Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 3

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 3
Aug 2000

Cry for Blood (Part 3)
By Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett

Helena Bertinelli wakes up in a cabin in Canada with Vic Sage (The Question) and Richard Dragon. Vic brought her there. Her face looks pretty bad. One of her eyes is swollen shut.

Vic explains that he brought her to his mentor because she was on a path that would have led to capture or death. She’s moving too fast and needs to slow down. What isn’t 100% clear is why he did it. The implication is that something has drawn him to her or at least that’s what Dragon seems to think.

Sage leaves and Dragon looks after Helena. He talks her into slowing down. She’s resistant but eventually she comes around and starts to see value in his words.

Robin (Tim Drake) meets with Oracle (Barbara Gordon). They talk about Huntress. Robin is convinced she’s been framed. Oracle guides him to do some research. They explore Helena’s past as they discuss her situation. This provides a little more insight into her background.

Towards the end of the chapter Vic returns to Dragon's cabin. Richard feels that it is time for Helena to return to civilization. Vic walks with her as they begin the trek back to Gotham.

This is a very simple chapter but I like it a lot. That might be why I like it so much. There are a number or borderless pages that I like very much. The scenery around Richard Dragon’s cabin is gorgeously illustrated by Rick Burchett.

Notes

Sage and Dragon have a shared past. I did a little research and found out that Dragon appeared in a few issues of the Question (1987): 2, 34-36. The first of those issues is titled Butterfly, which is also what Richard Dragon calls Vic Sage in this issue. In that issue Sage is trained by Dragon, similar to the way that Dragon trains Bertinelli in this issue. The entire run of that series of The Question is available on Comixology. The other three issues are the last three issues from that series of The Question, not counting 37 which was published 20 years after the previous one. The Question 37 (Mar 2010) was written by Denny O'Neil and Greg Rucka and penciled by Denys Cowan.

Richard Dragon first appeared in Dragon's Fists, a novel written by Denny O'Neil. Dragon first appeared in comic book form in Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter 1 (Apr/May 1975). That series was also written by O'Neill and ended in 1977 after 18 issues. The first four issues of the series are lifted from the novel. The fifth issue introduces Lady Shiva, who also appeared in a few issues of the Question (1987) including 1, 2, and 36. Richard Dragon's only other appearances in the Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths (CoIE) era were in Brave and the Bold 132 (Feb 1977) and DC Comics Presents 39 (Nov 1981), neither of which were written by Denny O'Neil.

Richard Dragon's first post-CoIE appearance was in The Question (1987) 2 (Mar 1987) which along with the the rest of the 36 issue run of this series was written by Denny O'Neil. Dragon also trained Oracle, as revealed in The Batman Chronicles 5. This story was written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale and drawn by Brian Stelfreeze and Karl Story.