The Best of the Huntress: The Lion Roars At Midnight

Well, this is my last Mother’s Day post for the day…although it’s no longer that on my corner of the planet but for some of you it is.

Hopefully you guys have spent a wonderful Sunday with your mums, and hopefully you’ve let her know how important she’s been in your life. :)

For the love and honour of her own mother, here’s a pre-Crisis story about Helena Wayne beating up the guy who nearly killed her during her days as Catwoman. :)

Night everyone! Don’t be like me and stay up too late. ^^;

Hope everyone is enjoying a lovely mother’s day wherever you’re at. 

To continue the celebration of DCU mums, here is Selina Kyle’s main theme from The Dark Knight Rises. :)

More to come later.

BATMAN AND CATWOMAN #22

• Written by PETER J. TOMASI
• Art by PATRICK GLEASON, MICK GRAY and J. CALAFIORE
• Cover by PATRICK GLEASON and MICK GRAY
• On sale JULY 17 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
• Bruce Wayne continues to grind through his grief over the death of Damian—but is Catwoman here to help Batman or take advantage of his vulnerable state?

Sincerely hoping it’s the former instead of the latter. Getting tired of seeing Selina depicted as a ‘damaged’ person who ‘gets what she wants’ regardless of whether consent is present or not. That is not Selina at all. 

I haven’t actually played the game, but from the trailers and videos I’ve seen of her online and spin-off comics I read, I like that her characterisation stays true to the fact that she’s astute, intelligent, and skilled at what she does. I also like the design and texture of her costume, which I thought was pretty cool too.

The only thing I didn’t like is that her camera shots are very male gazey and the character is still objectified even in her narrative. I also felt they should’ve gotten Adrienne Barbeau to voice her since I didn’t feel the voice actress for the game sounded natural when she spoke. She sounded too infantilised and sounded like she was trying too hard to sound sexy. 

Hi! Thank you for your question and comments! :)

Since their very first incarnations in the 1940s comics and throughout various media, Batman and Catwoman have always been about sexual tension. They’ve always been a pair that literally plays on the idea of ‘the unrelenting crime fighter wanting and desiring the femme fatale whom he can never have’ that’s very common in many film noir narratives. The difference, of course, is that Selina has never been entirely villainous, often crossing the line between fighting on the side of crime and fighting against it. This is also one of the things that has always been a primary source of conflict between the two characters. Batman is all about law and order, while Catwoman respects the law but also enjoys the thrill of committing a theft and getting away with it, and even acknowledges when exceptions need to be made in ways that Batman does not. 

Throughout the course of their history, they always start out as adversaries, often engaging in ‘cat-n-mouse’ (or in this case ‘cat-n-bat’) style chases after Catwoman has (typically) stolen a valuable item. Sometimes her thefts are deliberate as a way of getting Batman’s attention, other times they’re not. Over a period of time Selina eventually starts to lean more towards heroic crime-fighting, though still enjoys a good theft. This development often allows the two to grow closer together to the point of even having an actual romantic relationship, and in the case of the Earth-2 universe, results in marriage and a young daughter.

The consistent pattern is that Bruce and Selina’s relationship is about two people who share the same values but respond to situations differently. Yet, despite those differences, they have a mutual love and respect for one another and over a period of time build a trusting relationship. Even when they can’t be a couple for whatever reason, they still manage to be very close friends who can depend on each other when they need each other the most. When they are depicted making love, it’s always handled gracefully and never in ways that are objectifying of both characters like the way it was depicted at the end of Catwoman #1.

That being said, when Judd Winick depicted Bruce and Selina as the epitome of two damaged individuals who engage in violent costumed sex regardless of whether or not there’s consent present, he got both of those characters completely wrong. When Ann Nocenti depicted Bruce and Selina in both the Young Romance and Catwoman #18, she got the ‘cat-n-mouse’ aspect of their early relationship right at least, but completely missed the mark on everything else. Bruce would never use violence on Selina neither as a way of making a point to her nor as a way of coping with the loss of his son, Damian, like he did in the latest Catwoman.

dcwomenkickingass:

Dear Catwoman or rather those of you who are responsible for her appearances in comics. I want to bring a problem to your attention. This week in Justice League of America #2 Catwoman’s costume was broken. No really, the zipper just didn’t work. See:

I am sure you are more than aware that Catwoman is a professional thief. She is supposed to be stealthy and runs with a dangerous crowd. Guns, knives, magical mumbo jumbo, you name it, can come flying at her at any minute.

In this role it is incredibly important for the zipper to work. For one thing, her costume, much like that of her “friend” Batman acts to protect her from all those items I named above. While it may not prevent a bullet it could prevent road burn, an errant knife or other dangers. This is particularly important because Catwoman does not have powers and thus could be seriously hurt or killed given the zipper is open where her heart is. You may remember that at one time a villain named Hush removed Selina’s heart and almost killed her. It therefore makes sense for her to cover up for many readers remember that. 

Secondly, Catwoman’s skin stands in dramatic contrast to the rest of her costume. The black costume makes her less visible at night. It’s why most of the folks wearing tights and kevlar in Gotham wear black. The problem is when Selina is unzipped her skin makes her less stealthy and easier to spot. 

That’s not good.

I’m sure Catwoman is very comfortable with her her body and may like to show some cleavage. Hey, a lot of women do. No one wants to stop that. 

But really the level to which the broken zipper had her showing cleavage was distracting. And not just for the readers.

Poor Vibe!

And I understand that being stealthy and stealing stuff can make one hot. But it doesn’t seem to bother her in own book where she has a working zipper … finally.

So please fix that zipper. She will still be sexy. When Anne Hathaway portrayed Catwoman she was zipped and it was fine.

See?

So far the JLA book has been a fun read. I’ll have more fun not worrying about that broken zipper.

Yours,

Sue

thebatandthecat:

I just read part of Catwoman #18—thankfully I had fair warning from helenawaynehuntress too as I am absolutely appalled by how Ann Nocenti has written Bruce and Selina for the Requiem arc. Like helenawaynehuntress told me, you just have to see the whole thing for yourself.

Now see these three pages above, from Detective Comics #800?

That’s how I picture them going through grief together. Not this horrid caricature of the very worst of both Batman and Catwoman.

The Real Bruce and Selina.

Yeah mum and dad can play a little rough sometimes, but they actually show mutual love and respect for each other.

Ann Nocenti, love, please take notes.

For anyone that’s been around since my blog’s infancy in 2011 probably remembers my ‘Helena Wayne Reacts to Catwoman #1’ edit, which specifically addressed the infamous penthouse ‘sex’ scene.

Ironically enough, that same edit accurately predicted that the Huntress of the New 52 was really Helena Wayne (see the last panel) months before it was officially announced, and that New 52 Wayne was going to be grossed out by her mum and dad’s unrestrained public display of affection (see panel 1, page 2) almost a year before it was actually shown. 

With today’s issue of Catwoman, it only made sense that I made another one of these after another writer has succeeded in missing the mark on the Bruce and Selina romance. 

Lets see how much of the future I predict this time. :}

But let’s be honest though…if there is at least ONE thing I am grateful to Paul Levitz for in this reboot is that he at least gets Bruce and Selina right, even if he no longer knows how to write their daughter these days. 

more-like-a-justice-league:

DC Heroes in Violet

The Best of the Huntress in Comics: Horoscopes of Crime

Here it is everyone! For Happy Beer Day, I give you the review for the issue of Batman Family that showed Helena Wayne infamously kissing the Earth-1 version of her father in a way that would make you look twice at the screen to make sure you weren’t too drunk at first glance. 

Fortunately, however, that is not the focus of the story. The bulk of the issue deals with:

• Helena Wayne’s first meeting with the Earth-1 versions of both her mother and father.
• Helena Wayne’s first meeting with the Earth-1 version of Dick Grayson.
• A Birds of Prey-style team-up between Batgirl, Batwoman, and Huntress.
• There’s even a team-up between Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Madame Zodiac, who are the three women these three heroines take on. (Do I even need to specify which one Huntress takes on?)
• The overall theme of this issue is luck (which is right up there with the theme of today’s holiday). ;)

It’s an all-in-all great story to pick up if you want to see how the initial meeting between Helena Wayne and the Earth-1 version of her family was handled before the clusterfuck that is the current DC universe. It’s also a great story to reference if you want to compare how they handle her meeting the Earth-1 Batfamily in the New 52 as opposed to the pre-Crisis continuity.

Chances are we won’t be seeing the current Helena Wayne awkwardly kissing the Earth-1 Bruce. 

That being said, I hope you all have had a great St. Patty’s Day. :)