The Batman Family #18
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBatman Family #18 delivers the first ongoing solo backup feature starring the Huntress (Helena Wayne), the Earth-Two daughter of Batman and Catwoman, marking the character's graduation from origin-story guest to series protagonist in her own right. The debut chapter, 'A Choice of Destinies,' uses Helena's dual life — Harvard-trained attorney by day, costumed vigilante by night — to articulate a thematic tension between institutional justice and direct action that distinguished her from every other member of the Bat-family. The story's street-level, noir-inflected focus on South Gotham tenement arson established a storytelling template that would define the character for years, carried forward through Batman Family #19–20 and then into a long-running backup in Wonder Woman. As one of the earliest DC superheroines to headline her own continuing feature, the Huntress backup in this issue stands as a landmark of Bronze Age gender representation within the Batman universe.
In "The Monstrosity Chase!", Gotham’s South Side burns as a mysterious figure manipulates a child into planting time bombs—just as Huntress narrowly saves civilians from the latest blaze. Back at the firm of Cranston, Grayson and Wayne, tensions rise between Huntress and her resentful colleague Roger Demarest, whose frustration over her promotion begins to simmer. Written by Paul Levitz and illustrated by Joe Staton, with inks by Bob Layton, colors by Adrienne Roy, and letters by Todd Klein, this 1978 tale blends urban dread with workplace friction, all wrapped in Jim Starlin’s striking cover art.
When a classmate of Robin’s is killed by a sniper, the young hero dives into a mystery that leads him through a web of stolen Rembrandts and hidden motives. As tensions rise and old friendships fray, Robin finds himself navigating both a dangerous criminal plot and the shifting dynamics of his personal life—especially when Lori Elton begins a new relationship with Dave Corby.
When Batgirl’s evening with Senator Thomas Cleary takes a sudden turn, she’s forced to leap into action as an assault on the Pentagon unfolds—only to uncover that the mastermind behind the chaos is none other than Madame Zodiac.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Huntress was conceived when All Star Comics inker Bob Layton suggested adding a revamped Earth-Two Batgirl to the Justice Society lineup; writer Paul Levitz developed the character as the daughter of Earth-Two's Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, and penciller Joe Staton designed the costume by combining visual elements of both parents. After her origin was told in DC Super Stars #17 (1977), the character moved into Batman Family when the series converted to DC's new Dollar Comics format with issue #17 (April–May 1978), expanding the book to roughly 80 pages and creating room for a dedicated Huntress slot. Issue #18 was the second Dollar Comics installment, edited by Al Milgrom (with Joe Orlando as managing editor), and it reunited the character's original creative team — Levitz, Staton, and inker Bob Layton — for her first multi-part solo adventure, with colors by Adrienne Roy and letters by Todd Klein.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The 10-page backup story 'A Choice of Destinies,' written by Paul Levitz with art by Joe Staton (pencils), Bob Layton (inks), Adrienne Roy (colors), and Todd Klein (letters), is the first installment of a three-part Huntress arc that concludes in Batman Family #19–20.
- The story introduces the law firm Cranston, Grayson and Wayne as Helena Wayne's civilian workplace on Earth-Two, and establishes Arthur Cranston as her senior partner and Roger Demarest as a resentful colleague who resents her recent promotion.
- The plot kicks off a politically charged arson conspiracy: buildings in an impoverished South Gotham neighborhood are being deliberately set ablaze, with Councilman Franklin Gresham ultimately revealed across the arc as the corrupt official behind the scheme.
- Issue #18 is only the second installment of Batman Family in the Dollar Comics format; the series converted with #17 (April–May 1978), expanding to an ~80-page anthology under editor Al Milgrom, with Batman stories added as the lead feature.
- The issue's five stories also include a lead Batman tale illustrated by Michael Golden, a Robin story set at Hudson University, a Batgirl adventure featuring Madame Zodiac at the Pentagon, and a Man-Bat story by Danny Bulanadi.
- The Grand Comics Database records the issue's on-sale date as March 14, 1978, with a cover date of July 1978.
- The Huntress story from this issue has been reprinted multiple times: in the Australian Adventure Comics (Murray, 1980 series) #6, in the DC trade paperback Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter (2006), and again in The Huntress: Origins (2020), both of which collect the full Batman Family #18–20 arc alongside DC Super Stars #17 and Wonder Woman backup stories.
- The Huntress costume in this era was designed by Joe Staton drawing on visual cues from both Catwoman and Batman, and the name 'Huntress' was borrowed from a relatively obscure Golden Age villainess named Paula Brooks.
Cast · 4 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Batman Sonderheft #11 (1978), Batman Pocketbook #3 (1979), Batman Taschenbuch #3 (1979), Batman Taschenbuch #4 (1979), Batman Classics #120 (1980), Läderlappen #4/1980 (1980), Lynvingen #4/1980 (1980), Batman Album #51 (1981), Huntress: Darknight Daughter #[nn] (2007), Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus #2 (2019), Legends of the Dark Knight: Michael Golden #[nn] (2019), The Huntress: Origins #[nn] (2020), Robin: The Bronze Age Omnibus #[nn] (2020)
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