I miss Helena Bertinelli

[starwolf_oakley]

I miss Helena Bertinelli as the Huntress. I know a lot of the "member of the Bat-family that doesn't quite fit in and has issues" slot has been filled by Jason Todd in the Nu52. I just miss her.










Cut pages of the Huntress fighting a bunch of the Joker's goons.




The Joker can appreciate people with great fighting abilities.



While DETECTIVE COMICS #741 is best known for the Joker killing Sarah Essen, the first few pages has Batman saving and then complimenting Huntress.







DLC content for ARKHAM CITY with Amy Acker as the voice of the Huntress would be cool. Just saying.

Comments

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"Bomb!"

"Dibs!"

[richardak]

I miss her too. I also think that DC made a huge mistake by getting rid of her.

[robinzegblu]

'Tec 741 was one of the first comics I ever read. I didn't buy it, just read it at Stop & Shop. I remember being shocked by the level of violence.

[arilou_skiff]

Oh thank God, she's holding a child.

What does it say about comic artists that my first thought was "What's wrong with her boobs?"

[onceaskrull]

I'll confess--when I was skimming this post, that was my first thought as well.

[runespoor]

This is my favorite Huntress scene. When I think of her, I think of this.

[shadowpsykie]

DLC content for ARKHAM CITY with Amy Acker as the voice of the Huntress would be cool. Just saying.

I HATE YOU FOR SAYING THIS! because now that is all i want!

[damar148]

I was reading Rucka's novelization of No Man's Land the other day, and it pissed me off how everyone was critizing or guilt-blaming Huntress. Like when she is forced to hand over Batman's territory due to being heavily outnumbered by Two-Face, Bruce blames her for not trying hard enough. Which makes her last stand here seem more the result of not wanting to be shamed again rather than just selless heroism.

And it's odd to see Oracle's narration here, when in the book she was rather hateful of Huntress for most of the story, down to almost shooting her in the head for 'daring' to take up the Batgirl mantle and remind her of what she lost.

[flint_marko]

I was reading Rucka's novelization of No Man's Land the other day, and it pissed me off how everyone was critizing or guilt-blaming Huntress. Like when she is forced to hand over Batman's territory due to being heavily outnumbered by Two-Face, Bruce blames her for not trying hard enough. Which makes her last stand here seem more the result of not wanting to be shamed again rather than just selless heroism.

I agree Batman was a giant dick to her; I believe his plan was to push her away so she would go to Pettit's side. But I don't think it means her last stand was just trying to win his approval. It was clear when Pettit started going off the rails that she stayed because she wanted to protect the people.

And it's odd to see Oracle's narration here, when in the book she was rather hateful of Huntress for most of the story, down to almost shooting her in the head for 'daring' to take up the Batgirl mantle and remind her of what she lost.

Well, Huntress did almost get herself killed protecting a bunch of innocent people.

[lego_joker]

... I'm sorry, but whenever I see this, the first thing my mind always jumps to is "Worst Joker Story Ever". That's probably hyperbole (there are likely tons of worse Joker stories floating out there somewhere), but no Joker story quite makes me gag like this one (okay, maybe Paul Dini's "Trust"). The sheer awfulness of Greg Rucka writing the Joker, in fact, singlehandedly drags my opinion of NML into the 6.5/7 range (were it not for "Shellgame" and "Endgame", NML would probably rank as a 9.5 or even 10).

Putting aside the fact that parts of this story feel like a lazy regurgitation of The Killing Joke/A Death in the Family, Greg Rucka, for all his considerable talents, can't seem to get a handle on the Joker (to be fair, I think he admitted somewhere that he belongs firmly in the "why the hell hasn't Batman killed the Joker?" camp, so using Joker in the first place might not have been his own choice). His Joker is a thing with little wit and even less charisma - all he's good at is being cruel. That leaves a rather unpleasant emphasis on the whole "he's Batman's greatest enemy, so he's super-competent!" trait - a trait that I've never cared much about, and one that, IMO, often turns the Joker into a mere plot device instead of a genuine character.

It is my opinion that THIS story was what truly kicked off the age of the Joker being a brainless murderer who couldn't make a flea laugh. The Dark Knight Returns, TKJ, and A Death in the Family might be better-known, but the era following those three stories featured someone of the best, funniest Joker I've ever seen (thanks in no small part to Chuck Dixon and the DCAU). This story, which capped off that era and opened the Bat-books into the early 2000s, has no such defense.

All that said, though... this isn't a bad story from the other characters' perspectives. Huntress is plenty badass, as mentioned, and the rest of the Bat-family is well-portrayed. The follow-up issues with Gordon were also plenty touching. Someday, they might retcon this story so that it features another villain - and on that day, I will let out a whoop of delight.

/endrant.

[junipepper]

I wish I could read the dialog in these scans. They are simply too small, and they don't appear to be linked to a scalable version elsewhere. I'd like it if the moderators would encourage people not to do this.

I do own the trade for this, so I can look at it at home, but that's most often not the case. It is off-putting to find things posted that I can't follow.