This month is “WTF” month at DC Comics, which they assure us stands for “What The Fifty-two.” What this means, tangibly, is that each New 52 issue out in April will feature a cover that’s… well, based on what I’ve seen, no more sensationalist than your average sensationalist comics cover. The promise this time, however, is that the stuff on these covers is actually representative of what’s inside, and that each cover is part of a double spread, with the other half of the image revealing an even more sinister twist to the story. Here’s a preview of Worlds’ Finest #11, the book of dimensional refugees, renegade-superheros, and best buds Power Girl and the Huntress.

Don’t expect Jessica De Gouw’s role on The CW’s Arrow to become recurring anytime soon. The actress has been chosen to play Mina Harker in NBC’s upcoming Dracula series starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

What’s the reason comic publishers aren’t putting time and energy into marketing toward children again? This is your next generation right here. These two young ladies won separate Halloween costume contests this year and the folks at Empire’s Comics Vault in Sacramento decided to throw them a party to celebrate. Hit the jump to see another shot of this dynamic duo. 

Worlds’ Finest is a comic I’m really enjoying right now, for a number of reasons. First, one of the characters is Batman’s daughter, which is basically who I wanted to be from the age of eleven to probably… sixteen or seventeen. The comic features Helena Wayne and Karen Starr, the Robin and Supergirl of Earth-2, unexpectedly transported to our universe in the heat of a battle against Darkseid in which both of their mentors perished, which brings me to the next reason why I love the comic: any superhero story that so prominently features a friendship between women is to be cherished. And finally, issue #7 marks the second part of a story featuring Helena’s Earth Prime counterpart: Damian Wayne. Damian is something of a divisive character in fandom and even here at The Mary Sue (Jill loves him… ugh). I took no small pleasure in seeing him matched in sass and kick assery last issue, and I look forward to seeing it again.

In conclusion: Worlds’ Finest has a lot going for it, so I’m happy to say that DC Comics has offered us an exclusive preview of the first six pages of issue #7 and two of its covers.

I finally caught up on four episodes of Arrow on Sunday, and while the show doesn’t exactly have me riveted (I watched the last three while simultaneously playing World of Warcraft because Valor Points, baby, Valor Points), it seems to me that the show is still sketching out the borders of its frame, still setting the stage for what it ultimately wants to say, and so I’m still mildly interested. Helping along my interest are small moments with the show’s considerable female cast (although I find the dialogue between Laurel and her friend at the legal aid office to be laughably bad), like Thea’s defenses of her understandable brokenness, the lovely awkward lady hacker character who just came on the scene, and the moment when Laurel totally rescued Ollie from a buttwhooping. Also, John Barrowman has finally started making appearances and that’s fun.

But more than any of that, I’m honor bound to stick with the show at least through the introduction of Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, scourge of the Cosa Nostra.

She’s already smarter than Oliver Queen – she’s wearing a mask. Seriously though, sometimes he doesn’t even have his eye makeup on. Read on to find out which other Mary Sue-favorite DC woman is set to join the cast soon!

“I play Helena, but I’m also The Huntress, so I have to be able to hold my own. The duality of the role, it’s challenging. I have to be able to kick butt and all of that, and I’m quite feminine in my normal every day [life]… the fighting and all of that is new and interesting for me, but it’s a good thing. I’m really enjoying it. I’ve kind of been thrust into it, so I might as well just jump in, right?” she says. Jessica teases that the Huntress is introduced into Arrow “with a punch.” “She comes in strong.” — Ksitetv, talking to Jessica de Gouw, the latest woman to play the Huntress in a screen adaptation.

De Gouw has quite a lot to say about her character in the interview, about how Helena and Oliver are in some ways opposites, and how she’s been reading Huntress comics for inspiration. She refuses to let any details leak about her costume, though… other than that as Helena, the costume designers are making sure she’s always in a bit of purple. You can read the whole interview here.

Previously in Arrow

Oh yes, the fantastic set images of Chris Hemsworth have started back up now that Thor: The Dark World is shooting (we posted some great ones of Sif earlier today). Check out one of his other wonderful expressions on Flatbear’s tumblr. 

Arrow just keeps packing on the things that are guaranteed to get my attention. While I was sitting around waiting for them to give me some real info on whether their Dinah “Laurel” Lance will ever actually get to be Black Canary, the character’s superhero alterego in comics, they went ahead and cast John Barrowman as a mysterious rich guy. But now comes the reveal that the Huntress, a character with decades of history among the Bat-family and otherwise Gotham, will be introduced to the show in a multi-episode story arc, as a vigilante just like lead character Oliver Queen… She’ll be played by Jessica De Gouw, and naturally will be a “potential love interest.”

DC comics has revealed details for their second wave of comics to come out of the rebooted new 52, and a handful of titles promise the return of some fan favorite characters as well as the presentation of female characters in the fore-front. Namely in the former of Ravagers, featuring a new Terra and Beast Boy; and Worlds’ Finest, a title that used to be about Batman and Superman (it also used to be World’s Finest, a feat of punctuational distinction that excites your humble editor), is now housing the triumphant return of Powergirl and The Huntress to the DC Universe.