So tell me a little bit about this Huntress series. It’s one of the first things kind of coming after that initial wave of New 52 books, and another character who you are very closely associated with, even though we haven’t seen your Huntress in comics for a long time. I haven’t read up on all the ins and outs of this new series. How are you splitting that difference? Is there a way in which the relaunch is enabling you to bring in some elements from the character that you wrote before back into this new Helena, or are you really kind of starting from whole cloth again?
Well, the thing that unites both characters is that they were driven by attitude. Within the DC universe then, and I think still through most of the run of the Helena Bertinelli version, and probably right now going forward—there’s a really tough broad. Her attitude towards what’s going on is much more direct, it’s much more action-oriented, she’s less tolerant of criminality, moral criminality, she’s very unambiguous in all of those ways, and that creates a great storytelling opportunity.
“
| — |
Paul Levitz discussing the Huntress during a video interview with CBR in Summer 2011, just before Huntress #1 release. (source)
There will be a point to this quote later.
|
Perche mi ricorda tanto una gatta in quel di Roma?
“
| — |
Actual quote on an Italian forum for La Cacciatrice: La Balestra al Crocevia (aka Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads).
Translation: Why does this remind me too much of a cat in Rome?
|
WHY KILL Damian Wayne?
That is the nagging question upon seeing that DC Comics is killing the 10-year-old son of Batman, who also happens to be the current Robin the Boy Wonder.
It doesn’t make sense. Especially given the success of Scott Snyder’s recent two storylines (Night of the Owls and the Joker-fueled Death of the Family), Batman doesn’t need a gimmick death for attention.
I can hardly believe this news. Surely this JSA annual featuring Power Girl and the Huntress will be my favorite single issue in more than 20 years. I hope it lives up to my expectations. I wonder how many copies I would have to buy to convince DC to feature Helena Wayne on a regular basis?
Can you tell I am excited?
Time is the Little Death – Writers of longer texts sometimes don’t know what to do with their characters between scenes. Often, two mistakes are made: (1) Passage of time is not explained and suddenly the characters are at their next destination and the reader is left in the lurch and (2) passage of time is written about where pretty much nothing happens and readers read the most boring 1-4 chapters they have ever had the displeasure of scrolling through. Have you ever been reading a novel and want to skip ahead to the good parts? This is a writer guilty of laziness. This is problem combatted with careful planning, hard work that some writers are not willing to sweat about and it is their fatal flaw. An outline is a very good idea especially for long works. Know where the characters are going ahead of time and you won’t have to bore the readers while you figure it out for three chapters.
Most things are strengths or weakness. I mean, I’ve always been a fast writer; I’m not a very meticulous writer. And in the beginning of my career when I didn’t have a lot of craft going for me yet, I wrote a bunch of stuff that I kind of shudder to look at.
I just feel like Power Girl and Huntress are two really great characters and they’re Earth-2 characters seem interesting. It’s just that with every issue we get to see “well how are we going to escape to Earth-2 this week?” First of all, in Earth-2, you know, Kara, her cousin is dead. And for Huntress, her mother and father are dead. So why go back to Earth-2 if they have millions, billions of dollars in this New Earth, and you know…enjoying themselves…a lot, why would they want to go back to their crappy world of Earth-2? And why should we care about their story, if they don’t care about their story? They want to leave their story so much, they don’t care about where they are. Why should we care? And I feel like with every issue, you’re not getting closer to get back to Earth-2, and you know, most comics, it gets boring if they do the same thing over and over again, and say the same thing over and over again.
Send one more girl into sex trafficking…or let your cronies abuse her, and I’ll show you what it’s like be a hunted animal, Ibn Hassan…even if I have to track you across the desert.
“
| — |
Helena Wayne (Huntress #6)
On the one hand, bad ass line. On the other hand…comparing a middle eastern guy to a hunted animal. Not cool.
|
nonsono-lei:
Levitz, why you no continue to write insults like this?!
Clearly, this has to be my favorite line that Helena Wayne has uttered. Ever.
Helena Wayne did indeed have some great lines pre-Crisis. Though I think my overall favourite line from her Paul Levitz’ pre-Crisis run has to be this one:
“If you like hurting women, try hurting me…I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing here, but I have a word of advice for you: GET OUT!”
(Despite the very racist depiction of a black man as a violent gangsta, that line was still so very satisfying in response to the domestic violence taking in Helena’s own office).
I sympathise deeply with those readers who have lost their Huntress. It sucks when “your” version is taken away from you – having a favourite character killed off is bad enough, but having one rebooted out of reality is harsh, and the New 52 has featured a great many blows for fans of female characters in particular.
“
| — |
Tansy Rayner Roberts (Where the Wonder Women Are: #12 Huntress)
THIS! SO HARD THIS!
As a fellow Helena Wayne fan here, I do feel for my fellow Helena Bertinelli fans who are now experiencing exactly what we went through when we lost our Helena to the first reboot after only nine years of publication.
From the loss of our Helena, they got their favourite version of the character whom they had for 22 years, and from their loss we got our Huntress back. It’s a dick-waving contest of misery as someone else put it.
|
