Months ago, we were introduced to the character of Hana Gitelman, the former Israeli soldier who had the ability to ‘hear’ and send electronic messages with her mind…a walking Blackberry, if you will.  She drove the fantastic ‘War Buddies’ story arc a few issues back (check out the recaps here and here).  They really seemed to set her up to be a big new character, with a special short intro run by NBC, and even a brief appearance on a couple of episodes a few weeks ago.  In the comics, HRG helped Hana discover her abilities and put her to work for the company, making her believe it was the CIA.  I’ve been hoping that she will make the crossover to the show full-time, but will she survive?   

THE DEATH OF HANA GITELMAN
Part 1 of 2 

Hana Gitelman has fought all her life.  In most of her battles, there was a clear distinction between friend and foe.  But the man in horn-rimmed glasses has always proven to be the exception.  Once her mentor, he betrayed her, fooled her into doing his dirty work.  Against her better judgement, she has taken up his cause again.  But as she delved deeper into her assignments, she found only more reasons to question their uneasy alliance…

This was a super-long issue.  Most of the novels have been around 6-7 pages, but this one clocks in at a whopping 13.  We begin with a beautiful image of Earth with all of its satellites.  As we move in closer to one of the satellites, we find that it is searching for Hana.  Then we find that she is being held at gunpoint (the image at the top of the post).

Flashback three days.  Hana is in a park somewhere between New York and Texas.  The gang consisting of Bennet, Ted and Parkman come up to her, and Bennet tells her that they have to talk.  Hana pulls a gun on him, saying that she wasn’t sure if she trusts him anymore.  When he tells her that he is just trying to give them a normal life again, she snaps back that her life was never normal, thanks to him.  Finally, she gives in, asking him what the job is.  He tells her that the company has two tracking systems in place, and that he and the gang are on the way to NYC to take out the “Walker System”, but she needs to take out the “Isotope System”, which is located on a satellite.  After saying that there is no way that she can bring down a satellite, we flashback again…

One year ago, near the top of the world.  Hana and Bennet are climbing a mountain in a snow storm, and Hana is having a surprisingly hard time, considering how easily it comes to Bennet.  He says that up where they are, the electronic messages “buzz around like flies - and you’re the fly paper.”  She is suddenly overcome, and discharges a huge electronic burst, which she will later find knocked out many cell phone and internet services across the globe. 

Back in the present, Hana goes out to spend her one last night of freedom partying and finally enjoying life before she goes on this mission that she will apparently not return from.  She then sets out to find the place where she can communicate with the satellite, but she cannot find a good spot anywhere.  Eventually, she finds a rocket on a launchpad in an undisclosed Asian country.  She begins to make her way to the rocket when she is surrounded by five armed guards.

I’m a little more excited about this story than I was about the previous couple of weeks’.  We’ll be back next Monday with the conclusion.