DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

Interesting that seems to be a contradiction from Morrison's Frankenstein who could take parts from any human and meld them into his body.

 

Out of boredom, I reread all four issues of Huntress this evening. (Thanks to Marcus To it's a pretty book, but it reads fast and I was done in about fifteen minutes.) Oh, it's a total retcon that the Huntress of the mini-series is in reality Helena Wayne; you can actually tell the point where Levitz decided he could (or was given permission to) do this.

On page three of issue #1, her passport reads "Helena Bertinelli." I don't think Helena's in Italy to check on family holdings, though; her plan in the first issue seems to be to stop some gun runners who are smuggling guns into Gotham, and she gets some local help with reporters thanks to a friend "at the Daily Planet." (It was that last one that makes me think that this was initially a mini-series planned pre-Flashpoint that didn't get published until post-Flashpoint.) The passport is pretty clear, the gun smuggling shows she has links to Gotham City (and that it's a Gotham City that matters to her, not from her perspective an alternate universe Gotham City), and that she has links to the wider DCnU since she has friends at the Planet.

There are also visual touches that indicate Bertinelli, not Wayne, in particular the crucifix that she wears. (Helena Bertinelli has been portrayed as a devout Catholic. Helena Wayne, not so much.) Even the costume she wears is Bertinelli, not Wayne -- again, the prominent cross on the chest.

It's not until issue #3 that we start seeing cats. The "cat person" line is in issue #3, and there's a random shot of Helena and a cat in issue #4. There's also a line in issue #4 that Helena's story is complicated. So I think it was after Levitz wrote issue #2 that he (or DC) decided on the Helena Wayne twist. If so, I suspect that that was supposed to be revealed in issue #6 as a surprise, probably on the last page, but DC's announcement of World's Finest spoiled that ending.

The only thing that really screams Helena Wayne in Huntress is the Huntress' attitude and professionalism. Helena Bertinelli has usually been characterized as driven but a little sloppy and a little hot-headed. The Helena of Huntress is a lot sharper, she knows the situation she's going into before she does anything. Levitz actually writes her a bit like the Robert Downey, Jr. Sherlock Holmes; Helena does a lot of tactical analysis in her fights.

So I agree that it's a retcon that it's Helena Wayne in Huntress. Four issues in, the evidence for that is totally random. It makes far more sense in the story for Helena to be the Helena Bertinelli Huntress we've known since post-Crisis.

All of that said...

I'm intrigued by World's Finest, though the idea of Levitz writing something Sex in the City-esque doesn't exactly thrill me. I'll buy it for the art, the characters, and the title.

 

^^^^
Thank you, since I only had read the first 2 issues your analysis of the where the likely change occurred makes sense. Especially put into perspective of that article posted upthread.

 

Am I misreading this or isn't this simply a rehash of a story we had only a couple of years ago - when there was a lost power-girl, a trip to Earth-2?

 

There was JSA #20, where she ends up in a fight with her counterpart on E2. http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/3165870.html

 

I remember that...it was pretty bad.

 

Come on Allyn you never heard of a fake passport? Obviously the name Wayne would be noticed and probably carries with it some papparazzi like fame so traveling with it would be a bad idea. The name Bertinelli means nothing allowing her to travel where and when she wishes.
A friend at the Daily Planet could be anyone as well, only you make the assumption that its a big name we should all know.

 

Yep and she's ( supposedly) shown burning the Bertinelli passport in the first issue of Worlds' Finest and picking out a new one from her "collection".

 

What she is getting at is that it was not the original intention of the writer (Levitz) for her to be the original Huntress until midway through the series.

 

Weren't they dropping hints that it was connected to Earth 2 before the first issue came out? Now given production schedules it possible that the first issue was ready before they switched gears and the interviews reflect the change. Though the character we see in this series doesn't sound like the OlDCU Huntress, even if she looks like her.

 

i actually thought it was a pretty fun story.

 

I was hoping that it would be fun...but it didn't quite get there for me at least.

 

Allyn's evidence is all trivial and, if anything, suggests a fusion between the Wayne-Huntress and the Bertinelli-Huntress to create this "revised" version for the New-52.

It was in the press release for the mini series. It was less of a hint and more of a sledgehammer.

 

DC hints at stuff?

 

Hinting to DC is spoiling the endings to their biggest events to drum up interest for the next event.

 

I may have understated.

 

ROFLOL! Are people in the creative industries actually forgetting how to forge good and solid stories nowadays? Why does every single thing have to be an event nowadays? I'd rather have standalone stories from way back in the day.

 

There are still good stories being told, there are also some great standalone stories as well. Broc's post was that DC (and Marvel) like to tell stories that lead up to a major event. The companies have events for a simple reason. We fans buy them. No other reason than that. We complain and be critical...and a few stop buying...but the majority of comics fans (like myself) will continue to buy event oriented comics in the hope that they are entertaining

 

Heh, I remember the hoopla about X-Men Vs Vampires last year, only for it to be a piece of shit by the end. They should have made it a memorable arc like Age of Apocalypse or the Phoenix Saga.

 

The intention is to have these types of events be as memorable as the ones we remember and are fond of from the past. It just doesn't already happen...and yeah that particular story arc was crap.