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Interview: Ivory Madison on ‘Huntress: Year One’

huntress-year-one-1-4841045It’s no small feet for a comic book character to last over 60 years — but that’s exactly what the Huntress has done. 

Debuting in the ‘40s as a villain for Wildcat, she was recreated for the Silver Age as Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-2, which was an alternate universe established in the early 1960s as the world where DC’s Golden Age stories took place. However, following DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries in 1985, the Helena Wayne version of the Huntress was removed from continuity.

In 1989, due to the popularity of the character, DC introduced a new version of the Huntress. She had the same first name and a similar costume, but an entirely different back-story and personality. The Modern Age Huntress, Helena Rosa Bertinelli is the daughter of one of Gotham’s mafia bosses. After seeing her entire family murdered by a mob hit, she vows revenge for her slain relatives. In Huntress: Cry For Blood by Greg Rucka, Huntress’ origin was revised. Originally, Helena believed that Franco Bertinelli was her father. She came to discover that her father was actually Santo Cassamento, the don of a rival mafia family, who was carrying on an affair with Helena’s mother, Maria.

The Huntress has been a member of the JLA, the Outsiders and most recently the Birds Of Prey. Not to mention, she had a recurring role on the animated hit Justice League Unlimited and a staring role in the WB’s failed television series, Birds Of Prey. Proving that her character is strong enough to survive many years and several makeovers, she returned this month in her own miniseries.

Huntress: Year One looks at the early days of Helena Bertinelli’s crime fighting career. Written by comic book newcomer Ivory Madison, the book promises to give fans of the character some real insight to her beginnings and what makes Helena the hero she is today.

I had the opportunity to speak to Madison about the new book, her love for all things Bat-related and her multifaceted career.

COMICMIX: How did you end up working on Huntress: Year One for DC?

IVORY MADISON: I’ve always wanted to write comics. I’m a DC Comics person and I’ve always been obsessed with Batman and anything Gotham-related.

It all started when I tried pitching a reintroduction of Batwoman and they said they were already doing it. I was briefly thrown, and had to shift gears or lose my momentum. I wrote a Batman one-shot, which they bought, and that got me the opportunity to pitch something for Huntress. That led them to step back and say, “Hey, we need a foundation for this character. We need a Year One.” I was very lucky to walk into that. (more…)

The Ghost of Wertham, by Mike Gold

As comics fans, we should always be on the frontlines of the war to protect freedom of expression.

After all, it was our medium that was forced into a severe case of arrested development for a decade. Beginning in late 1940s and led by mascot psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, the Saturday Evening Post and the Readers Digest, comic book creators became seen as nothing less than child molesters and the medium was pressured into “Comics Code Authority” censorship and became trapped in its “childish claptrap” image for a generation. Hundreds of cartoonists, publishers, editors, and engravers lost their jobs; those that were among the fortunate few who remained gainfully employed told their neighbors they were “commercial artists” or some such lest they be chased out of suburbia by an angry mob.

For the past 20 years we’ve had a dangerous clown in the Senate who, when he’s not trying to get our armed forces to blast every Moslem in the middle east into smithereens (yep; it’s Memorial Day, so let’s honor our brave men and women by bringing them home from Iraq) is busy trying to raise our nation’s children on behalf of their evidently incompetent parents. Sadly, I’m talking about one of my own senators,

“independent” Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, a man no more independent than Karl Rove or Dick Cheney.

Senator Joe has actually threatened artistic creators with government censorship if they do not bow to his whims. Yeah, I know, I already compared him to Rove and Cheney so telling you he wipes his ass with the Bill of Rights is kind of redundant. Joe’s spent the past two decades – and our tax money – intimidating the forces that produce video games, movies and music he doesn’t appreciate, all the time hiding under the Great Flag of Cowards, the one that reads “save the children!” Now, he’s turned his attention to YouTube. (more…)

Are Comic Books Hurting Movies?

ironman-9688286In about 355 BC, Aristotle laid down the ground rules of theater in Poetics, with the notable rule that “opsis,” or spectacle, is the least important element, and should never come before plot, character or theme. Nowadays, the summer movie season is all about spectacle. The bigger the better, with Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingodm of the Crystal Skull just the latest to bring excitement to the silver screen.

But not everyone’s pleased. Writing on the Huffington Post, Jack Donaldson says the rising influence of comics movies has been negative because of the explosion of computer animation in all types of films.

By their very nature these films rely on effects a lot, making them commonplace and just not that impressive. When you watch a computer generated Iron Man climb to the reaches of Outer Space, it’s not nearly as impressive as trying to figure out where Chris Cooper’s teeth went, or Gary Sinise’s legs. It’s not that I have a thing for missing limbs … I have a thing for special effects that make the real world seem a little more spectacular. What does a 100-foot wall of sand, with a face and fists, that is set on destruction in Spider Man 3, really do for anyone? It seems that more and more movies are made like last year’s Transformer’s, which showcased almost no action scenes that featured real actors, and I’m not impressed.

While I certainly understand the sentiment, I’d say it’s misplaced anger, as the use of CGI was already spread far and wide before comics movies gained traction. Really, it was the evolution of CGI that allowed for believable superhero movies.

And if you look at the best comic book movies, they excel because of quality stories (see Iron Man and the first two Spider-Man films), and the computer animation simply adds a little spectacle, just as Aristotle intended.

Happy Birthday: Kobra and Jason Burr

The Burrs were vacationing in India despite Mrs. Burr’s advanced pregnancy. Her condition attracted the attention of the Cobra Cult because the timing coincided with a prophecy about a man who would lead them into the Kali Yuga, the fourth age of the world. He would be one of a pair of Siamese twins, and Mrs. Burr was carrying such a pair.

When they were born and then separated on May 25, the cult stole one of the newborns (Jeffrey) and made it look as if he had died during the operation. Devastated, the Burrs took their remaining son, Jason, home with them.

Jeffrey was raised as Lord Naga, also known as Kobra, and began setting his plans for world domination in motion as soon as he was fully grown. Unfortunately for him, the twins retained a psychic link, and the authorities soon realized this—they recruited Jason and began using his link to foil his brother’s plans.

Kobra eventually killed Jason, but was killed himself by Black Adam and Atom Smasher years later.

 

 

ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending May 25, 2008

Hope everyone’s having a nice three-day weekend, and that we all remember that the real focus on Memorial Day ought to be putting an end to the sheer folly of war, so that someday we won’t have to mourn all those whose lives have been lost in its perpetuation.  Oh, and of course, outdoor grilling and summer movies and retail sales. 

Here’s what our columnists have been selling you — for free! — this past week:

Remember the barbecue sauce!

Wes Molebash Reimagines ‘Oedipus Rex’

A while back, I spoke with You’ll Have That webcomic creator Wes Molebash about YHT, Zuda Comics and various other subjects, and it looks like the talented writer/artist has been keeping busy since that interview. This set of new character designs recently popped up in his Flickr gallery, and I can’t help but direct some attention to them.

The set is titled "The Legend of Eddie King," and Molebash provides the following description:

For my Interdisciplinary Arts class I had to create a modern adaptation of Sophocles’ stage play "Oedipus the King". Here are the character designs I created for the adaptation.

For my adaptation I wanted to use the vintage/rockabilly/biker scene as the backdrop for the story. Instead of becoming king of Thebes, Eddie becomes the sole proprietor and leader of a biker gang/bar called The White Knuckle Society. The Society was formerly lead by his father, Louis, who has been mysteriously murdered . . .

Here’s hoping we get to see the final product — and that it earns Molebash an "A" on the assignment, of course.

 

Happy Silver Anniversary, Return of the Jedi!

Twenty-five years ago today (and six years after the original Star Wars opened) the summer movie season of 1983 blew wide open with the finale to the Star Wars saga — if you don’t count the re-releases, the three movie prequels, the multiple animated series, the books, the comics, oh, you get the idea.

And what do we remember from the film? Do we remember the escape from the Sarlaac? Do we remember the light saber duel between (spoiler) father and son? Do we remember Leia’s slave girl outfit?

Well, of course we remember the outfit. But we also remember the true heroes of the film, as memorialized here:

 


 

I think I speak for everyone here at ComicMix when I say, "yub yub".

Stuart Gordon’s ‘Stuck’ Unstuck, by Michael H. Price

 

A general release has been too long in coming for Stuck, Stuart Gordon’s mordant and mournful film about a traffic accident and its criminal aftermath. I began picking up on the raves shortly after a film-critic comrade, Joe Leydon, caught the picture at 2007’s Toronto Film Festival and published a favorable review in the show-biz tradepaper Variety. Joe suggested a “carefully calibrated theatrical rollout” but added: “… difficult to tell whether [the] sardonically edgy pic will reach many mainstream auds before fast-forwarding to homevid.”

Now comes word of a Dallas opening, June 6, for Stuck – three months after a well-received showing at the American Film Institute/Dallas Festival. ThinkFilm, the distributor, keeps hedging about an opening in nearby Fort Worth. I have pressed for a film-fest slot or a commercial engagement in Fort Worth because that is where my newspaper’s core readership dwells. And because Stuck owes its dire inspiration to a real-world ordeal that took place in Fort Worth.

“Why, we couldn’t show a movie like that in Fort Worth’s very own film festival,” one leading light of the FW-based Lone Star Film Society told me last fall after I had recommended Stuck as a centerpiece for a November 2007 event. “We’re here ‘To Preserve and Present the Art of the Moving Image’ – just as our Mission Statement declares – not to dredge up any horrible memories.”

“Yeah, well,” I answered – once that “yeah, well” injunction kicks in, any such exchange is doomed to deteriorate – “an occasional reminder might do us all some sobering good. And besides, the film uses the local case only as a springboard. Changes the locale and fictionalizes a lot. More an inspiration than an explicit reflection.”

“I’d be careful how I used that term, ‘inspiration,’ if I were you,” came the reply. “Anyone who would find inspiration in such a ghastly occurrence has no business being allowed to make movies.” (Guardians of the Culture, take note.)

  (more…)

Happy 7th Anniversary, Peter & Kathleen David!

Seven years ago today in Atlanta, Peter David and Kathleen O’Shea got married in the chapel at Emory University. Harlan Ellison delivered a best man speech that was only slightly shorter than his fourth marriage, topping off a beautiful ceremony.

Happy Copper Anniversary, you two crazy kids. Enjoy the night.

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Happy Birthday: Carmine Infantino

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Flash Fact: Born in 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, Carmine Infantino might have been expected to go into music—his father was a musician, though he also worked as a plumber—but turned to art instead. While still in high school Infantino started working for Harry Chesler’s comic-book packager. Next he became an art assistant at Quality Comics. His first actual drawing job came at Timely Comics in 1942, where Infantino inked "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #3. After finishing high school Infantino continued to work for several places before finally landing a staff job at DC as the regular artist on the Golden Age Flash, Black Canary, Green Lantern, and the Justice Society of America.

He is probably best known for his work creating the second Flash, Barry Allen, and his distinctive red uniform. In 1967 Infantino became an art director at DC, and was promoted to editorial director a short while later. In 1971 he became publisher, but eventually left that position to go back to drawing on a freelance basis. He retired in 2005, though he still appears at comic book conventions. Infantino has won a National Cartoonists Society award and twelve Alley Awards, including a special Alley in 1969 for being the artist who “exemplifies the spirit of innovation and inventiveness in the field of comic art.”

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