Mustafa Ibn Hassan was angry that Italy could no more protect his father than it did Moretti, both dead by the hand of "the mask." However, the vigilante had finally been identified as the Huntress, and photographs made it clear that Helena was a suspect.
A roadblock led to a foot chase of the woman along a mountain road, but Helena escaped by converting a power line into a makeshift zip cord with her belt. The theft of a boat insured her safety for the time being. Helena called her reporter contact, who informed her that the N.S.A. were tapping his lines. Mr. Exposition offered one last bit of business, that the Huntress had a billion euro price on her head...
The Huntress scaled a cliff and braved a sewer to break into Hassan's fortress, erupting from a swimming pool to take out more cannon fodder guards. Invading Mustafa's bedroom with a loaded crossbow, Huntress acknowledged that he was not as evil as his father, and accepted his plea for continued life in exchange for social reforms in Kufra. Huntress took Ibn Hassan's bounty as a compliment, and allowed him to maintain it, so long as he promised two billion to charities for abused women if she continued to live for a year. "If you've kept your promises, I won't kill you. Bye."
Helena was pursued by police at the airport, but wouldn't dream of losing the challenge thrown down. However, she ran into a friend named Kara who flew her to safety. After spending the last few years incognito, the girl was finally ready to embrace her secret power. Of course, she'd ride in a Starr airplane with Helena for a more comfortable trans-Atlantic flight back to the States...
"Crossbow at the Crossroads: Part Six" was by Paul Levitz, Marcus To and John Dell. Well, I enjoyed this one more than most, thanks to things finally wrapping up. After sixteen alright if rote and slightly padded pages, the main story effectively ended. The last four pages were an epilogue that revealed the whole mini-series to be a backdoor pilot for a team book that I won't buy because I have to assume the disparity between great art and lousy storytelling will be that much more pronounced. Ultimately, this was a one-to-two issue inventory story for an anthology titled drawn out to exasperation. Where's Ivory Madison when you need her? Not on World's Finest: Huntress & Power Girl...
New 52's Day
- Stormwatch #7 (May, 2012) @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
- Aquaman #7 (April, 2012) @ Justice League Detroit
- DC Comics - The New 52 FCBD Special Edition #1 (June, 2012) @ Power of the Atom
- Steel in Action Comics #7 (May, 2012) @ DC Bloodlines
2 comments:
I agree mostly with your review. The final issue was passable enough I suppose, but again too little too late, and cant help but agree the last few pages were nothing more than a blatant plug for Worlds Finest [which isnt too bad, actually. Check it out!]. In fact wasnt this entire series nothing but a basic set-up for that?
Final ish wasnt bad, I like how Hel did her getaway using that cord, it had something of the Bourne Identity wackiness about it, tho her trying ot board a plane at the end was a tad far-fetched, as was her final fight scenes which were a little too heavily laid on, all those men just waiting to be knocked down. And could Helena really trust that evil creep to keep his promise? What if he dosent [hes a bad guy, Helena, dontcha know] will we have a sequel to this turgig waste of time?
On the plus side [ I tried to like this comic ] Helena was written much better in this last instalment. I like the contrast here between her more frivolous persona as Helena and her serious edge when shes the Huntress.
I really, sincerely hope that this was a project begun as part of the old continuity. Remember the first Punisher mini-series, which suddenly ran an extra issue by a new creative team that changed the intended ending? I imagine Levitz and To being an issue or two into this thing, the New 52 hits, and they just did whatever they could to salvage the work and tread water until World's Finest.
The one good thing about Huntress blowing through everybody like she was playing a video game is that there's no reason to question her effectiveness going into the New 52. So far, she's a certified badass, at least until Slipknot giver her trouble.
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