Look At Me, Dropping A Title

Worlds' Finest No. 26
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
Tyler Kirkham, Scott Kolins and Joe Weems, artists

I've enjoyed this title for 24 issues; former DC publisher Paul Levitz is a terrific writer, and he and his various artistic collaborators crafted fun, worlds-spanning adventures for his two heroines, one of which he created several decades ago.

Helena (Robin) Wayne and Kara (Supergirl) Zor-L were the secret weapons of an alternate reality Batman and Superman, respectively. These covert heroines aided the champions of the re-imagined Earth 2 in the New 52 continuity until Helena's father, Kara's cousin and Wonder Woman all fell at the hands of Darkseid's forces from Apokolips. While trying to avenge their fallen mentors, the girls were transported to the main New 52 earth.

True to their natures, the pair continued to fight for justice in this unfamiliar but strangely similar world while trying to find a way to return to their true home. Operating mostly under the radar of the new world's heroes, Helena became Huntress, and Kara assumed the name Power Girl. Huntress, created by Levitz as the daughter of Earth 2's Batman and Catwoman, has no super powers. Instead, she is expertly trained in deduction and fighting styles by her father and prefers to operate in the shadows. Power Girl, on the other hand, is much more outgoing and flamboyant, both in personality and habits. She adopts the public identity Karen Starr and begins to amass a fortune and scientific tech to help the pair find a way home. Despite having a public identity, Power Girl is much less concerned with hiding her costumed identity from those around her, much to Huntress' chagrin. Despite their differences, however, the two mesh well together, much like that other famous World's Finest team, Superman and Batman.

As much as I liked this title when it debuted as part of the New 52's second wave of titles, I quickly lost interest in Worlds' Finest's sister title, Earth 2, which chronicled events on the young women's home world in the absence of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. A new Alan Scott Green Lantern and Jay Garrick Flash joined established second-stringers like Hawkwoman and the Atom. Soon other heroes and menaces began to emerge. But the title differed too much from the previous incarnation of Earth 2 and the Justice Society to give me a true sense of nostalgia, and the writing and characterizations of the new versions of older heroes just didn't grab me on this title, despite Nicola Scott's always beautiful artwork. Since Huntress' and Power Girl's tales only impacted Earth 2 in flashbacks to their younger selves, it became easy to simply drop Earth 2.

Then came DC's latest wave of weekly series, all of which I opted to take a pass on. I am looking forward to the skip month Convergence titles that will be solicited while DC moves its real world offices from the east to west coast in a few months, and if need be to follow that series, I might pick up titles like Future's End and Worlds' End later on in trade form. But the concept behind neither of these titles seemed to have an impact on my favorite characters when they were announced. Then later, when it became obvious that they would at least impact heavily on Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest, I still didn't care; I'd already dropped Earth 2, and it began to look like Huntress and Power Girl would return to Earth 2 before long. Since I was no longer following the main Earth 2 title, I began to contemplate dropping Worlds' Finest when the two linked back up. And sure enough, the story presented in Worlds' Finest No. 25 and this issue do in fact bring the pair back to their own world, and I just didn't care for the story as much as before, likely because I was no longer following events on that world.

Most times when a title undergoes a major change in direction, creative teams or story lines, companies promote it as a perfect jumping on point for new readers. Equally valid, though, is the fact that most natural jumping on points also make very nice jumping off points, too. I've enjoyed these two heroines' adventures in a strange world while they tried to find their way back home. Well, now they are home, and while things are not like they remembered on their world, I've still seen them safely home and enjoyed the ride along the way. Unless something unforeseen happens to once again grab my attention, Helena and Kara are on their own again. They'll be fine; they've proven they can handle themselves.

(Now if only I could convince myself to just give up on the damn New 52 Green Arrow title, but more on that later.)

Now This Promises To Be Good

Worlds' Finest 6
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
Kevin Maguire, George Perez and Sandra Hope, artists

This is the first installment of a new story arc for this title, and it looks to be a good one as the superhero community of the main DCnU Earth is going to learn more about the existence of Huntress and Power Girl, two heroines stranded here from Earth 2. Power Girl narrowly avoids a chance encounter with her Earth 1 doppelganger, Supergirl, while returning to her corporate headquarters after a quick jaunt into low-earth orbit. I don't know much about the DCnU version of Supergirl, so I have to admit, that meeting didn't hold much appeal for me at this point, and I wasn't sorry to see the encounter avoided.

Huntress is not quite so lucky. She has made reference in previous issues to "borrowing" money from this world's version of Bruce Wayne when the two heroines first arrived in this universe. That was five years ago. With Huntress' globe-trotting adventures, that money stash has been used up, and Helena is forced to return to Gotham City for more operating funds. She explains through the narration that for her "thefts" to go undetected, she must access a terminal inside the actual bank, otherwise she wouldn't risk a visit to Batman's city.

Huntress' activities are interrupted by the appearance of the current Robin, Damian Wayne. Unlike the previous Robins, Damian is the flesh-and-blood son of Batman just like Huntress is the flesh-and-blood daughter of her world's Batman. Now this meeting/conflict is cool!

Damian has discovered the theft of funds and has been waiting for the culprit to make a return appearance. Through the course of the ensuing fight, Damian lets it slip that the thief's greed is what tipped him off to what Helena had previously believed was an undetectable incursion. It seems money has been disappearing from Wayne accounts every few weeks, but this is only Helena's second "withdrawal." Helena explains that she is not the thief Damien is after and offers to help him catch the real villain. Damian agrees, providing Helena explains who she is and how she can be related to his father as Damian senses she is. This was a great setup, and next issue ought to be good!

They Were Keeping Things Close To The Vest

Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads tpb
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
Marcus To, artist

I opted to pass on this six-issue limited series when it debuted early in the beginning of the DCnU. It was a victim of my new scaled-back buying habits. I don't dislike the Huntress character. I'm very fond of her original incarnation as the daughter of the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman. (The creator of this character is Levitz, by the way.) I'm less fond of the post-Crisis incarnation of Huntress, the daughter of a mobster who turns vigilante, but I still like a number of her appearances. Cementing my decision not to buy this limited series was the lack of any clear indication in the solicitation information about which Huntress this story would be about. At the time, it seemed safe to assume it would be the Helena Bertinelli version of the character rather than Helena Wayne, so I figured why bother.

That was before the debut of the Worlds' Finest title starring Huntress and Power Girl, which followed immediately on the heels of this series. Once I read the first issue of that title and saw that Huntress was once again the daughter of the Dark Knight, I decided to pick up the Huntress trade. And I'm glad I did. This is a solid read with world-traveling adventure and some international bad guys engaged in political intrigue, human trafficking and a number of other vices. Huntress dispatches them quite nicely.

It was also interesting to note that the vagueness of which Huntress this is was not limited to the solicitation information. Throughout the entire collected series, the character is never given a last name. In fact, Levitz seems pretty deliberate about not revealing the central character's origins until the very end, when Huntress seems to be cornered. That's when a friend makes an unexpected appearance to help Huntress out, making it crystal clear which Huntress this is. Of course, by that time, the news of the new Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest titles had been announced and there was no reason to play it coy any longer.

Prettiest Back-Up Plans On Any Earth

Worlds' Finest 0
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
Kevin Maguire and Wes Craig, artists

Despite some tragic events, this book offers us a glimpse of the debuts of our two regular series heroines. We see young Helena Wayne, daughter of the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman, take her first flight as Robin under the watchful eye of her mother, much to the chagrin of her father. We see some of Supergirl's early training under the tutelage of her cousin, the Earth 2 Superman. We also learn why this Superman wants to keep Supergirl in reserve as just a secret weapon instead of openly helping. It seems that during an early battle between Superman and the forces of Darkseid, Lois Lane was killed. Superman refuses to risk Supergirl openly for fear he will lose her, too. And lastly, we see the two girls meet when Supergirl is called to help rescue an in-over-her-head Robin, the latter distraught at the death of her mother.

This issue provides a nice glimpse of these two heroines' early careers. Well done, gentlemen!

Taking Him Down

Worlds' Finest 3-4
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
George Perez and Kevin Maguire, artists

These two issues complete the first story arc of this title as Huntress and Power Girl take down the radiation-spewing bad guy, but they only manage to do that after first inadvertently feeding him even more raw power. Before his demise, however, this villain lets slip a few things that give the heroic duo some food for thought: Power Girl observed in the first two issues that the irradiated Hakkou resembles a parademon, one of the minions of Darkseid of Apokolips. As the battle continues in these issues, both women make note of  Hakkou's knowledge that they are not originally from this world and the fact that he targeted what Power Girl hoped might be a successful way to bridge dimensions.

I like this book just a bit more than Earth 2 because these two heroines are just plain fun. Robinson is writing Earth 2 as a much more serious drama, and that book is quickly seeming to become a little too melodramatic. Levitz, on the other hand, despite all these two women have lost, is keeping things lighter in tone. Huntress is usually no-nonsense and serious, as one would expect from the daughter of Batman, but Power Girl is all about having a good time along the way and helps to keep her friend from going too dark.

I didn't talk about it last time, but the idea behind the art is a nice touch in this book, too. George Perez is the artist for all of the modern sequences in the book, and he is handling those art chores in his usual highly detailed and simply gorgeous style. But a large focus of this book is these characters' lives from before they were mysteriously thrown into another world, back five years ago when they were Supergirl and Robin, not Power Girl and Huntress. Kevin Maguire handles the art chores whenever there is a flashback sequence to these women's time on Earth 2 or just after they arrived on this Earth. And he handles those art chores with his own clean, curvy linework. Maguire and Perez each have their own distinctive styles, but the two draw these characters similarly enough that the transitions aren't at all jarring. And the format means fewer pages for each man to turn in. That's another plus because both of these fan-favorite artists might have trouble working solo on a monthly book and making their page counts. Really liking this book right now and looking forward to where it will take us.

World-Hopping Ladies

Worlds' Finest 1-2
DC Comics
Paul Levitz, writer
George Perez and Kevin Maguire, artists

This is a companion book, of sorts, to Earth 2, which we discussed last time. On Earth 2 five years ago, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman died repelling an invasion from the forces of Darkseid. Supergirl, Superman's younger cousin, and Robin, Batman's daughter, are powerless to prevent their mentors' deaths, and in the aftermath of that epic battle, they pursue what they believe to be one of Darkseid's minions, being swept into what may or may not have been a Boom tube, the means of traveling between dimensions for those from Apokolips.

The two teenage girls awaken on the main DCnU Earth shortly after the newly formed Justice League fights back a similar invasion, and the pair has no idea how to return to their own world. Robin, Helena Wayne, uses her training to secure the pair some money through Wayne Enterprise funding, and the two decide to keep their true identities secret, not knowing who on this new world they can trust. Supergirl takes on the civilian name Karen Starr and secretly uses her powers and smarts to amass a small fortune, which she is using to back scientists with theories about alternate dimensions and how to travel between them. Helena uses a variety of aliases as a civilian and continues to fight crime under the name Huntress.

Keeping with the other DCnU titles, it is now five years after the pair's arrival on this world. Karen and Helena are dining together, catching up as they frequently do, at a restaurant in Tokyo. They are in this city at Karen's request, as she has a promising piece of trans-dimensional tech she wants to show Helena, but the meal is interrupted when the research facility is attacked. Karen and Helena arrive to find the tech destroyed and an irradiated man wrecking what is left of the facility. Helena changes to Huntress, and Karen reveals her new costumed identity of Power Girl, and the two women pursue their quarry, whose attire Helena notices bears a striking resemblance to that of the Apokoliptian uniforms the invading parademons wore back on Earth 2.

As with the Earth 2 title, I'm liking this story so far, and I'm along for the ride for at least a little while. Keep up the great work, all!