Helenaween #8 - Wonder Woman #274

December 1980 

11th September 1980

Wonder Woman #274
The Speaker in the Shadow

As Helenaween goes towards its end, we have the introduction of a new character, Power Girl!

Now this isn't the first time I've recovered a previous issue, but this is the first time I've done it as part of the middle of an ongoing story. When you skip around to follow a single character, sometimes you have to make choices about how much of a series you read to get the feel of a series. If it's an anthology like Showcase or a quick cameo like Doom Patrol, then it doesn't really matter. But here you're building on what's happened in the rest of the comic so far, so context can be lost skipping around.

Anyway, Pee Gee is very angry at the DA for his proposed anti-vigilante bill. And this is out of nowhere, as the two characters haven't interacted before! Huntress seems pretty chill about it, even though this ban would make her a criminal in Gotham. When the two heroes leave, we learn that, as hinted, he has put together that Huntree and Helena are the same person! 

The girls are having a nice coffee in the there civilian identity, well, get a mention of Vinson helping Kara in her newish civilian disguise, but any of the gory details is cut off by her hearing that DA Sims backed down on the vigilante bill. In a weird choice, we see her hearing a boombox blocks away in the park, but only showing her quoting it, not the broadcast itself!


We get a quick one page of Carole leaving the office to give cash to a mysterious stranger. A long-running subplot that we won't see solved here!


Meanwhile, we learn that Sim was being controlled by the Thinker, or at least was in some sort of nefarious deal. Whatever the deal it is it's going into action as goons are raiding the Acme Engraving Plate, who have Printing Plates, the money kind, I assume!

Our eswhile heroes turn up to stop the robbery, Power Girl taking a bottle of acid meant for Huntress! We get a rather short fight where the two manage to lock all the goons in the company's massive safe, before we leave on the shock reveal that Gotham is burning! At least we Pee Gee here, we actually get an easy fight, with Huntress doesn't have to suffer with her losing despite actually being relatively competent.

Well, on to the aforementioned Crime Wave!

Comments

  1. AnonymousWednesday, 29 October 2025 at 18:51:00 GMT-4

    The Helenaween series has been so fun! And gmail constantly puts the emails into spam, I click not spam, just to do the same thing next time. But I will NOT give in, Google!!

    ReplyDelete

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