In 1987, DC Comics released Batman #404, the first chapter of Batman: Year One written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli. Years later, DC Comics would go on to capitalize off the success of that idea by taking a look at various characters in their "First year".

Recently, I read Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle & artist Jock. I enjoyed the story so much that I felt I needed to take a look at other Year One stories that I had missed over the years. But before I started to track those down, I figured why not let this site benefit from it. So with "Year...One in Review", I'll be giving my thoughts on each series, including those I have read previously.



So we begin with the randomly selected HUNTRESS: YEAR ONE written by Ivory Madison(who I admittedly have never heard of) and drawn by Cliff Richards. As a preface, I would also like to admit that I was looking forward this series. I'm a big Batman family fan, and while I absolutely dread the increasingly seen "death of parents" origin in superhero comics, I love Helena Bertinelli.



To the issue! Putting it bluntly, HUNTRESS: YEAR ONE feels like a decade. Maybe its the lack of splash pages that I've grown accustomed to while reading Green Lantern but each issue felt like 60 pages. Its less likely Geoff Johns' fault and more likely the heavy amount of dialogue in Helena's narration boxes. She has a lot to say about EVERYTHING!

Upon a quick search, I realize that Ivory Madison hasn't had much comic book work before or after this series...Here's hoping she found the flaws in this series. While Ms. Madison does a fantastic job of giving artist Cliff Richards plenty of interesting things to do, it doesn't make for an interesting read.

There's far too many characters to keep track of in this series. It certainly doesn't help that 99% of the characters are Italian, with there own little nicknames. On the art side, Cliff Richards(Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Haunted) shows that he can do some really great talking heads. His detail on background scenery is pretty good as well, but no one is perfect. With that said, I have no idea whether this is the fault of Richards or Madison but a lot of crucial/cliffhanging scenes had absolutely no transition. One page is filled with panels of a conversation between two people and the final panel of the page just shows Helena bursting into a random room with blood on the door.

Excluding the mass amount of characters, bad transitions, and my inability to accept that Huntress can punk Batman any time she wants, this story was still very interesting. Madison tells a story that should provoke some emotion, features lots of action and of course a romantic subplot. If you have any love for Huntress, you probably already have this collection but if you don't go grab it. Its a solid read and a good start to this column.

Next time- AQUAMAN: YEAR ONE