Why I miss Helena Wayne, the Pre-COIE Huntress

[Lorendiac]

A few weeks ago I wrote this on the spur of the moment, in response to someone on the Newsarama forums who said frankly that he didn't understand why people still loved Helena Wayne. His basic point was that whatever he'd seen of the Pre-COIE Huntress (Helena Wayne of the old Earth-2) in old stories struck him as "trite," and he thought the modern Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, had gotten much better character development. (Although I should mention that he didn't specify how many of Helena Wayne's appearances, by which writers, he had actually bothered to read.)

His query about why anyone would love her inspired me to take a stab at explaining just why I miss Helena Wayne. The rest of this post is what I said, spontaneously, in response to that query.
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I'll try to explain my own Helena Wayne love.

It's not that I can point to half-a-dozen of her Pre-COIE stories and say with a straight face, "Those were some of the finest storytelling in the superhero genre that I've ever seen -- I've got practically every word of dialogue memorized, but I still go back and reread them five times a year, every year, to remind myself of how superior the stories about that character used to be."

Nope. I hardly ever bother to reread the old Huntress appearances in my collection.

What I'm in love with is not any specific story from 25 or 30 years ago. It's the basic concept of a Huntress who is the daughter of a lawfully wed, happily married couple who were also the original versions of Batman and Catwoman. I love the idea that she's their daughter; I love the idea that she actually knew both her parents when she grew up in their household as a beloved child after Batman found some real happiness and stability in his personal life (instead of her being raised on the far side of the world by someone else); I love the idea that she's doing her best to follow in Daddy Batman's footsteps after his death.

(As opposed to such nonsense as Damian, Batman's "long-lost son" who's been trained to assassinate people in the years before Batman ever knew the kid existed. What do I care about a nasty little thug like that who's been retconned in out of thin air and probably will vanish into limbo again after Morrison's run is over?)

I very much wish that Helena Wayne had been kept in continuity in her native Earth-2 universe after Crisis, so that a wide range of writers would have had the option of writing stories about her on a regular basis. Some of those stories could have been great. Some of them might have been mind-numbingly bad. Some of them would have struck me as falling in the "mediocre" range of the bell curve. It's not that I think any story about her would automatically be worth reading and rereading; it's just that I'd like to have various writers take turns in regularly churning out fresh material about her all along, instead of her vanishing from the scene entirely from the mid-80s onward!

I'd even like the chance to write scripts for her myself, one of these days!

Does that help you understand why I miss her, regardless of the merits (or flaws) in any specific appearance she had in the old Pre-COIE continuity?

[Miss Webb]

I dunno, I never thought her that interesting. She seems like another Huntress to me.

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

I aways loved Earth 2 Huntress and I'm hoping that we will see some stories on her new earth 2 character.

[Aristotle]

Originally Posted by Miss Webb

I dunno, I never thought her that interesting. She seems like another Huntress to me.

The differences between her and post-COIE Huntress are glaring and obvious.

[Miss Webb]

Originally Posted by Aristotle

The differences between her and post-COIE Huntress are glaring and obvious.

Such as? I never followed the other Huntress much, there was no 'hook' to grab my interest.

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

Originally Posted by Miss Webb

Such as? I never followed the other Huntress much, there was no 'hook' to grab my interest.

Well to begin with the pre-Crissis Huntress, Helena Wayne was the daughter of the known as Earth 2 [a parallel dimension] aging hero Bruce Wayne [Batman] and his wife, Selina Kyle (the former criminal known as Catwoman) and was trained by her parents to become a superb athlete and a detective.

Helena began her super-hero career when a criminal blackmailed her mother into resuming action once again as Catwoman....useing a faked photograph "Silky" Cernak convinced Selina Kyle that she onced murdered a police officer during her Catwoman days and Selina feared that if Bruce and her new family and friends found out the her life would be in ruins.

Selina Kyle was killed by "Silky" Cernak when Batman showed up to stop a breakin.Catwoman died in the arms of Batman....leaving him a broken man.

Anguished by this stain to her mother's memory, Helena, decided to bring the criminal responsible to justice, Helena adopted a costume in honor of both her parents and became the Huntress. She tracked down "Silky" Cernak and arrested him, leaving his unconscious body bound in a net outside of Police Headquarters. She learned that the photograph that Silky had in his possession was doctored and that her mother never actually killed anyone. With her mother's honor restored, Helena continued to fight crime as the Huntress formally joining her father's former ward Dick Grayson as his junior partner and later became a member of the JSA as well as that of Infinity INC..

The post-"Crissis" Huntress is Helena Rosa Bertinelli, the daughter of one of Gotham's mafia bosses who, after seeing her entire family murdered by a mob hit, vows revenge. Batman does not aprove of the Huntress, believing her to be too unpredictable and violent. Others in the Batman family feel differently; for instance, Robin [Tim Drake] has always had a good working relationship with her.She laters joins the JLA and JSA and is now a member of the Birds of Prey.

[Sparta*]

I find all the Earth 2 characters fascinating. I think its awesome that Bruce and Selina got married and had Helena. It's so strange thinking about Batman married with kids...and it also makes his death that much sadder. I guess there just isn't room for 2 Bruce Waynes

[Miss Webb]

I kind of knew the bare bones of her history. It just seemed too much like "our" Bruce, I guess. I always preferred reading about the post COIE Huntress, her origin seemed more original. And for some reason the "other" Bruce being retired (although realistic) kinda reduced him in my eyes. Maybe his Selina was different. The current Cat and Bat have no real chemistry outside of costume. It's all 'persona' driven. When I see Bruce and Selina in street clothes, its like ok, whatever.

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

Originally Posted by Miss Webb

I kind of knew the bare bones of her history. It just seemed too much like "our" Bruce, I guess. I always preferred reading about the post COIE Huntress, her origin seemed more original. And for some reason the "other" Bruce being retired (although realistic) kinda reduced him in my eyes. Maybe his Selina was different. The current Cat and Bat have no real chemistry outside of costume. It's all 'persona' driven. When I see Bruce and Selina in street clothes, its like ok, whatever.

Yes the earth 2 version of Catwoman was very different then "post crissis" Catwoman.Batman being semi retired never bother me much because it made him more real to me.I think that evey man has a breaking point and E2 Batman's was his wife dieing in his arms.

And He felt that it was partly his fault.First his wife did the job that got her killed because she wanted to spare Bruce's feeling.Second she was killed trying to save Bruce.

[Super_Ludacris]

Hell of a love letter...

[Lorendiac]

Originally Posted by Super_Ludacris

Hell of a love letter...

I didn't really think of it as a "love letter." After all, I wasn't talking to her; I was only talking about her!

If she and I lived in the same world, and if I were trying to send her a love letter, I wouldn't come right out and tell her: "Mainly, I love you because of who your parents were." Somehow, I have a hunch that this isn't exactly what a girl wants to hear . . .

[Arkady Rossovich]

The concept of a child that is Batman and Catwoman's is interesting.I think there is huge untapped potential there,and i think she should have been brought back instead of someone new being brought in.I also think the new son will dissapear soon after.

[elgato]

I miss her also, she was the daughter of my two favorite characters, she appears at the end of 52

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

Originally Posted by elgato

I miss her also, she was the daughter of my two favorite characters, she appears at the end of 52

That one's not the same as the Pre-COIE Huntress.

[MaskedManJRK]

I like the post-Crisis Huntress, if only because of Cry for Blood. From what I've seen of Pre-Crisis, Cry for Blood is better then all of the other Helena Wayne appearences combined.

[Léo Ho Tep]

she's back!