One of the most fantastic things which developed from the expanded adventures of the Justice Society of America in the Bronze Age was the introduction of some fascinating legacy heroes. One of the most vivid was The Huntress, in reality Helena Wayne the daughter of Bruce Wayne, the Golden Age Batman.
Raised in the Wayne household by her father and mother the Catwoman, she grew to become a lawyer by day and like her father a crimefighter by night.
Sadly her career was a brief one, though following her origin in DC Super-Stars #17 she did find some fame as a stalwart back up feature first in the dollar comic Batman Family and for several years in Wonder Woman. This Huntress met her end during the Crisis on Infinite Earths where she died off stage under the rubble of a fallen wall. She deserved better.
The Huntress adventures were gathered together in this handsome trade some years ago. Not all of it is there, but all the earliest stuff is included.
When Gerry Conway reintroduced the Justice Society of America in the pages of the revived All-Star Comics he made his most lasting impression by adding Power Girl to the team. Her militantly feminist attitude really challenged the older gentlemen who mostly made up the team at that time. She softened a bit as the series developed, but it took her solo trilogy in the pages of the revived Showcase to really add a back story to her existence of super-heroics. We learn her story, which is similar to that of Earth-One's Supergirl. Like her Earth-One counterpart Superman kept Power Girl a secret, but unlike Supergirl, the other survivor of Krypton did not ask permission ultimately to enter the fray. In the trilogy she is given a name, "Karen Starr", and a job as a computer tech. Nowadays a humdrum career but back in the late Bronze Age rather cutting edge.
Power Girl does survive the Crisis On Infinite Earths, but she is pretty much an anomaly at that point. The decision to kill off Supergirl famously left behind a Power Girl without a counterpart and without an origin when the revised DC universe counted only Superman as the lone survivor of Krypton.
Too good to cast away the powers that were decided that Power Girl's abilities were magical in nature, not science fictional and she was attached to the lost land of Atlantis in a story in Secret Origins, a book which took as one of its missions to clean up the messes the Crisis created. The magical stuff never made much sense to me, but most folks I bet didn't really care.
Power Girl has a way of making you forget small details like that.
Sadly her career was a brief one, though following her origin in DC Super-Stars #17 she did find some fame as a stalwart back up feature first in the dollar comic Batman Family and for several years in Wonder Woman. This Huntress met her end during the Crisis on Infinite Earths where she died off stage under the rubble of a fallen wall. She deserved better.
The Huntress adventures were gathered together in this handsome trade some years ago. Not all of it is there, but all the earliest stuff is included.
When Gerry Conway reintroduced the Justice Society of America in the pages of the revived All-Star Comics he made his most lasting impression by adding Power Girl to the team. Her militantly feminist attitude really challenged the older gentlemen who mostly made up the team at that time. She softened a bit as the series developed, but it took her solo trilogy in the pages of the revived Showcase to really add a back story to her existence of super-heroics. We learn her story, which is similar to that of Earth-One's Supergirl. Like her Earth-One counterpart Superman kept Power Girl a secret, but unlike Supergirl, the other survivor of Krypton did not ask permission ultimately to enter the fray. In the trilogy she is given a name, "Karen Starr", and a job as a computer tech. Nowadays a humdrum career but back in the late Bronze Age rather cutting edge.
Power Girl does survive the Crisis On Infinite Earths, but she is pretty much an anomaly at that point. The decision to kill off Supergirl famously left behind a Power Girl without a counterpart and without an origin when the revised DC universe counted only Superman as the lone survivor of Krypton.
Too good to cast away the powers that were decided that Power Girl's abilities were magical in nature, not science fictional and she was attached to the lost land of Atlantis in a story in Secret Origins, a book which took as one of its missions to clean up the messes the Crisis created. The magical stuff never made much sense to me, but most folks I bet didn't really care.
Power Girl has a way of making you forget small details like that.
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