Seasons Greetings! 2018 In Review

Seasons greetings everyone! I apologise for disappearing for a while this month. I really did need to take a break from everything, namely due to exhaustion and feeling pretty burnt out by my day job. It's enough to say the abrupt changes that took place at my workplace midway through the year had some of us quickly taking on new responsibilities on the fly and with very little to no preparation.

Needless to admit, the fact that there were no backups in place for the event of crucial employee departures meant a lot of things went wrong in the transition process, and left quite a few of us feeling stressed out by the end of this month, myself included. The fact I expect the workload to quadruple in 2019 with more upcoming changes to our organisational structure and not enough staff to go around to make things go smoothly means I'm already looking for a new job to say the least.

Huntress Video Blog, Session 02: All-Star Comics #70

The holiday season is upon us, but Mark and I devoted the month of November to celebrating Helena Wayne's 41st anniversary by discussing All-Star Comics #70!

This comic is available for digital purchase on Comixology.com. Click the links below for more details:

UK Version: £1.49
All-Star Comics #70

US: Version: $1.99
All-Star Comics #70

All images presented in this video are the property of Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment for commentary purposes.

Music: "Romantic" from BenSound.com

The Best of the Huntress: Wonder Woman #317 Review

Title: Wonder Woman #317
Story: On the Trail of the Nightingale
Characters: Huntress (Helena Wayne), Myra Liebe, Alfred Seraphin, Nightingale
Creators: Joey Cavalieri (writer), Mark Beachum (artist)
Publication Date: 04 July 1984
Available In: Digital

Summary: Helena Wayne has had an exhausting couple of weeks and decides to go on holiday in California. Rather than take an aeroplane to arrive at her destination in a shorter timeframe, Helena decides that a trip from coast to coast should happen slowly and more leisurely.

En route, Helena reunites with an old friend from college who also happens to be travelling to the west coast to finalise the procurement of an ancient Japanese statue. It turns out Helena’s friend isn’t the only person on the train interested in procuring the Japanese relic. Someone else aboard that same train wants it as well, leading to a mysterious murder inside one of the train’s compartments!

This December, Something Wicked This Way Comes...To The DC Multiverse!

It is now three days after Halloween, and literally just a day after the anniversary of Helena Wayne's historic debut as the Huntress in All-Star Comics #69 on 02 November 1977. A story Mark and I happily covered for both the Halloween season and her anniversary on the same week.

We now get to talk about another story of a more ghoulish nature for the upcoming Holiday season. An upcoming sequel of sorts to the epic multiversal adventure, Dark Nights Metal, that not only follows up on Bruce Wayne's journey to the Dark Multiverse, but reacquaints him with the normal DC Multiverse. The upcoming Batman Who Laughs miniseries by Metal writer Scott Snyder and his Wytches and Batman collaborator, Jock.

Huntress Video Blog, Session 01: All-Star Comics #69 & DC Super-Stars #17

Happy Halloween! For the spookiest day of the year, Mark and I decided to treat our audience to a double feature for our first official session. Diving right into the beginning of the Huntress' lore, we talk about Helena Wayne's first appearance in All-Star Comics #69 and her origin story in DC Super-Stars #17!

Both Comics are available for digital purchase on Comixology.com. Click the links below for more details:

UK Versions: £1.49
All-Star Comics #69
DC Super-Stars #17

US: Versions: $1.99
All-Star Comics #69
DC Super-Stars #17

All images presented in this video are the property of Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment for commentary purposes.

Music: "Romantic" from BenSound.com

The Best of the Huntress: Wonder Woman #316 Review

Title: Wonder Woman #316
Story: The Roar of the Ocean
Characters: Huntress (Helena Wayne), Sea Lion
Creators: Joey Cavalieri (writer), Mark Beachum (artist)
Publication Date: 06 June 1984
Available In: Digital

Summary: The Huntress has exposed the truth behind the theft of Dr. Tori's research on Project Starfish. With the culprit revealed, the Huntress is led to the real man behind the curtain: a double amputee who could certainly benefit from Dr. Tori's regeneration research, a mariner who goes by the name of Sea Lion. Apart from the obvious, what is the Sea Lion's other motives for hijacking Dr. Tori's project? What does he plan to do about the Huntress and his accomplice at the hospital, now that his secret is out? Things aren't looking too well for the Huntress as she finally confronts her newest foe!

Doomsday Clock #7 Reveals The Fate Of Alan Scott And The Justice Society. So Now What? Spoilers Ahead.

Doomsday Clock #7 hit the shelves last week, and while the story does recover one major piece to the larger puzzle, we are sadly still no closer to seeing (let alone understanding) the larger picture that is the post-Flashpoint DC Universe. We especially don’t know what writer Geoff Johns wants to say about DC’s haphazard reboots and their long term damages to character vitality and the integrity of their core mythologies.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Cast As The Huntress In Upcoming Birds Of Prey Film. Did Warner Bros. Make The Right Casting Call?

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

From the moment director Christopher Nolan concluded his epic Dark Knight trilogy in 2012, Warner Bros. has since been looking to capitalise on the trilogy's success by applying a similar formula to the rest of DC's stable of characters, leading to the formation of a DC cinematic universe. A formula Warner Bros. could use to compete against Disney's Marvel cinematic universe with matching success. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., their attempt at creating that DC cinematic universe has been met with mixed reception, and have since changed their course.

Rather than create a series of films that are part of a tightly-knit universe like the Marvel films, Warner Bros. appears to be going for a more "Elseworlds" approach. A series of films that are part of a shared continuity, but not necessarily existing within the same universe like in the case of Joaquin Phoenix' upcoming Joker film.

This approach will afford filmmakers more creative freedom to tell the stories they want to tell, and reimagine DC characters in ways that fit their stories. One of the films that appears to be following this approach is the upcoming Birds of Prey film by director Cathy Yan, with actress Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn.

Huntress Video Blog, Session 00: Wayne or Bertinelli?

Mark and I celebrated Helena Wayne's canonical birthday (07 September) earlier this month by discussing the history of the Huntress across the pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-Flashpoint DC continuities. We also discuss the core differences between the Huntress as Helena Wayne and the Huntress as Helena Bertinelli.

All images presented in this video are the property of Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment for commentary purposes.

Music: "Romantic" from Bensound.com

The Best of the Huntress: Wonder Woman #315 Review

Title: Wonder Woman #315
Story: Chasing Rainbows
Characters: Huntress (Helena Wayne), Tom Kelly, Gary Minelli, Sea Lion
Creators: Joey Cavalieri (writer), Mark Beachum (artist)
Publication Date: 02 May 1984
Available In: Digital

Summary: The Huntress has moved on to her newest case, but has no idea where to start looking. All she knows is that there is one Dr. Mizuki Tori--the head researcher of Project Starfish--and stolen data from said project. She has no leads on the culprit and begins her investigation by looking into a new hospital intern as a possible suspect, Tom Kelly. Huntress rationalises that the person leaking Dr. Tori's research has to be someone working close to her with easy access to the data. If the Huntress is wrong, she'll be back to Square 01...or will she?