Although not groundbreaking the Huntress mini-series has been an enjoyable vigilante superhero romp whose only downfall is that it didn’t quite live up to its potential.

With gorgeous art, ink and pencils the team of To, Dell and Dalhouse deserve a lot of credit for what went right with this series. In the best tradition of exploiting a characters setting the exotic Italian vistas help imbue Huntress herself with a gorgeous and sheik vibe that really sets the character apart in a pathologically gritty and dark not-a-reboot DCU. Those same vistas also give the story an exciting blockbuster quality with well framed establishing panels that rise up the page and hero shots that let you know just how awesome our protagonist is, even if she’s just sitting on a motorbike or tearing down the road in an exotic car. It’s all gorgeous, a masterclass in just getting the craft of comic book creation right.

And can I single out Dalhouse here? I havent been reading comics all that long but this is the only time I’ve bothered to learn who the colourist is. His use of the colour purple as a theme through this book has been incredible, giving it a ‘feel’ that leaves you in no doubt who owns this story. Such a simple thing done exceptionally well, and it’s that quality that permeates everything associated with the art of this title. The art team can really take a bow.

But to say that the faults of the book lie solely with the writing would also tell a lie. The writing of Huntress – as craft – is excellent. The characters are consistent, the plot charges along at breakneck pace, the action scenes (to my surprise) made perfect sense and you literally can’t find a better ‘traditional’ superhero story in the ‘not-a-reboot’ DCU. As an example of action adventure superhero writing it’s doing everything right. Craft-wise.

It’s the ‘art’ of the writing that Levitz is missing. This character does not develop at all. Not one jot. She’s a stylish, go-getting, butt-kicking vigilante at the start and this way she remains in every panel of this six issue series. Not once does the audience get any sense of internal conflict, not once does she seem worried, and with every challenge she faces there is never the sense that Helena is actually at risk. No matter what situation she gets herself into she immediately takes care of it and moves on without a scratch. She always knows what to do, always knows where to be and, apparently, never feels any other way than ‘confident and happy’. After six issues it gets a bit much.

And that brings us to the other problem. The plot of this series is quite straightforward. Too straightforward for a six issue arch. Considering the lack of growth achieved by our protagonist the story itself could have easily been knocked out in four issues without any loss. We would have missed a lot of gorgeous art but the effect would have been the same – Huntress kicks but in style. The end.

And that’s why this series fails to connect with the audience. Huntress is just too perfect, too confident, too unflappable. She’s a stereotype. And this makes it almost impossible to engage with her on any level. And it’s a shame but for this reason and this reason alone the series itself seems flat and listless.

If DC doesn’t get this art team onto another title el pronto then they’re mad. Stony crazy mad. But although he’s provided us with an enjoyable look at what Huntress does on holidays Levitz should really look at providing more character moments for the audience to hook into. Because at the end of the day that’s why we return to characters – because we’ve become emotionally invested in them. And you can’t really achieve that if she has her personality set to ‘just plain awesome’ all the time. It’s a lack of humanity that ultimately holds the title back.