Huntress Year One

"Huntress Year One"
Information
Series	Arrow
Chapter number	11 of 36
Released	December 19, 2012
Written by	Story: Marc Guggenheim Andrew Kreisberg Script: Marc Guggenheim
Art by	Mike Grell
Colors by	Ikari Studio (David Lopez & Santi Casas)
Cover by	Jason Shawn Alexander Lee Loughridge
Chronology
Previous chapter	"Caged"
Next chapter	"Limbo"

"Huntress Year One" is the eleventh chapter of the comic book series Arrow. It was released digitally on December 19, 2012.

Synopsis

In the wake of her fiancé's death, Helena travels to Italy in search of answers.

Plot

Helena corners her father, Frank, and confronts him over ordering the death of her fiancé, Michael. Oliver intervenes, preventing Helena from killing Frank, and they begin to fight.

During their battle, the story periodically flashes back to Helena's past after Michael's death.

In 2009, following Michael's funeral, Helena feels like a "ghost", unable to cope with her fiancé's death, and decides she needs a change of scenery. She travels to Sicily, Italy - her home country. Helena reflects on how she hoped to find answers as to how her own father could have her fiancé murdered, but was unsuccessful. Ultimately deciding that vengeance is the answer to her grief and rage, she grows determined to avenge Michael.

In Sicily, Helena seeks out La Morte Sussurrata - a secretive organization of professional killers trained by the original Persian assassins. For a year, Helena uses seduction and sex on the assassins in order to meet their leader, Silvio. After appealing to Silvio, Helena receives training from him in combat, martial arts, and firearm usage.

As she trains, Helena in the present reflects on how Oliver also attempted to train her, but she deems his methods as "weak", "unfocused", and "vulnerable", as he seeks control.

Much later, with her training nearly complete, Silvio tells Helena that the rage which fuels her cannot be controlled, as it's the most powerful emotion when properly channeled. Helena states she always believed love was the strongest emotion, to which Silvio points out that her rage comes from love, making it strong enough to "bring a ghost back to life". Afterwards, Helena returns to the states, ready to carry out her vendetta against her father. As she begins her crusade, Helena remembers an Italian saying: "He who cannot revenge himself is weak, he who will not is contemptible".

Sometime later, Helena tracks and kills Paul Copani outside Queen Consolidated.

Gallery

Digital cover

Trivia

• The title evokes the entire sequence of reboots, beginning with Batman: Year One in 1987 (in the wake of Frank Miller's Dark Knight), which DC have performed on core characters. Notably, Green Arrow: Year One was the primary source for the first season of Arrow.