Huntress #1

Although no longer a member of the Birds of Prey, and not part of the initial month of the DC Reboot, the Huntress finally makes an appearance her in the first issue of this six-issue mini-series.

Helena travels to Italy to take down a human smuggling and prostitution ring. Although the issue doesn't feature a super-villain there are plenty of ass-kicking action panels of the Huntress taking down nameless thugs.

There are two interesting points to note. The first is the Huntress seems more reserved in this new reboot. She's using far more trick arrows than we've seen before and makes concious effort not to draw blood with her crossbow.

The other interesting note is the fact that Helena's last name is never uttered (other than the cover name she offers for her hotel room). With the recent announcement that Earth-2 will exist in the new DCU that means there's a chance (although a slight one) that this Huntress is Helena Wayne instead of Helena Bertinelli. How much interesting would the New 52 be with the daughter of Batman and Catwoman running around?

Either way, its a good introductory issue. Artist Marcus To provides several strong panels even without having a major league baddie to put our heroine up against in the first issue. He also gets points for dumping the most ridiculous part of the Huntress' costume (the often maligned ab window). Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]