The Huntress's Trail - Page 1 
The Huntress

This page is dedicated to the original Huntress, Helena Wayne, daughter of
Batman and Catwoman.  A time traveller?  Not at all as her parents married in 
1955.  In case you haven't caught on yet I'm talking about Earth 2, home of
the Golden Age DC heroes and a world where Batman started his career in 1939.
If you'd like the whole story of how those two got together then check out 
The Brave and the Bold 197 (April 1983), "The Autobiography of Bruce
Wayne.  It's a good story and who cares that it doesn't fit current DC 
continuity?  As Alan Moore said when wrapping up the pre Crisis Superman's 
story, "This is an imaginary story, aren't they all?"

Okay, enough comics philosophy back to Helena.  Contrary to expectations 
Bruce Wayne did not raise his daughter to follow in his footsteps as in later
life he abandoned the path of the costume vigilante for the post of Gotham's 
Police Comissioner.  Besides he'd trained Robin as his successor.  Though both
Bruce and Selina made sure their daughter was raised to excel physically and 
mentally it was more from the point of view that it was an excellent goal in
itself rather than them wanting her to push her into crimefighting.  All of
which meant that after her mother died tragically thanks to a criminal from
her past Helena was ready and able to avenge Selina Wayne.

Like her father Helena dedicated herself to destroying crime and began a
vigilante career.  A vow redoubled after her father died saving Gotham City. 
She first became active in All Star Comics 70 (Jan-Feb 1978) and joined the
Justice Society of America but later that year she began appearing in solo
stories in Batman Family.  From Batman Family #20 (Oct-Nov '78) here's the
Huntress after her investigation into a city councillor committing arson took
a bad turn.  Knocked unconscious in the previous issue she awoke in a very
perilous situation ...









 
















While recovering from her ordeal Helena realized she had a new problem, there
was no reason her mask couldn't have been removed and replaced while she was
unconscious in which case her identity was blown.  So she stayed out of sight
in both identities while she looked for a why to nail him.  Fortunately the
arsonist councillor got caught by one of his own bombs so whether or not he
knew her identity became moot.

The Huntress strip didn't last long for the simple reason that neither did 
Batman Family.  The Huntress was back to just appearing with the JSA same as
all the other Earth 2 characters until 1983 when she became the backup series 
in Wonder Woman.  As you can see it didn't get her long to wind up tied up
and facing a fiery fate again in the final page of the story "Undertakings"!
(Wonder Woman # 303 May 1983)






If you'd like to take a look at how she got out of this mess and into a new
one then follow the link!










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