DC Super Heroines: M.I.A.
Hello and welcome. This column is focused on heroines from the DCU that have gone Missing in
Action (MIA). Now, in a fighting context, it would mean a soldier that disappeared. In this milieu,
it refers to a heroine that has not appeared in print for a long time, or could also refer to a heroine
that has only sporadically appeared, and or is being tragically mishandled.
DC has had quite a few female heroes since the 1970's, and had a small handful prior to that era of
feminism and feminist rhetoric. This column is to remind people of the history of the characters, to
be a memoriam to those heroines who have fallen, and to perhaps get some heroines to reappear if
the fates allow and the right people see these words.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths (Crisis), there were many heroines that died and then vanished
from continuity never to reappear. Many of those heroines were from Earth-2, and with their
passing, they left the universe, and have left the minds of many readers, or have gone undiscovered
by newer collectors.
One of those who fell, and I think vanished without appropriate pomp and circumstance was Helena
Wayne, the Huntress.
Helena was the daughter of the Earth-2 Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Selina Kyle
Wayne (Catwoman). Her first appearances were in the 70's revival of
All Star Comics, starting with issue #70, and her origin story was told shortly after her initial appearance in DC Super-Stars
#17.
Selina, after reforming as Catwoman had been out of costume for many years. She was blackmailed
by Cermak, a former henchman from her criminal past, into going out on another job in her old
personae. During this escapade, Bruce went back into his costume as well to foil the robbery, only
to see his wife get killed.
While this event drove Bruce into depression and seclusion, it brought out in Helena the same sort of
anger her father once had. Against his wishes, she created the costumed identity of the Huntress and
went to settle scores over her mother's death.
After bringing her mother's killer to justice, Helena joined the Justice Society and was a member
during all their appearances. At the same time, Batman Family
ran Huntress solo-stories from issue #17 until it was canceled with issue #21. In these stories, Helena worked by herself, but had a
notable crossover with Batgirl and Batwoman (who will be mentioned later in this article).
When the Justice Society ceased appearing in anything other than the annual JLA/JSA crossover,
she could often be found as the backup story in Wonder Woman, running from the late 70's
through the early 80's.
During her run as the back up story, Huntress also appeared in a three issue Wonder Woman epic
that combined many of the heroines of the DCU.
Helena again did not appear for a while in DC books until Infinity Inc. debuted in 1983.
For the first ten issues, during the Generations Saga, Helena again was in the forefront, and after the
conclusion, she took an inactive role in Infinity Inc., returning to the JSA, leading into the four issue
miniseries: America Vs. The Justice Society.
During this miniseries, Helena, who was a lawyer with a thriving practice, was legal counsel for the
JSA as the 'Batman Diaries' were being used against them as 'proof' of their anti-American
involvement in the past. Helena appeared briefly in her costumed identity, but for the most part
remained in her non-heroic personae to handle the JSA's defense.
After the trial, Helena didn't appear much until the Crisis on Infinite Earths. She, along with the
rest of the assorted heroes and villains (such an antiquated term, isn't it?) went about attempting to
save the multi-verse. In issue #11, The Huntress along with the Dick Grayson, the Earth-2 Robin,
were killed by a falling building.
There were services held for Helena and Dick in The Last Days of the JSA one shot. Her best
friend, Power Girl, as well as the rest of the surviving JSA mourned both Helena and Dick.
I can only assume that after this one shot, Helena's grave vanished from the world much like Fury's
memories of being the daughter of the Earth-2 Wonder Woman. No one seems to mention or
remember her within current continuity, and now there is a new Huntress: Helena Bertinelli, the
daughter of a mob boss.
Helena was an interesting character. In the context of Earth-2 she was balance to Power Girl. As
Power Girl was the strident, and often over compensating concept many had of feminists, Huntress
was the analytical, reserved, and calm female who was always in control of a situation. In the
Wonder Woman three part story as well as Crisis, Huntress and Power Girl's friendship paralleled
Batgirl and Supergirl for their ability to be open with each other, also showing the female version of
a Batman/Superman friendship where one person is a highly trained human with no special powers,
the other having 'powers far beyond those of mortal men.' Ok . . . women.
I think it was a shame they couldn't have kept Helena alive and simply given her a good retcon.
Although . . . were there any good retcons?
As she was mentioned earlier, the spotlight now falls on Batwoman.
An early spinoff of a male character, Batwoman first appeared in Detective Comics #233 (1956).
In her secret identity, Kathy Kane was an heiress who formerly worked with the circus as an acrobat.
She was bored with being one of the idle rich and wanted some action. Using Batman as her
inspiration, she created her own lair under her house: The Bat Grotto.
Driving a bat cycle and wearing a costume as bright as Batman's was dark, Kathy went out in the
world as Batwoman. Being the sexist age of the 1950's, Batwoman's arsenal of weapons was
carried in a purse. *groan* She had a lipstick that shot bullets, a powder-puff smoke screen, and
other assorted 'female' based weapons.
Batman was adamant that Batwoman should not fight crime and went so far as to find out her real
identity and then claimed anyone could do it and that she could be killed. This stopped Kathy . . .
for about fifteen seconds.
Kathy went back into harness as Batwoman and fought along side Batman and Robin many times.
Batman always told her to stop, and Kathy ignored him. He was patronizing, condescending, and
generally a jerk to her. I'm still surprised she never beat the daylights out of him to prove a point.
When Kathy's niece Betty came to visit, her identity was quickly found out, and Betty whipped up a
costume to be her sidekick: Bat-Girl. Much as Kathy was patronized and told to quit by Batman,
Kathy told Betty that she shouldn't be her partner, nor should she go out as Bat-Girl. Much like her
aunt, Betty ignored all requests and pleas to stop and went on ahead, fighting crime beside
Batwoman and their male counterparts.
This is where things got a bit revolting. Batwoman and Bat-Girl had respective crushes on Batman
and Robin. At times I wonder if this happened only to combat the ongoing rumour that Batman and
Robin were gay. There were plot lines where one hero would save the other, with the feminine half
getting all gooey and moving in for the kiss; a kiss that was only seen in the book length story:
Prisoners of Three Worlds in Batman #153.
Batwoman vanished from all bat related books in the early 60's not to be seen again until reprints in
Batman Family in the 1970's. After appearing with the newer Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and the
Huntress, Kathy was killed by the Bronze Tiger who was sent by the organization that trained him.
Betty on the other hand, post-Crisis, was retconned. As Bat-Girl, Betty (now known as Bette) was a
member of Teen Titans West, and had a very brief stint as part of this attempt at a bi-costal version
of the Teen Titans. After Crisis, Bette reappeared and was retconned into Flamebird (an interesting
way to hearken back to the old Nightwing and Flamebird from Superman stories).
As there has been no mention of Kathy Kane post-Crisis, and Bette Kane was retconned, I can only
assume that Batwoman never existed in the current DC Universe. Sort of a shame, but not a
catastrophic one.
Send all complaints, questions, hate-mail, and endearing words of love to Kirk Stark
Column by Kirk Stark
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