thoughts on Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood

[ratcreature]

After reading about Huntress, I've now read the 2000 retcon of her origin story myself, Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood (written by Greg Rucka, pencils and inks by Rick Burchett, except in #5 and #6 which have inks by Terry Beatty), and overall I liked the story. I was of course spoiled by reading summaries, but I have to say that from just knowing Huntress from guest appearances in BOP and such, and the Nightwing/Huntress series, I wouldn't have expected her to act like this.

Even having read summaries, the end still had something of a sucker punch effect on me. I mean, she doesn't do it herself, but she arranges for Santo Cassamento, the man who ordered her family to be wiped out and also her biological father, to be killed, because she wants revenge, because "blood cries for blood." She asks her uncle Tomaso Panessa for a favor, and while we don't hear her words then (I guess mostly so that it'll hit you harder as a reader later on), it becomes clear that she asks him to kill Santo, and tells him where he'll be able to find him, or something to that effect. Then she arranges it so that Santo has to be at that drug shipment personally, by beating up on his goons, meets Santo outside, letting him believe that he's still blackmailing her with his knowledge of her identity, calmly takes off her vigilante garb after he went inside, and stands by outside while he is murdered, not swayed in the least by the Question/Vic's pleas to stop it either. She also placed an anonymous tip so that Tomaso will go to jail. And as her final act we see her throwing her crucifix down into the water by the pier (which, as far as I can see doesn't reappear in her guest appearances in Batman and Detective after this series, even though she still wears her old costume, not the current one).

I think what hit me, is how she takes off her costume before standing by his murder, as if she somehow doesn't want her vigilante persona tainted by this revenge killing she arranged. It was a really powerful scene, but it changed my view of her.

Unrelated to the Huntress stuff, what's up with Tim and Barbara in this series? Here Barbara knows Tim's identity, when she didn't in BOP #19 which was published the same month as #2 of this series. It's not so much that I have a problem with her knowing, I mean, in a way it's kind of weird that we were supposed to believe she didn't in BOP #19, despite things like Tim's rescue from NML, which should have made the connection between Robin and Tim quite obvious to Oracle, I think. It just doesn't fit.

Comments

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

I love CfB. It's a damn shame it's been virtually ignored, though, except insofar as giving Jim Lee an excuse to design a hideous costume for Helena. :p

What's up with Tim and Barbara is 1) miscommunication among the Bat-editors (shock) and 2) Chuck Dixon maintaining that his heroines are stupid. ( I liked most of early BoP, but there are moments, particularly in Dinah's case, that made my eyes roll.)

Rucka has stated that he had assumed Barbara knew when he wrote CfB. ( He does not, like Dixon, think she is stupid.)

There's another anomaly, too: Rucka didn't know that Dick & Babs had gotten together when he wrote the Dick/Helena kiss at the end of NML. Bad communication in both cases.

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

The parentheticals are particularly bitchy asides and assumptions on my part. Please ignore at will. ;)

[ratcreature]

Okay, I suspected it was a failure to communicate, I think what I'm wondering is kind of which version "won" and whether it was addressed at a later point. I haven't read all of BOP (yet) and little of the Robin series, so I'm not really sure what became of this issue. I mean, I could fanwank BOP #19 as Babs humoring Tim or something like that, and just assume that she knew by the time he got out of NML at the latest, because, you know, the rescue, tv broadcasts with his name, and what not, or I could put aside Barbara calling him Tim in CfB, if she finds out at a later point and we see that. If they have continued to ignore this, I'll probably go with the first rationalization, because it is less ridiculous in terms of Oracle as a character.

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Yeeeep. Wow. Okay, I totally need this, I think. Because... yeah.

but I have to say that from just knowing Huntress from guest appearances in BOP and such, and the Nightwing/Huntress series, I wouldn't have expected her to act like this.

Exactly. Hunh.

[ratcreature]

Okay, I totally need this, I think.

You do. We get lots of cool background on Helena and just how fucked up she is. Also we see Nightwing beating up Huntress because she accidentally shot Batman with her crossbow, and he doesn't take that too well:
"You hurt him."
and Dick doesn't pull his punches after that (in the next issue she looks like a victim of domestic abuse...)

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Yeeeee. *NEED*

My God that's fucked *up*.

I love this fandom.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

I adore Greg Rucka.

And you, for putting these scans up! Thanks.