Three revamped female characters from DC

[icon_uk]

I am indebted to the invaluable resource, www.titanstower.com for a couple of news items I'd missed (and I have to praise them even more for keeping going when about 90% of the history of the comics the site was created to cover was wiped out by the DCnU. Check it out, it's a great site.)

First up, perhaps the last character I expected to get revamped, since she died in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, and if I'm honest wasn't really missed TOO much..



Tula, the original Aquagirl was never the most well developed character in the Teen Titans, she seemed to be there to give Garth someone to be involved with, she was an orphan, raised by the royal family of Poseidonis, and died due to toxic chemicals spwed up by the walking waste dump known as Chemo.

This version of Tula though, has a rather more pivotal role, as she is now Orm's half sister. So Arthur and Orm share the same mother and Tula and Orm share the same father, but Arthur and Tula technically have nothing in common.... I think... I'm sure there's a name for that relationship, but I have no idea what it would be.






Then we have the new identity for Bette Kane, the original Bat-Girll... Umm... Flamebird... Ummm I mean...





I'm sorry, but HAWKFIRE? That name is just... SO 90's, even by DCnU standards. What was wrong with "Flamebird"? It's not like anyone else was using it. (Plus it had the echo of ICONIC heritage to it.) This just sounds like they're irked that Firehawk was already used up for a female, fire-based bird-themed hero over in Firestorm.

And why does she use such a weird codename, well, it appears that she's upped her arsenal's offensive abilities...



That's kind of a... terminal sort of powerset isn't it? When you're a close-combat vigilante building flamethrowers into your gauntlets (even ones that somehow produce cute firebird shaped blasts) seems a little TOO offensive an ability.

And finally



From an interview with Keith Giffen up at Newsarama

The recent He-Man relaunch at DC has led, perhaps inevitably, to the return of Adora, his long lost twin sister, who in the cartoon was stolen as a baby (and her existence never mentioned to anyone, including Adam) and ferried off to the dimension of Etheria to be raised by Hordak, Skeletor's old mentor as a Horse Warrior.

Of course, she and her brother had transformation sequences of the sort which certainly MUST have had some influence on the likes of Sailor Moon some years later.

Giffen promises a few changes to the mythos.. including Hordak having given her a new name, Despera... I can sort of see the logic of that, since keeping her original name of "Adora" sort of runs counter to the fact that she was raised to be the ruthless commander of an army who might as well have called themselves "Hordak's Kill-Bastards" but we'll see how it goes...

Comments

[mrstatham]

Hawkfire's a goofy codename, but Kate's always played a little loosely with the 'Batman' rules. Hell, so has Batman - who verges on 'if it doesn't kill them, it's good enough' at times. In terms of Bette using them on the guy in the panel? That *is* the guy who gutted her before, and who is pretty much tougher than the average Gotham thug, from what I recall.

[junipepper]

Oh, come on, Tula? It's nice to have more females in active character roles, but honestly, I just want Garth back. Mock me if you must...

I -- don't hate Hawkfire's costume, so that's a plus. But the codename seems kind of random, like she was pulling word pairs out of a hat. I'll never keep it straight; I'm afraid I'll end up thinking of her as Firehawk/Flamehawk/Hawkflame/Fireflame/Birdhawk/Birdfire/Whatever.

[icon_uk]

It would be quite amusing if she kept messing up her own codename

"I'm Flamehawk... no... Firefeather... no, wait, hand on, I'll get this in a minute... I'm Hawk-girl!

[junipepper]

*snork* "No, wait, I'm ... Aqua-Girl!"

[the_blue_padre]

For God's sake, just call her Phoenix and be done with it.

[shingi70]

well this Tula seems to be an adult from the way she's drawn so she probably wont be put on sidekick status any time soon, Hoping for Kal'dur or Lagoon boy to show up in some form.

[practicalcat]

Garth can come back during the fight scene where someone grabs that long ponytail and Tula has to lop it off. And then they make out lots.

[junipepper]

This works for me. :-)

[practicalcat]

ALL THE MAKING OUT.

[kenn_el]

I'm too lazy to look up the issue, but wasn't Garth with Tula in the Justice League issue in which she first appeared?
Also, Hawkfire is just awful as a codename, but I'm glad they didn't kill her off, and wish that the Batwoman series would finally get into Bette's backstory and whether or not Kathy existed and had enlisted Bette back when.

[dustbunny105]

I can sort of see the logic of that, since keeping her original name of "Adora" sort of runs counter to the fact that she was raised to be the ruthless commander of an army who might as well have called themselves "Hordak's Kill-Bastards" but we'll see how it goes...

She was raised to believe that Hordak was a benevolent ruler, though. It's only when He-Man arrives in her world that she learns that the rebels she's been fighting against aren't just violent criminals. Not that that makes much sense, and keeping her original name is still silly since she was kidnapped and all... The new name in particular makes me curious about what sorts of changes to the mythos are to be expected.

[md84]

I can see the logic in not raising her to be evil. If he did, she'd probably try to stab him in his sleep to take over.

[icon_uk]

Hordak would probably think "Sniff... they grow up so quickly... barely 12 and she tried to assassinate me... I'm so damn proud of her I could just BURST!"

But then I loved Hordak since the moment that he and She-Ra were caught in a space time vortex and he asked what was going on..

She-Ra: I don't know where we are, I don't were we're going, and we won't know where we are when we get there.
Hordak: Hm. Just like being in the Horde army.

or

Hordak: Modulok has an idea? Remind me to make a note that the Apocalypse must be due!

or referring to Skeletor as "You bone-headed bog-waddler!"

[leoboiko]

always though She-Ra henshin sequence has some uncanny resemblances to Sailor Venus’…

[icon_uk]

As noted, it'd be the other way round, She-Ra's transformation sequence debuted in 1985, Codename: Sailor V didn't debut until 1991.

[leoboiko]

yeah I didn't mean to imply order of causation.

[thanekos]

Hawkfire, a name that just begs to be accompanied by guitar chords.

[goggle_kid]

"Hawkfire" sounds like one of those parody superhero names you'd here in Megaton Man, Mighty Magnor, or Normalman.

[thespis]

I've been trying so hard to give Williams and Blackman the benefit of the doubt, but... ugh. I hate what they've done to Bette. They're riding the phoenix metaphor way too hard.

Also, fucking Hawkfire, who the fuck thought that was going to be a good idea?

[jaybee3]

I don't mind bringing back Tula but what about Lorena? For a couple that publicly claims diversity in its characters DC has a habit of getting rid of characters of color - Cass Cain, Ryan Choi, Lorena Marquez, Renee Montoya and replacing them with characters who are a bit...paler (Steph Brown, Ray Palmer again, Tula, Vic Sage seemingly again).

Also I guess Johns has thrown out the idea that this Aquaman series is a continuation of what he was doing pre-reboot. If Tula, when last seen a Black Lantern zombie, is rebooted, what is canon and what is not?

[icon_uk]

Different person who just happens to share the same first name?

And haven't they already changed the premise by having him be half human again?

[reynard531]

I...what's the count again....the name Hawkfire is stupid. I don't even know anything about Flamebird really, and I can say that it's a better name than Hawkfire.

And what's this about a He-Man relaunch? Is this a physical comic or a digital comic? I saw reruns of the old cartoon, and liked the 2003 cartoon, though I wished they had incorporated Adora in it. The idea of her coming back sounds so interesting. Let's see what...

...THAT'S Adora?! Really? I have to say, from an aesthetic standpoint, I hate it. I really do. Well, scratch off yet another thing from DC I won't look at.

[bizarrohulk]

The name "Hawkfire" seems like it should have an umlaut in it somewhere.

[halloweenjack]

Something about "Hawkfire" reminds me that part of me still wants the airbrushed-epic-art-on-the-side van that I dreamed about as a kid in the 70s.