Here are two of my favorite underutilized super-heroines. Both have interesting looks, powers and back stories - and best of all, neither one is simply a female version of a previously existing male hero. I'd love to see both of them get more exposure in their respective comic universes.
Halo was probably my favorıte creatıon of Marv Wolfman. Batman and the Outsıders DEFINED the (platınum?) age of comıcs for me- that was the early 80s to mıd 90s. The move to L.A. was a collosal mıstake ın my opınıon, and the qualıty of the book fall rapıdly, notwıthstandıng the new deluxe format.
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant Mıke W. Barr!!!
ReplyDeleteBatman and The Outsiders was an awesome team. It's a shame that The Batman with The Outsiders didn't last very long. Maybe it could have continued as a The Batman Family-member with The Outsiders...like Oracle, Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin - see the dynamic on that. It was very cool to see both Black Lightning and Metamorpho in action!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I've always been a fan of Metamorpho and Black Lightning, and I thought Halo and Geo-Force were great characters (especially in their original costumes). It took me a long time to warm up to Katana, but I eventually did. But somehow it all fell apart when Batman left, Looker joined, and the team moved to LA.
ReplyDeleteI liked the alternate version of the Outsiders in "The Nail," which was led by Green Arrow and Black Canary instead of Batman, and included Shade the Changing Man (the Steve Ditko original) as a member.
Well, actually, Photon started out as an African-American version of DC's Japanese Dr. Light. But, with the same appellation once used by a certain silver-haired spaceman from the Kree Empire. So, indirectly, she had two male progenitors in the mainstream DC and Marvel Universes.
ReplyDeleteRoss. Photon is getting a lot of air time in the current Mighty Avergers and Cap & Mighty Avergers and after/ during Secret Wars she is part that new women Avengers comic (whom name I forget at this second) 'The A' something.
ReplyDeletethat would be the all female Avengers team known as A-Force....
ReplyDeletelater..... jack-el
That's it A-Force. Thanks jack-el
ReplyDelete@various Anonymice: Photon started as the new Captain Marvel in a 1982 Amazing Spider-man Annual, almost immediately after the male character died and three years before the female Dr. Light debuted in Crisis. So, as a character she didn't have a functional precedent, only a borrowed name until getting her own a few years later.
ReplyDeleteAs for "platinum age", that phrase has already been used to describe the period preceding the golden age (logically, consider the relative value of bronze, silver, gold and platinum-- as the value goes up, you go backwards in comic periods). Overstreet uses it to refer to 1883-1938 (although I'd cut it off at 1933) and mostly involves pamphlets, chapbooks and other newspaper strip reprints. I think that the period you're refering to is best remembered for two things: diversified paper stocks (Mando, Baxter, Hudson, etc.) and the explosion of independent publishers. Any name you come up with that evokes that, even if it doesn't catch on, would convey what you're talking about. "The Mando Age", "The B&W Boom", anything along those lines.
Yes, it's cool that Monica Rabeau finally has a new home, I'd love to see her in the movies too. I hope DC realizes Halo's potential as well.
ReplyDelete@ pblfsda: Hence, my usage of the adverb, "indirectly."
ReplyDelete"Do pay attention; there's a good chap."
Photon is really a lot closer to Quantum Queen than to either Dr. Light. The original Dr. Light was just a mad scientist who specialized in light-based weapons, and the female version could fly and project sunbeams (like the Ray). Quantum Queen actually transformed herself into energy, like Photon.
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