Helenaween #1 - DC Super-Stars #17

November / December 1977

August 25th 1977

DC Super-Stars #17

From Each Ending ...a Beginning

Happy Helenaween!

Did I decide to cover the original heroic Huntress over October just for the bad pun of a name? Maybe...

Unlike many, I never went through a Batman (or even Batfam) phase, so I've never gained an appreciation of post-Crisis Huntress (Helena Bertinelli).* So, coming to the JSA, I had no strong opinion on the original heroic holder of the name.** She quickly won me over, though, mostly by forming a duo with Power Girl, not unlike Fire and Ice (or if I guess, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold), mellowing Kara out, making her a less prickly hero. It's telling that it worked so well that now every time Pee Gee gets a long-running series, she's paired up with a female hero (though Atlee was more of a daughter-style relationship).

It's 1955, and we open with the wedding of the season, Bruce and Selina Wayne! Yes, in an age of sliding timelines, it's weird to get solid dates, and this isn't the last date we'll get. But as we're told early on, this is Earth-2, where the Golden Age heroes have existed since 1938. But obviously, lovely reader, you already know all this!

The first few pages get us up to speed on Bruce and Selina. She surrendered to the authorities and served her time before marrying in the summer. Dick Grayson takes on the mantle of Gotham defender, still as Robin, whilst in 1957, Helena Wayne is born, and Bruce retires as Batman to take up social activism full-time. This is all told in only two pages, from marriage to fully grown Helena.

Our happy family is, however, put at risk when an old acquaintance of Selena, Silky Cernak, threatens to reveal an accidental murder she committed when she was Catwoman. He bribes her into one last job at the Gotham Civic Center, a job that Batman goes to stop! In the struggle, Batman stops a goon with a gun, which causes him to accidentally shoot Selina, who then falls to her death, just to make sure, I guess.

He literally buries his costume with his wife, an event that broke him and allowed him to be turned against costumed heroes. For this is happening at the same time, publishing-wise, as All-Star Comics #69***, where the now Commissioner Wayne tries to arrest Power Girl, which is the actual first appearance of Helena by two whole days!

Whilst Bruce has given up Helena, following her family's tradition, swears revenge already adopted her Huntress costume. Here and in All-Star Comic, they often use a silhouette to suggest she looks like Batman, maybe hinting to readers of All-Stars as she isn't revealed until the very last panel of the comic.

We actually see her following leads, obviously, the World's greatest Detective taught her well. We don't see any of it, but obviously, between Bruce, Dick, and Selena taught her the skill she needed, without expecting her to take up the mantle. Here, no one knows she's adopted the mantle of the Huntress! We don't get much about her training, the comics has two other tales to tell after all, but no one seems upset that she's gained such skills (keep this in mind for later).

We have the conflict between Huntress and Silky, at a pier of Gotham docks, with him for most (if not all) of the fight, thinking he's fighting Batman. He even reveals he tricked Selena with a doctored photo, just before Helena puts him down like the fool he is! And she turns him in, with Commissioner Wayne not knowing that his daughter is this new vigilante.

This is a solid enough story that it's basically been retold twice for the other two times we've gotten a new Helena!

In the New 52 Worlds' Finest #0 (November 2012), Helena starts out as a new Robin on Earth 2, being trained by Selena to be a hero. Something that Bruce really isn't a fan of, until Selina talks her around by being all mushy, at least to Helena's eyes. Here she is an older teen, rather than almost twenty as she is in the original story. He also seems to have her on a pretty gruelling routine after being talked around so that's all good!

Again, Selina is killed, but this time it's terrorists who are using high-tech (probably Apokoliptian) weapons. Batman isn't able to follow her in, but calls on Clark to send help! He sends Kara, her Supergirl, but a future Power Girl, who saves Helena when she gets out of her depth. Her story parallels Helena being trained in secret by Clark, who's already lost Lois.

Both of these comics were written by the same writer, which shows how comics have changed (but also stayed the same) in the intervening time.

This is not the case for Justice Society of America #1 (January 2023) and #2 (March 2023), which have the honour of being the most recent comics I've covered so far! And being a time travel story, we get splashes of the story throughout the issues. 

In an alternate future where DC allowed Bruce and Selina to marry, Helena is born in 2024. Here, Batman is the one who died, killed by a random criminal (covered in Golden Age #1, Johns loves his interconnected comics), and Selina is not a fan of her being the Huntress. A twenty-something Helena is part of a JSA made up of former ex-criminals, and Power Girl, because she's a given, when Degaton attacks the team, Selina saves her daughter using a snow globe that sends her back to the (then) present! Ironically, this comic is full of dated events, even though they don't make sense!

Issue 2 doesn't add much to the story, apart from showing that Selina didn't survive the encounter with Degaton, and it seems Helena knows because of Dr Fate's magic, though it's really unclear from the art.

Any further thoughts I'll leave for the future me, considering the pace expect it in... 

* Except in the excellent Justice League Unlimited cartoon, and that Galatea looks mighty familiar... 
   If you haven't listened to it already, I recommend the JLUcast!

** In case you're not aware, the name was originally taken by an, appropriately considering, cat-themed villain from way back in the 40s. Talking of animated shows, adopting the name Tigress she worked with and eventually married the Sportsmaster, having a child called Artimes.

*** Issue #69 also is the first appearance of Pee Gee's scalloped neck costume that will see her through the rest of the 70s and into the 90s. It's also the first time she's called Kara, appropriately enough by Bruce!