more Huntress in Review…features Huntress vs. Yasemin Soze in Birds of Prey. I would have loved to seen more time devoted to telling this story: flushing out Yasemin’s character and background and her feud with The Huntress, instead of sparsely told in two issues. But it was a fun read and it did give Helena a few memorable moments.

Huntress vs. Yasemin Soze

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: PART ONE

HUNTRESS AND QUESTION (RENEE MONTOYA) IN REVIEW

HUNTRESS AND CATWOMAN IN REVIEW

HUNTRESS AND COMMISSIONER GORDON IN REVIEW

HUNTRESS AND MISFIT IN REVIEW

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: PART TWO

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: BEFORE DARK & DAWN (bop)

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: DC HOLIDAY SPECIALS

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: PART THREE

HUNTRESS IN REVIEW: HUNTRESS VS. SUICIDE KING

Yasemin would be rocked by this encounter with Huntress, and she’d never recover. I thought she was set up as a complete badass before she folded. It would have been nice to have had more exposure to her. She was an intriguing woman, who completely emersed herself and embraced her family legacy. Helena chose to break from hers. They provide an interesting discussion on the ties that bind us. Even though Helena severed her ties, she still carries the load. It was also nice to see a couple of issues with  Huntress taking charge.

Some pages speak for themselves. Words become inadequate to truly express how badass Helena can be. If someone ask, “how scary is the Huntress?”, all you have to do is show them this, and say, “see for yourself”.

This game of hunters is way too short. Both ladies hunt each other, but Huntress is the best and catches her prey first. She looks possessed as she sneaks up on Yasemin and administers a beatdown she’d never forget. Not only did she try to kill Huntress, but she committed the unpardonable sin. She threatened to kill Helena’s school kids.

Yasemin takes a few shots at Huntress and Black Canary for the thrill of it. She separates them. Black Canary stays below as the driver has some drug addicts held at gun point.  He’s been ordered to shoot them if Huntress doesn’t hunt her alone. The game of hunters begins.

Artist never cease to amaze me. Yasemin’s ”girls” didn’t have to be falling out her dress to be sexy, all those guns she was carrying did it for me!

Previously,  Batman confronts Huntress about her dealings with the various mob organizations. She hands him a dossier of information on organized crime in Gotham that he doesn’t possess, and reveals all the players who were moving in on Don Sigiorello were taking care of, including Yasemin Soze who was arrested.

Yasemin would eventually be released from Eddleton Federal Women’s Penitentiary. The O’Shanlin family picked her up and advised her to stay away from Helena because she bought the JLA down on them. Yasemin has revenge on her mind, kills all but the driver, and orders him at gun point to head to Gotham City.

Upon her arrival, she makes a stop at Dinah’s floral shop, orders an arrangement, and leaves a note for her. She’s searching all over Gotham when she hears about a conflict involving capes over the police-band. Rushing to the scene she comes upon Huntress and Black Canary who’ve had their hands full with the new “Batgirl”. Yasemin attempts to shot a preoccupied Huntress, but Batgirl notices the assassin and teleports in front of her, taking the bullet. Miraculously she heals and disappears.

Helena realizes the bullet was meant for her and that Yasemin has come calling.

Helena and Dinah persue the gunmen on foot through the city. Yasemin can hear the police coming, calls off her pursuit, but vows to kill Helena soon.

Helena and Dinah, with Creote tagging along, decide to go shopping to waste the time anticipating that Yasemin will not accept Helena’s offer without some retaliation. It doesn’t take long to prove they were right.

Yasemin is less than pleased with Helena’s demand. Her guards take exception to Helena’s declaration of war. She’s unflenching and takes care of the guard who touched her inappropriately earlier. She gives Yasemin two days to get back to her. Dinah thinks it’s a joy to see Helena work and so do I!

Helena and Yasmine make introductions. She demands that Yasemin stop supplying guns to the O’Shanlins in Metropolis and switch to the Sigiorello family in Gotham City.

On a side note, Chuck Dixon wrote a story where Batman once assisted Huntress with a Balkan terrorist group that she studied relentlessly, could even pick up their dialect.  At the minimal, Helena should be able to introduce herself to Yasemin with more confidence. As a young child, she was inundated with tutors. She also spent 3 or 4 years at a Swiss boarding school.  That knowledge alone means it’s safe to assume she’d be fluent in German and French. These, along with Italian, are the official languages of the country.

One of the appeals of Swiss boarding schools is they offer intensive studies in languages where fluency in more than one is highly encouraged and attained. After this, Helena went to University where surely foreign language is a requisite. Helena has been shown, not only by Chuck Dixon, but Greg Rucka, John Moore, and other writers, in the past to thoroughly study the culture and geography of the destinations she’s going. From her inception, she’s been an intelligent, high-functioning character, and that aspect should continued in her home book.

They’ve entered a hookah lounge where Helena demands a meeting with Yasemin. Dinah’s worried after one of Yasmine’s bodyguards gets fresh with Helena. No need to worry, Helena is focused. But he will pay for that!

Birds of Prey introduced us to Yasemin Soze, a gorgeous and powerful arms dealer from Istanbul, Turkey; and at the time, a potentially worthy adversary for The Huntress.  While not a fundamental component of the story, what struck me were two shared similarities between Helena and Yasemin. Both women are decedents of a long legacy of influential, powerful, and corrupt men, and both come from cultural heritages where family loyalty, family obligations, and family honor remain the strongest and most important considerations.  

While the events in Blackest Night Suicide Squad and Secret Six imply finality to their conflict (the track record of deaths in comics always lean towards a glimmer of hope), Yasemin Soze represents for me an unexplored yet fascinating brief glimpse of who Helena Bertinelli “could have been” had she embraced the greed, power, and success of her Mafia family’s legacy. In addition, she was also the catalyst that provided an unforgettable Huntress moment!