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Huntress (Helena Bertinelli) Reading Order

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The Huntress is a DC Character considered part of the Bat-family. But there is also more than one Huntress in the DC Universe, though the one that interests us today is one of the most famous women to bear the name: Helena Bertinelli. She was also the last one to date to become the Huntress…

Way before Helena Bertinelli made her debut, Huntress was a recurring villainess with no name from the Golden Age. Created in the pages of Sensation Comics #68 by artist Mort Meskin and an unnamed writer in 1947, she was retconned in the Bronze Age by writer Roy Thomas.

He gave her the name Paula Brooks and built her a real backstory in Young All-Stars, a title set in DC’s Golden Age. Over the course of the series, Thomas recounted Paula’s transformation, from the superheroine to the villainess named Huntress.

During her short stint, Paula stayed an obscure character. It was a certain Helena Wayne who popularized the name Huntress during the Bronze Age. Created by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton, she made her debut in DC Super Stars #17  (1977).

The daughter of Batman and Catwoman from Earth-2, Helena became a vigilante to avenge her mother’s death and choose the code name The Huntress when she decided to continue to fight crime. Later, Helena found herself fighting against Paula Brooks and winning the right to the name Huntress in All-Star Comics #72.

She bore the name until the destruction of the DC Universe in Crisis of Infinite Earths.

Following the reboot, Helena Wayne died and her family never existed. In this new continuity, Helena Bertinelli is introduced as the Huntress.

Created by Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton, Bertinelli was conceived at first as a new interpretation of Helena Wayne. Making her debut in The Huntress #1 in 1989, this Helena has no link with Batman/Catwoman, but was born in one of the most powerful mafia families. She became a ruthless vigilante, ready to do justice by any means necessary. It puts her at odds with Batman, and she was for a long time the black sheep in the Bat-family, before Jason Todd/Red Hood was attributed that role. Her origins have been rewritten more than once, and she became the third member of the team Birds of Prey.

She was also recently played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the 2020’s film Birds of Prey.

To avoid confusion with Helena Wayne, what follows is a comprehensive reading order for Helena Bertinelli.

Huntress Full Reading Order:

Where to start with Helena Bertinelli/Huntress?

Like a lot of DC Characters, the origin story of Helena Bertinelli has been written more than once, each version with some differences. If you want to become familiar with the character you can read:

  • The Huntress #1-6 – Those issues introduced Helena to the readers and presented her origin story.
  • Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood – Written by Greg Rucka, Cry for Blood is a retelling of Helena’s origin after the events of No Man’s Land and her stint in the JLA. Helena is framed for murder and she must revisit her childhood to discover the truth.
  • Huntress: Year One – Written by Ivory Madison, this is the latest origin story, though it is better if you have read Cry for Blood before.

Whether you are familiar with the character and her origins or not, it’s generally recommended to read her adventures with Oracle and Black Canary in Birds of Prey, beginning with:

Post-Crisis: introducing Helena Bertinelli

Meet Helena Bertinelli, the heroine known as the Huntress as she tracks her family’s killers, digging deeper into the tense balance of power of the criminal underworld… and become a DC vigilante. After her debut in 1989, Helena’s ten first years in the DC Universe are not well collected in trade paperbacks but most of it is available for digital purchase on Amazon:

Helena Bertinelli in the mid-90s

The end of the 1990s was full of disasters for Batman and Gotham City. It was one event after another, with Helena Bertinelli playing a supporting role in this. She’s present when a mysterious and lethal virus is unleashed on the unknowing inhabitants of Gotham City and for its follow-up story in Legacy. More importantly for Helena, she is united with Oracle and Black Canary, the Birds of Prey, for the first time, before a team-up with Dick Grayson.

  • Batman: Contagion
    Collects Azrael #15–16, Batman #529, Batman Chronicles #4, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #48–49,
    Catwoman #31–35, Detective Comics #695–696, Robin #27–30
  • Batman: Legacy Volume 1
    Batman #533, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #53, Catwoman #33–35, Detective Comics #697–700 and Robin #31.
  • Batman: Legacy Volume 2
    Batman #534, Batman: Bane #1, Batman: Bane of the Demon #1–4, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #54,
    Detective Comics #701–702, Robin #32–33.
  • Birds of Prey Vol. 1
    Collects Birds of Prey: Manhunt #1–4, Chuck Dixon and Matt Haley’s 1996 mini-series that united Huntress with Oracle and Black Canary for the first time.
  • Nightwing Vol. 3: False Starts
    Collects Nightwing/Huntress #1-4 and Nightwing #19-25, Nightwing #1/2.

Helena Bertinelli: No Man’s Land

After suffering a cataclysmic earthquake, the U.S. government has deemed Gotham City uninhabitable and ordered all citizens to leave. It is now months later and those that have refused to vacate “No Man’s Land” live amidst a citywide turf war in which the strongest prey on the weak. Batman and his allies must fight to save Gotham during its darkest hour and return Justice to the destroyed city. For more information, see our complete No Man’s Land reading order.

This is during this big story arc that Helena took on the role of Batgirl, before Batman and Barbara Gordon deemed her unfit for the role, and the mantle is passed to Cassandra Cain.

  • Batman: Road to No Man’s Land Omnibus
    Collects Azrael: Agent of the Bat #40, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #47-50, Batman #554-562, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73-82, Detective Comics #719-722, Detective Comics #724-729, Catwoman #56-57, Robin #52-54, The Batman Chronicles #12, The Batman Chronicles #14-15, Nightwing #19-20, Batman: Arkham Asylum – Tales of Madness #1, Batman: Blackgate – Isle of Men #1, Batman: Huntress/Spoiler – Blunt Trauma #1
  • Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus Vol. 1 
    Collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #116-121, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #51-57, Batman #563-568, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83-88, Detective Comics #730-735, Catwoman #72-74, Robin #67, The Batman Chronicles #16-17, Nightwing #35-37, Batman: No Man’s Land (Collector’s) #1, Batman: No Man’s Land Gallery #1, and Young Justice In No Man’s Land #1.
  • Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus Vol. 2
    Collects Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #122-126; Azrael: Agent of the Bat #58-61; Batman #569-574; Batman: Shadow of the Bat#89-94; Detective Comics #736-741; Catwoman #75-77; Robin #68-73; The Batman Chronicles #18; Nightwing #38-39; Batman No Man’s Land #0; and Batman: No Man’s Land Secret Files #1. 

Huntress, member of the JLA

Helena can’t be Batgirl, but it doesn’t mean Batman has no plan for her, as he nominated her for a position in the Justice League in the hope that it will help her deal with her violent attitude. It doesn’t last, as some of Helena’s actions will not please Batman. Her stint in the team takes place during Grant Morrison’s run.

Helena Bertinelli in Birds of Prey

Gail Simone took over as the sole writer of Bird of Prey, starting with issue #56. It’s during her run that Huntress becomes one of the most prominent members of the team (see our Birds of Prey reading order for more information on the team). The Huntress also appears in a few other Batman titles, during Hush, but also for an arc with Checkmate and as a temporary member of Outsiders (to be avoided).

As the Birds of Prey are disbanded for a short time, Helena plays a part in the story arc ‘Battle for the Cowl’ (see Batman By Grant Morrison Reading Order). This is around that period that Huntress: Year One was published. And of course, the Birds of Prey are reunited for a short run before a relaunch…

This period comes to an end with Flashpoint, where she was part of the story Wonder Woman And The Furies collected in Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Wonder Woman.

A new Helena Bertinelli in New 52

the DC Universe was relaunched in New 52 where changes were made to sort of update some of the characters and make them more attractive for newcomers. In the case of The Huntress, DC used this occasion to put a little spin on the character. First of all, despite all appearances, this is not Bertinelli in the story Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads.

Helena Bertinelli is first considered long dead, before being reintroduced as being deep undercover as an agent of Spyral and have faked her death. Beware! the new Helena Bertinelli can be considered a different character. She appears in Grayson.

Huntress in the Rebirth Era

As the DC Universe was restored to its form prior to the 2011 “Flashpoint” storyline while still incorporating numerous elements of The New 52, Helena finally took on the Huntress persona as Batgirl, Black Canary, and Huntress worked together again to take down mutual foes.

In February 2020, the Bird of Prey movie with Harley Quinn, Helena Bertinelli, and Dinah Lance was released and DC tried to capitalize a little bit on it with A giant-sized special reprinting new and classic tales, and a limited series under DC Comics’ adult-oriented Black Label imprint.

  • Birds of Prey Giant #1
    One-shot with new and classic tales, including a Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey team-up
  • Harley Quinn & the Birds of Prey: The Hunt for Harley (Black Label/out-of-continuity)
    Collects Harley Quinn & the Birds of Prey #1–4 and a short story from Harley Quinn Black + White + Red #12.

The Huntress Infinite Frontier/Dawn of DC Reading Guide new

Gotham’s Violet Vengeance was a recurring character during Mariko Tamaki’s run on Detective Comics, initially appearing in the backup story and later playing a role during Fear State and the Shadows of the Bat arc.

Following those events, Helena Bertinelli made several minor appearances during several DC Universe events:

Coming Soon: DC All In!

Read More Bat-Family Comics!

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