Batman & Huntress: A Cry for Blood [Paperback]

Greg Rucka (Author), Rick Burchett (Illustrator), Terry Beatty (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563898012
• ISBN-13: 978-1563898013
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of four novels about professional bodyguard Atticus Kodiak -- Keeper (nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America), Finder, Smoker, and Shooting at Midnight, Greg Rucka has been writing since he was eight years old, and hopefully is improving with age. A longtime comics fan, his first graphic novel series was the suspense thriller Whiteout, published by Oni Press and nominated for three Eisner Awards in 1999. Since that time he has been a contributing writer for DC Comics and an active participant in the Batman series of titles.
Born and raised in California, he earned his undergraduate degree at Vassar College and his MFA at the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Rucka has two tattoos, and rides a motorcycle.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, December 8, 2002

By 

Savant11 "Savant11" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Batman & Huntress: A Cry for Blood (Paperback)

This is the book that made me a Huntress fan.

It really is a very good book and definitely proves that Greg Rucka is currently one of the best writers in comic books today. I love it so much I pick it up time and time again to read. I disagree and think that his best writing is in mainstream comics as opposed to independents because there are certain topics which have to be handled carefully and requires much more fines, than simply using the bull in the China shop approach. He is one of the best things that ever happened to DC comics.

Helena Bertinelli is the daughter of a former mob boss who witnessed the execution of her entire family before her eyes as a child. Now all grown up she has embarked on a one woman quest to wipe out the mob in Gotham. She gets framed for a murder and has to figure out who did it. In the process she finds out something very shocking about herself as well as why she survived the massacre on her family.

In the usual Rucka fashion he looks into the demons and what drives Helena/Huntress. And forces her to examine herself, and what she is running away from. One of the reasons I love Rucka's treatment of the character is that she is nuanced. Other writers often portray her simply as an angry woman with a chip on her shoulder. But Greg Rucka doesn't. But Rucka shows her to be much more than that. Which is great since people are not that simplistic. The common stereotype of Huntress is that she's "crazy". Nothing could be further from the truth. Helena Bertinelli is a very sane, intelligent and lucid woman-her problem is that she has a little problem with anger. And as the story progresses you see why she is so angry. Not only as a result of her life experience. But as a way of sheltering her heart from being hurt. When you look at it Huntress and Batman are essentially two sides of the same coin. The only difference is that Batman implodes his anger and she explodes it.

Huntress secretly craves the approval of Batman (who inspired her) and longs to be a part of his inner circle. But not at the cost of betraying who she is. She senses that Batman & co. do not approve of her---and she wants to be accepted for who she is. There is also the simple fact that Huntress and Batman do not get along because they have the exact same personality, and get on each others nerves. Watching them interact is often amusing as they fight almost like an old married couple.

Unlike other comic book heroines whom I like (such as the X-men's Storm, Psylocke and Emma Frost or the Wildcats Zealot) Huntress is not the kind of woman I would like to be. She is the kind of woman I am right now. She's flawed but has a very good heart and tries to do what is right in her own way. She also has a strong sense of pride and self-respect which drive her. This all makes her much easier to relate to.

I would also like to mention the dialogue in this book, it is much more every day and realistic. Such as the back and forth banter (flirtation) between Huntress and the Question.

What Rucka does with Huntress in this book is awe-inspiring. This surely is one of the best stories in the Batman books and is destined to be a classic.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rucka Rocks, March 14, 2003

By 

Tim Byrd "author of Doc Wilde & The Frogs of ... (Decatur, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Batman & Huntress: A Cry for Blood (Paperback)

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Batman is a classic hero, one of the best.

Huntress is an anti-hero, also one of the best.

And Greg Rucka...well, he's the best. The best writer working in mainstream comics, that is, as well as a damn fine writer of suspense fiction. I've always loved Batman and the Huntress, but Rucka was the reason I picked this up.

It's a tale of realistic gangsters, not supervillains. It has in-depth characters with complex motivations and emotions. It also has one of the best little-known DC heroes, The Question, a man with no face who walks the mean streets looking for answers to...well, to everything, always ready with a bit of kung fu when needed.

I saw one of the other reviews compare this to "The Long Halloween." Frankly, I think TLH is radically overrated, and a hodgepodge of vignettes with mostly no actual connection. It also lacks humanity, by which I mean it doesn't present any characters in a way that makes you really care what happens to them. Interesting, yes. Great, uh-uh.

This book is far better than "The Long Halloween." But hey, it's Greg Rucka. And as good as Jeph Loeb is, he's not on Rucka's level, not yet.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Good as the Batman Books by Loeb and Sale, March 25, 2005

By 

C. Johnson (Orange County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Batman & Huntress: A Cry for Blood (Paperback)

This book needs more recognition. This is as good as Loeb and Sale's Batman books (The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Haunted Knight, buy these!). However, this isn't REALLY a Batman book, he's a minor supporting character.

Huntress is front and center here. We get a great crime story and her origin story too. Rucka's writing has a great forward motion to it, you want to keep reading. The artwork is nice too, a classic style, not overly stylized or cartoon-y.

This is great background material for future Huntress appearances in the DC Universe. Check out the latest Birds of Prey TPB "Sensei and Student" - the best BoP book so far, Gail Simone has rescued that title. Also check out the Nightwing/Huntress book - this book got a lot of bad press because the two main characters sleep together. Who cares?!? It's still a great book.

Back to this book...
My one complaint is the presence of The Question, a pretty dull character. Rucka did his best to make something of him.

Still, a fun/gritty/character-driven/action-packed read. BUY IT!!!