Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Black Beauties



All-female teams were once a rarity, but we are seeing more and more of them these days.  DC has done a great job of showcasing some of their lesser known characters with their various Birds of Prey series.  Marvel now has The Fearless Defenders, to serve that purpose as well.  Even their latest Uncanny X-Men line-up is featuring an all female cast - goodness knows there are enough mutants to fill it with.  Then you have Danger Girl and The Powerpuff Girls,  a couple of trios that have been kicking butt for over a decade now. Heck, this won't even be my last all-female team on the blog.  The day of the damsel in distress is over!


18 comments:

Ted Hobgood said...

Black Cat! Awesome! (Referring to the original Black Cat here...)

A favourite character of mine. I cut up a bunch of Black Cat comics last year (digitally, of course!) and made a motion comic promo for a friend's bakery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UniGvgfMhCk
I always get a big grin when I see the old black Cat!

Ross said...

This won't be her last appearance on the blog, Ted!

Anonymous said...

for the white named characters i know white queen white witch white lantern any others?

Isaac said...

Black really is beautiful! Good one Ross!

Bob Greenwade said...

Seeing the group's name, I thought this was going to be a bunch of African-American heroines, led by Storm. This concept works just as well, though.

On the other hand, it made me think that a Defenders of Africa group might be possible, starting with Black Panther, Tarzan, and the Phantom. I don't know who else would be possible, though, unless you throw in someone from DC's Gorilla City or maybe the Champions Universe's Dr. Silverback.

Isaac said...

Bob Greenwade ... why stop there? Why not throw in the Pre-Crisis versions of B'wana Beast, Impala (from Superfriends) and Sheena & Rima. Shanna the she-devil can make an appearance too, along with She (H. Rider Haggard) and Dr. Mist (also from Superfriends). I can't think of anymore. Maybe you guys out there in Super-team family land can help me out?

pblfsda said...

It depends on how broadly you want to define Africa. People brought up on Tarzan movies think of the jungle, but a lot of the continent is veldt and desert. There's got to be a ton of Egyptian characters, including the Golden Age Hawkman, the Living Mummy, Black Adam(?), the Sphinx,etc. And what about Morocco Mole?

Buzz said...

Original and modern Black Cat!! Yay!

Lizard said...

Yeah, when I saw the title, I was thinking 70's blaxpoitation style heroines. Nothing wrong with what you've done, of course, just not what I was expecting. (Were there enough African-American heroines in 1970s to form a super team?)

Isaac said...

pblfsda, you forgot about Ibis the Invincible and Sargon the sorcerer{like I did, both from Egypt. Which is in Africa.) Ross, just a thought, could you have included images of both the car and the horse named Black Beauty? Just to screw with folk's minds?

Your Bro Al said...

Is this for Black history month?

Anonymous said...

I've been harassing Ross for an all African-American cover (and an all Native-American superhero cover) forever. C'mon, Big R, make it happen!

pblfsda said...

@Lizard: African-American heroines in the 70's? Well..., Storm was African, but not American. Vixen's origin involved being lied to about her heritage, but I'd call her American. Misty Knight would definitely count. Monica Lynne and Gloria Grant had no super powers (or even much crime-fighting experience). Bumblebee is in there, for certain. Nightshade and Malice would be in the villain column, unfortunately. I'm not sure what the licensing situation would be for Blaze Kendall, the Human Fly's pilot (she's probably an original Marvel character).

There was plenty of variety in the 70's, but you really have to look.

DM Scott said...

I would SO buy this book!

TippyToe Zombie said...

I've always preferred teams that had both male and female members. I like the Birds of prey, but I feel that the focus for making new super teams needs to be less on making all female teams and more on avoiding making all male teams.

Abdul-Halim V. said...

I don't know if you like to mix-up companies.... but for a while I've thought it would be funny if Marvel answered Dc's Birds of Prey with Mammals of Prey: X-23, Squirrel Girl, White Tiger, Black Panther (Shuri), Black Cat, maybe Tigra.

Anonymous said...

@Isaac: Sargon the Sorcerer was an American superhero/stage-mage. Born Thomas Sargent, he was the son of archaeologist Dr. Richard Biddle Sargent who found the Ruby of Life on a Latin American dig. Thomas adopted the stage name from a king in ancient Middle Eastern history. And the Middle East is technically in Asia!

Anonymous said...

@pbifsda: Storm's birth name is Ororo Munro. African mother/Black American father.

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