Bertinelli or Wayne: the best Huntress is ?

[Triniking1234]

I think the only time I saw the Paula Huntress was in the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon where they show Sportsmaster with his wife and kid.

Young Justice changed a lot tho. Like making Cheshire Sportmaster's daughter threw me off cuz I didn't remember that happening in NTT.

[Jim Kelly]

As the Huntress, Paula was a Wildcat foe in the late 1940s. She had several encounters with Ted Grant in SENSATION COMICS before she joined the Injustice Society of the World against the Justice Society (sans Wildcat) in ALL-STAR COMICS 41 (June-July 1948). Sportsmaster (Crusher Crock) was also in that particular Injustice line-up.

The Huntress and Sportsmaster next returned, as a duo, in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 62 (October-November 1965), the second of two team-ups of Starman and Black Canary, set on Earth-Two. Paula and Crusher returned again as part of the Injustice Society in a two-part League/Society crossover--JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 123 - 124 (October and November 1975). Elliot S! Maggin was guest-star and co-writer on that and he then introduced the Earth-One counterparts of the Huntress and Sportsmaster (who were virtually the same as the Earth-Two version) in BATMAN FAMILY 7 (September-October 1976) where they battled the Dynamite Duo of Batgirl and Robin (Babs and Dick).

The Earth-One pair were pivotal to "The Great Super-Star Game" by Rozakis, Dillin and McLaughlin in DC SUPER STARS 10 (December 1976). In that story, the married couple have settled down in the burbs and can't decide whether to go straight or return to a life of crime. They choose to organize a baseball game--Paula will field a team of super-heroes and Crusher will draft a line-up of bad guys. Who wins will determine which path the couple takes.

Sadly, that was the last we saw of those two pre-Crisis, but Huntress and Sportsmaster returned on Earth-Two for one last kick at the cat, accompanied by the Thorn, in ALL-STAR COMICS 72 (May-June 1978) and 73 (July-August 1978), where they faced off against the Justice Society--which included the Huntress (Helena Wayne) and Wildcat (Ted Grant).

Back in ACTION COMICS 1 (June 1938), along with Zatara the Magician, the Tigress made her debut as his foe. She made many returns in ACTION as Zatara's arch enemy, leading her own gang of ne'er-do-wells. Meanwhile, in 1941, when a number of villains formed a "League to Destroy Superman" in the Man of Steel's daily strip, he was nearly undone by the Blonde Tigress (Lil Danvers), but she ultimately sacrificed herself to save Superman.

At the same time, in 1941, SPY SMASHER encountered an enemy also called the Tigress, in the pages of his own title. And in BLACKHAWK 11 (June 1946), the squadron of air-aces stormed the hidden fortress of another Tigress and her gang of fugitives. This last one was also known as the Tiger Lady--comics were full of Tiger Ladies, Tiger Women, Tiger Girls.

[Stanlos]

Who do you think is the best Huntress Helena Wayne ( pre-crisis or New 52) version or Helena Bertinelli (post crisis or New 52) version ?

I started with the Helena Wayne Huntress in the back ups with Power Girl in the WW books. But it wasn't til Bertinelli circa No Man's Land and that glorious costume that I became an uberfan. I don't know that one is "better"--they have different dramatic hooks

[marhawkman]

honestly... kinda feels like different characters. Same name, and..... not a lot else.

I can't think of any time i've actually read/seen a full Helena Wayne story, but everything I have seen just feels different.

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

honestly... kinda feels like different characters. Same name, and..... not a lot else.

I can't think of any time i've actually read/seen a full Helena Wayne story, but everything I have seen just feels different.

Read the Huntress mini series from the new 52 era imho, the best Huntress Helena Wayne series

[Jim Kelly]

Helena Bertinelli--I just can't get over that last name. I love Valerie Bertinelli as much as the next guy and I realize that comic book creators want to live out their fantasies through their characters, but what was Joey Cavalieri thinking? Is Valerie really going to be impressed that he named a crime family after her? Why not pull a Bob Kane and give them his family name--the Cavalieri crime family? That would ensure Joey a shot at immortality.

[exile001]

Helena Bertinelli--I just can't get over that last name. I love Valerie Bertinelli as much as the next guy and I realize that comic book creators want to live out their fantasies through their characters, but what was Joey Cavalieri thinking? Is Valerie really going to be impressed that he named a crime family after her? Why not pull a Bob Kane and give them his family name--the Cavalieri crime family? That would ensure Joey a shot at immortality.

That's a leap, more likely he just wanted an Italian sounding name. No more, no less.

[Jim Kelly]

That's a leap, more likely he just wanted an Italian sounding name. No more, no less.

Not very likely for Cavalieri and people of his generation (including myself and Valerie Bertinelli herself). Even if somehow, while he was writing and editing comics in the 1980s, he never turned on a T.V. set or read the entertainment section of the newspaper or heard anything to do with Van Halen, everyone else at work would have been quick to note that Bertinelli is the name of that girl from ONE DAY AT A TIME that married Eddie Van Halen. It was like a flashing neon sign to anyone reading comics in 1989 who had a pulse.

[thwhtGuardian]

The cultural zeitgeist certainly makes it feel plausable but with all the years since then and all the interviews he's done over the years you would have thought he would have mentioned it by now wouldn't you? Especially after the passing of Eddie, you would have thought that would have spurred him to share that his love of Van Halen caused him to name a character after Eddie's former flame...but no, not one single mention that Valerie Bertenelli was his inspiration which kind of stretches the plausibility.

I'm not saying there isn't a connection whether consciously or subconsciously( I can't read minds and have never talked to Cavalieri before), but there is more than a little doubt there that I don't think one can say it's definitively true. Someone should page Brian Cronin and get him on it!

[marhawkman]

The cultural zeitgeist certainly makes it feel plausable but with all the years since then and all the interviews he's done over the years you would have thought he would have mentioned it by now wouldn't you? Especially after the passing of Eddie, you would have thought that would have spurred him to share that his love of Van Halen caused him to name a character after Eddie's former flame...but no, not one single mention that Valerie Bertenelli was his inspiration which kind of stretches the plausibility.

I'm not saying there isn't a connection whether consciously or subconsciously( I can't read minds and have never talked to Cavalieri before), but there is more than a little doubt there that I don't think one can say it's definitively true. Someone should page Brian Cronin and get him on it!

Well, If you're just using a "cool sounding" name doesn't require you to remember where you heard it.

[exile001]

The leap I meant was thinking Cavalieri was somehow trying to impress Bertinelli, live out his fantasy, or even that he should give his own name immortality.

Writers use names from Pop Culture all the time.

A. J. Lieberman wrote a Martian Manhunter miniseries where he named all the new characters after British football players/managers (Man United IIRC), was he trying to impress them?