, even ones who have super-duper martial arts skills, it's better to have some sort of protection, even if it is the super-special kind that looks like tight spandex.

I just wish that they didn't go with the shoulder-pad look. I'm sure it's because Hamner was one of the design guys. I would have preferred the one that Nicola Scott drew her in--more streamlined.

[bjornwilde]

Wait...fight scenes that don't come across as cheesecake and a reasonable costume which doesn't have cheap thrill windows? I may have to pick this up if the rest of the issue follows the pattern of these pages.

[v_various]

yep.
I also did a quick "but is she wearing high-heels?" glance because it was almost too good to be true.
BUT IT IS TRUE!

[jeyl]

No belly window, no 50 sentences per monologue box and taking on thugs with guns like a real pro. *bought*

[thatnickguy]

Whoa, I didn't even know Marcus To was doing the art for this. Consider me sold, now!

[fifthie]

Huntress in her good costume owning bad guys.

Holy shit. There's a DC comic book I want to buy.

Fuck

[fifthie]

LEVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITZ

[eyz]

That makes one :P

Yes, I miss the pre-New 52 DC!! >__

[lieut_kettch]

New! Helena's gone a bit soft. She wouldn't have killed those thugs, but she wouldn't be above impaling their wrists to the wall with a well-placed bolt.

[richardak]

Too toned down for my taste. Much too toned down. I want her leaving a trail of bodies a mile wide. Otherwise, I'm enjoying this one quite a bit so far.

[aeka]

I want her leaving a trail of bodies a mile wide.

Except it's already been done for the 20+ years that she's been active. I actually find it refreshing that Levitz didn't bring her back to square one and have her retrogress in character development like some of the other DC heroes have undergone. I was worried about this at first, but after reading the full issue I think Levitz succeeded in blending the best of both incarnations of the character without drastically changing what this version of the character is about.

Personally I'll take the badass, but self-confident Helena B over the post-Crisis "angry-mafia-princess-desperate-for-Batman's approval" Helena for being able standout as her own character, and not serve as a female version of Batman, if not for anything else.

[whitesycamore]

So long story short, Helena discovered human trafficking and she's doing something about it.

But isn't that the story that all female heroes always get? Isn't that the same one she had in Pipeline, in fact?

At least tell me there's no scenes of helpless doe-eyed victims standing around in tattered clothes looking all cute and scared.

I mean, I'm all for comics denouncing human trafficking, but it does seem that woman-heroes get the woman-stories, and that the dynamics of the sex trade are covered in only the shallowest way.

If there was a female-led comic book that actually aimed to say something meaningful about the sex industry *and* the art didn't objectify the victims in a gross way, I'd be all over that.

[salinea]

Nah, you're pretty much spot on on this one, I think.

[eyz]

Seems like most of the Bat-crowd really wasn't affect by the reboot :P
Which is nice!
Now, if only the Flash-family (Wally, Jay..) and the JSA was still around...

[runespoor]

Why, I do believe this is the most pertinent place to segue smoothly into my usual complaint.

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASS.

[superfangirl1]

Awesome and need to pick this book up. :)

This issue was indeed awesome!

[steverodgers5]

Great art, Solid storytelling, and good use of what's always seemed to me to be a tremendously underated lead character. Loved it unreservedly.

Hope it gets a decent run!

[filthysize]

Not that I'm complaining, but this isn't part of the New 52, right? If I were DC, I'd probably hold off for a whole to avoid confusion. Again, not complaining, but I found the decision to release this so shortly after the relaunch, with a big honking "#1" on the cover, to be a little odd.

[crabby_lioness]

Her belly is sheathed. I am happy.

[liara_shadowsong]

I really like Huntress's current costume. Also, the art in general.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

This costume is perhaps the first thing I like about the new 52...