Pantheress
55 years ago - Paula Brooks is born, the daughter of an international thief & poacher.
38 years ago - 17-year-old Paula Brooks moves to America after her father's death and becomes a professional thief.
33 years ago - 22-year-old Paula Brooks is invited to join Vandal Savages Injustice Society, where she meets Crusher Crock.
31 years ago - 24-year-old Paula Brooks and her lover Crusher Crock have their daughter Artemis Crock.
29 years ago - 26-year-old Paula Brooks, seeing that Crusher Crock is endangering their daughter Artemis Crock. rolls over on him, sending him to prison.
26 years ago - 29-year-old Paula Brooks dedicates herself to hunting Crusher Crock when he escapes prison and kidnaps their daughter, Artemis Crock
24 years ago - 31-year-old Paula Brooks catches Crusher Crock with the help of John Law. She recovers Artemis Crock, and takes her to Africa.
16 years ago - 39-year-old Paula Brooks is killed while robbing an embassy in Algeria.
Paula Brooks' existence in comics is an absolutely fascinating combination of ideas lifted from other places, with almost no original ideas at all... but somehow she's managed to be in the right place at the right time for her place in the overall story to have maintained for practically the entire history of the medium, and has never really been updated or made more relevant in all that time. The end result is a bit of a time capsule of a character.
Paula Brooks' Comic HistoryThe Huntress was first introduced in Sensation Comics # 68 in 1947 as a foil for long-time backup character Wildcat. The intention was that they could have a relationship similar to Batman and Catwoman, and to that end, she was given a costume very similar to Selena's Golden Age outfit... although, unlike Catwoman, she's never had her costume updated. She was introduced without much in the way of a backstory; she was just a female daredevil who constantly challenged Wildcat to physical challenges, beating him with cunning and skill, always proclaiming that she was outside the law.
After several more appearances in Sensational Comics, the Huntress became a member of the Injustice Society, where she would eventually be depicted as the partner and wife of fellow Society member Sportsmaster. When the Justice Society included Helena Wayne's Huntress, She showed up to challenge her for the name. Speaking of names, she finally got a civilian identity, Paula Brooks, in the pages of Roy Thomas's Young All-Stars. She was also granted a backstory of sorts, as a wealthy heiress who idolized the Manhunter Paul Kirk and who trained herself in martial arts and marksmanship so she could become a member of the All-Stars. She was also given a different name, Tigress, although when she made a heel turn and became a villain, she returned to the name Huntress. It was only a few years later in Infinity Inc that we were introduced to the daughter of Paula & Crusher Crock, Artemis... who might have a limited presence in comics, but has largely defined Paula ever since. |
Our Paula Brooks StoryThe main reason we're including Paula Brooks is because we want to use Artemis Crock. This presents us with a bit of a challenge because as she appears in the comics, Paula really doesn't give us a ton to work with. She's basically a version of the Golden Age Catwoman that never evolved. Her backstory as a wealthy heiress basically playing at being a super-criminal is pretty bare-bones as well.
So what do we want her to be? Ultimately, her main role in the story should be as a mother, but before that, we'd like to give her role as a thief a little more weight, as well as make the generational similarities between her and her daughter immediately noticeable. To that end, we'll have her grow up largely in Africa, traveling with her father, who is an international thief. It doesn't need to be a complex backstory, but it gives her a framework to build from, and we can get to the business of telling the story of her relationship with Crusher, and her true life's purpose of raising Artemis. Obviously, she needs a completely different costume. One reader suggested that, since she's originally based on the Golden Age version of Catwoman, who has a great costume that doesn't really fit with her modern characterization, this would be a great fit for Paula, and I absolutely agree. Using this outfit also informed the name we chose to give her. |