Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 1

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 1
Jun 2000

Cry for Blood (Part 1)
By Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett

The Huntress, aka Helena Bertinelli, is framed for murder. The victim is her cousin, Claudio Panessa. Batman confronts Helena about the murder of Claudio. The primary piece of evidence that links her to her cousin’s murder is the murder weapon, a bolt from a crossbow.

This chapter digs into Helena’s family history. She narrates the story of her ancestors. She explains how they came to be part of Gotham’s underworld, one of the five families, and about the bad blood among the families. Her parents and brother were murdered by one of the other families but she was spared. To this day she wonders why. She was taken in by the Panessa’s, a renegade family, not one of the five. Helena’s mother was a Panessa but, as Helena describes it, her mother was the only good thing to come out of that family.

Helena pays her respects to her Uncle Tommy, Claudio’s father. No one there seems very happy to see her or warmed by Helena’s presence. The chapter ends with her leaving the Panessa household and almost running over the Question. He knows who she is and that she is also the Huntress.

This chapter is dominated by Helena Bertinelli. There is little to no Huntress content. The series as a whole bears Batman's name as if he is a co-star but he only appears here and there. His name was probably only included in the title to boost sales. I have read this story before but it has probably been over 10 years since the last time I read it. I don’t love this version of Huntress’ costume. The diagonal lines don’t work for me. I would prefer something along the lines of her original costume or the one she wears in the JLU cartoon.

Good read so far. The words and pictures mesh together quite well. It is still unclear who killed Claudio Panessa. It is pretty clear that Rucka and Burchett want the reader to think that Huntress did it but I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case. There are plenty of murderous types in this book who might have killed Claudio. Pinning the crime on the Huntress seems like a no-brainer considering how much the mob hates her.

Notes

What is Helena Bertinelli’s history up to this point? When I was growing up the Huntress was Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-2. She was a member of the JSA and then later a member of Infinity Inc. That all changed after Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Helena Bertinelli first appeared in The Huntress 1 (Apr 1989). Her series ran for 19 issues ending in 1990. After that she appeared in various comic books, mostly ones connected to Batman or Justice League. There was Robin miniseries titled Cry of the Huntress in 1992. She appeared in the last 4 issues of the 1993 Black Canary ongoing series which only ran for 12 issues. There was a Huntress miniseries in 1994. She was part of the first Birds of Prey miniseries, Birds of Prey: Manhunt which was published in 1996. She became a regular in JLA in 1998, starting with JLA 16 (Mar 1998). There was also a Nightwing and Huntress miniseries in 1998.