All Carole's Day - Wonder Woman #277
13th November 1980
Every story so far has been a three-part story, so it's weird (if weird timing) that this is a story told in a single issue. And it finally pays off the subplot of Carole, so what better way to celebrate the new day after Helenaween!
We start not with Carole, but Helena! She moping around watching the snow as she bemoans that Harry Sims, long-time friend and Gotham's DA, figured out that she was Huntress. She also claims, to a very '66 looking ghost of Batman, that he never accidentally reveals his identity to anyone*. Something I very much doubt, but I've not gone back through old Golden Age comics** to check. Though any talk of the vigilante bill has been thrown out, so that's nice!
We then see Carole letting someone into Helena's office, this is Joe Martin, Carole Martin's (ex)husband, who's looking for blackmail material to sell for more money that he feels that she owes him! Now, Carole and Joe are African-American, and he's depicted in a very (I think) stereotypical 70s street way. Though I can't speak to whether this is actually a racist depiction, or just a very leaning a little too heavily on old tropes. The book doesn't make any mention of the race of the character, but it needs to be mentioned because when he chooses to slap Carole when he doesn't get what he wants.
Anyway, Huntress turns up and beats the Joe for attacking Carole, causing him to flee the offices. Carole then confesses to her boss, though she doesn't realise it, that she's been embezzling money to pay him.
We then gets the DA going over much the same as we read earlier, though he is thinking about what he could gain by outing his friend. And also suggesting that he has feelings for Helena.
Huntress, however, is chasing down Joe, meaning she has to use her crossbow to fire a line and swing across to the subway train he's travelling in. For this comic, it's quite a fancy one-page action sequence. She then stalks through the train car to again slaps down Joe!
We then cut back to Carole, who's tidying her desk ready to quit the job, before Huntress turns up again to tell her that Joe's been arrested and that she should tell her boss, who will probably be understanding about the whole thing (being Helena is Huntress, for those who quickly forget).
Swinging away, Helena realises that she also has to face her problems rather than avoiding them like she was at the start of the issue!
And there we go, a strange little character story that was smushed between two longer stories, in modern terms, a breather episode. It's also the last appearance of Carole, and whilst Harry will hang around, we see less of him (though he's still vital) and the law firm being less part of the plot.
*except Selina, and Dick and Helena obs!
** oh wait Clark as well!
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