Raven (II)

Name: Gianna Rosa Bertinelli

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First Appearance: Huntress v1 #1 1989 DC

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Wayward Earth History

Another character in the Bat-verse who probably could have existed fine on her own. Unfortunately the names Helena and Huntress sort of bugger that. Futz a bit with an old Quality hero who hung out with the Spider Widow and Phantom Lady, and we're good. The outfit is a combination of the Huntress gear and Tony Grey's as the Raven. I need to figure out a better way to integrate the green boots...

 Maria Panessa Bertinelli, wife of Franco Bertinelli of the Mafia family in Gotham City, was the subject of frequent beatings from her husband, though he was sure never to beat her face. Maria decided to have an affair with a man named Santo Cassamento. As a result, Maria became pregnant, with her husband knowing it was not his own child and still beat Maria. Maria gave birth to a girl whom she named Gianna Rosa. For eight years, Gianna grew up in a mafia household, never suspecting the criminal dealings that took place there.

When Gianna was eight years old, a man barged in to the Bertinelli household during dinner and shot Franco, Maria and Pino Bertinelli, sparing Gianna. The hit came from Mandragora who wished for no vendettas against him. Gianna's biological father passed the order along with a modification that "the sister" be spared. Santo was referring to Maria. But the gunman confused Maria with Gianna and so Gianna was spared, though she was not supposed to be.

Gianna was placed under the care of her Uncle Tomasso's nephew, Salvatore Asaro. She was taken back to the old country, Sicily, where she would be kept safe and where the family was still strong. When arriving, she was terrified. Gianna remained there for a number of years. Watching her cousin and uncle train and practice with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. However, the nightmares stayed with her. One night, her cousin showed her that only she could stop the nightmare by putting an end to those who murdered her family: blood cries for blood. When taken into the barn, she asked her cousin to teach her how, picking up a crossbow from the wall. 

She trained until the age of fifteen when she was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland to protect her from the Italian authorities who were cracking down on the Mafia. There she was approached by a man named Anatolio Grillo. He had heard her speak of her family with such contempt and disdain, and read of her wishes to end their influence in a diary she thought she'd kept hidden. Grillo explained that he was a member of a loose brotherhood founded in the early 19^th century to oppose the power of the mafia. He offered to train her far beyond anything her assassin cousins could provide and in exchange, when he died, she would carry on the mantle of the Sicilian bogeyman, the Raven.

As her first mission as Raven Giana ended the lives of Mandragora and the assassin who murdered her family.