Wonder Woman, volume 1 #275 - Thinking Man's Crime

   JANUARY 1981
9th OCTOBER 1980

WONDER WOMAN, Volume 1 #275
THINKING MAN'S CRIME

We're in The Huntress backup strip that ran in Wonder Woman, including a running subplot we'll get to later!

We start with a magnificent splash page where we quickly explain Earth-Two, Huntress's origins, and Power Girl being there and just show them both in action.

Apparently, Gotham is having a bit of a crime spree, a good excuse to show a few pages of Huntress and Power Girl in action, along with some light banter about the situation. Though not too long as this is a backup and we only have eight pages to work with!

The final reminder is that the current District Attorney, like many in Gotham, is having a crackdown on Superheroes. To complicate matters the DA, Harry Sims, has a mutual thing for Helena Wayne, not knowing that she's Huntress! She is more inclined to protect his crackdown on heroes, whilst Power Girl is less keen on the idea. It's actually nice that they explain their idea as adults, rather than a dramatic shouting match with one of them stomping off, probably in the rain for extra dramatic effect!

Unknown to both of them, but now revealed to us, Harry isn't totally in control, being influenced by the Thinker using his appropriately named Thinking Cap. He helpfully explains that he caused the Crime Wave that opened the issue and that he plans to influence Harry to make superheroes illegal in Gotham City! Harry is fighting the influence but is not a match for the Thinker's powerful cap. All this whilst Helena is waiting to see him, with neither her nor his secretary, Samantha, seeing the Thinker come or go. It's a nice touch that Helena, and the comic, make's an effort to refer to Samantha by name rather than just having her be a faceless extra in the story.

Thinking something is up she changes into her Huntress costume to go around the outside, where she meets Power Girl, who I'm sure isn't just following her around just in case! Power Girl being around is handy, though Harry won't think so, as unable to beat the Thinker's hold over him he tries to commit suicide by throwing himself out of a window.

Without missing a beat Power Girl catches the man, she may not like him but at the end of the day, she's still a hero. Huntress also swings into action, only for Harry to recognize that Huntress is Helena, which makes sense it's not much of a mask to hide her identity.

We don't find out the result of this revelation as the comic ends on this very cliffhanger!

You can probably count the number of same-sex double-act friendships in DC on one hand (Ollie-Hal, Booster-Beetle, Fire-Ice and obviously Huntress-Power Girl*), and whilst I enjoy most of them (was never a Hal fan) I miss the interactions of other two characters the most.

* I don't count Superman and Batman, as they tend to be 50/50 friends or reluctant allies depending on how the wind blows. There's also Batgirl and Supergirl though, which is a similar pairing that lasted, more or less, to the modern day!