Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the seven hundred and sixty-seventh installment where we examine three comic book legends and determine whether they are true or false.
As usual, there will be three posts, one for each of the three legends. Click here for Part 1 of this week's installment. Click here for Part 2 of this week's installment.
NOTE: If my Twitter page hits 5,000 followers, I'll do a bonus edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed that week. Great deal, right? So go follow my Twitter page, Brian_Cronin!
COMIC LEGEND:
Huntress was created in the place of doing an Earth-2 Batgirl.
STATUS:
Basically True
In late 1975, Gerry Conway brought back All Star Comics, the home of the Justice Society of America, to introduce a modern revival of the classic DC Comics superhero team, with a heavy focus on the new, younger members of the team, including an Earth-2 version of Supergirl known as Power Girl...
When Conway returned to Marvel Comics (he came almost RIGHT back to DC), Paul Levitz took over writing duties on the series and eventually the art team became penciler Joe Staton and inker Bob Layton...
Levitz has famously been a welcoming collaborator on his comics with his artists and soon, his new artists began to make suggestions for changes to the series.
If you look at the splash of All Star Comics #67, you'll notice that Power Girl was the only female member of the team...
Inker Bob Layton suggested that they add an Earth-2 version of Batgirl to the team. Levitz was not a fan of the original version of Batgirl and didn't really see any good angle for a revamped version of the character.
However, then the penciler, Joe Staton, ALSO began to chime in to say that he'd like to see another female member join the team and so Levitz began developing a new female member. It turned out that it was the colorist on the series, Anthony Tollin, who suggested that it be the daughter of Catwoman and soon, Levitz's mind was working overtime and he came up with the idea of Catwoman marrying Batman and having the Huntress be their daughter.
Huntress made her debut in DC Super Stars #17...
Staton designed her costume, which was published in DC Super Stars #17...
She was soon brought into All Star Comics with #69...
But she didn't actually meet the other heroes until the next issue...
When she helped out Wildcat...
And sure enough, Huntress and Power Girl DID become good friends!
It would have been interesting to see how things would have gone had Levitz agreed to the Batgirl idea. Huntress has become such a big character that it's hard to imagine her not being around.
Levitz wrote about the origins of the Huntress in the text piece for DC Super Stars #17, but that basic story was confirmed a number of times since, including TwoMorrows' Alter Ego #14 and Back Issue #38.
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In the latest Movie Legends Revealed - Did George Lucas have Greedo shoot first so as to avoid a PG-13 rating for Star Wars: A New Hope when it was re-released?
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Feel free to suggest ideas for future legends to me at either cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com!