Profile: Sarah Simms

Sarah Simms
First appearance: New Teen Titans #8, June 1981
Creators: Marv Wolfman, George Perez

History: Sarah Simms was a teacher at a school for handicapped children in New York City who became a girlfriend for a time to Vic Stone/Cyborg, and she helped her students with physical disabilities to try and overcome their difficulties. As Cyborg himself noticed, some of her students had something in common with him: they too had limbs replaced with prosthetics.

Current status: unknown

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: a co-worker of hers named Mark Wright later became jealous when she didn't want to pair up with him, and kidnapped her, holding her hostage and injuring people at a sports store. Sarah managed to call the Titans and they rescued her, preventing any further violence from Wright.

What's wrong with how this was done? Fortunately, this particular story from the mid-80s was handled properly, providing the series with a good entry in which to come to the aid of innocent people in distress, Sarah included.

It was later written in New Teen Titans: Games from 2011 that Sarah married another guy, and it came about a quarter century after her last appearance in 1988. But can that be considered canon, based on the unfortunate time it went to press? It's probably best if it isn't.

Record: Jim Shooter

When Jim Shooter - who began his career at DC, writing mostly Legion of Super-Heroes stories and possibly some Superman tales - became Marvel's EIC, he did have talent to display, but he could also be a very divisive figure, and there were at least a few questionable steps he took with lady cast members of the MCU - plus one questionable comment he made about at least one lady of the DCU - that are worth pondering.

• When Chris Claremont and John Byrne were originally turning Jean Grey into the Phoenix, and practically into a planet killer (the narrative claimed she'd wiped out 2 billion alien residents of another solar system) in the pages of X-Men, they originally wanted to end the tale by having the X-Men bust her out of prison on the planet they'd been taken to, but Shooter believed Jean would have to face consequences for the crime she'd committed. Viewed in that context, of course that was repulsive and required punishment. But why didn't he challenge the whole premise of turning Jean into the Phoenix in the first place? Wasn't she created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a character we were meant to be rooting for? Where did even Shooter get off by allowing such a horrific premise to be put in motion? Granted, Shooter did approve of retconning away the whole premise of Jean-as-Phoenix in 1985, establishing instead that she'd been replaced in her role by an alien life form that committed the crime in the Shiar empire's solar system. But he still led to a horrible situation in later years where the story from X-Men would be copycatted by various writers, and even situations where writers like Grant Morrison and Brian Bendis would undo the 1985 modification for no good reason. And Shooter never commented on all that?
• After Ms. Marvel's series was cancelled at the end of 1979, Shooter later took to what could be described as kicking Carol Danvers to the curb rather forcibly. He established in Avengers #200 that she'd been teleported into some kind of limbo world run by Immortus, a being who could probably have been related to Kang, brainwashed into becoming his lover, and then came the bizarre Oedipalian tale where Immortus impregnated Carol with himself, and after the machine he tried to use to make it possible to dwell at ease in the real world was wrecked, he admitted he'd influenced her, but at that time, the Avengers just let it all slide, much like they thought it was great she'd "become pregnant" without even knowing the child was his own father(!), and let Immortus take her back into limbo. In the Avengers Annual of 1981, Chris Claremont modified all that, with Carol telling the Avengers she was devastated they'd just stood by without question, leaving the Avengers group themselves feeling suitably ashamed. What exactly was Shooter's motive for undermining the use of a girl who could have potential for building stories around? He did not do any favors with that questionable setup, even if the door was left open there for Carol's return.
• When the original Spider-Woman series came to an end during Shooter's tenure in 1983, the premise at the time was to kill off Jessica Drew altogether, and practically have her memory erased from everybody's minds. Fandom convinced them to reverse that setup, and in Avengers soon after, any lethal fate Jessica may have had set up at the end of her solo book was reversed, though at that time, her powers were drained. But she did continue to make appearances in books like Wolverine's solo a few years later. Yet it's a shame that there too, Shooter appears to have tried throwing out a character who could've made a good wellspring if talented writers were to take up the job.
• Shooter also made insulting comments about Legion of Super-Heroes' Dream Girl, when he said in a social media debate that she was "dumb". He also insulted Cosmic Boy, if it matters. What kind of stupid, pointless comment was that supposed to be anyway? Apparently, an attempt to obscure how it's the writer's fault for any poor characterization that might've occurred at any time.

I think there were some good stories to be found when Shooter was writing comics like Legion, and later when he ran Marvel as editor, but he was sadly little different from some writers and even message board troglodytes who seem disinterested in improving professional writing and artwork, and arguably, Shooter left behind a sad situation in his own way that could take ages to repair, if at all. And it was insulting to the intellect if he thought any characters should be tossed into death limbo because their own series may not have fared well in sales. That too is an ultra-cheap tactic that did far more harm than good to comicdom.

Profile: Sersi

Sersi

First appearance: Eternals #3, September 1976
Creator: Jack Kirby

History: Sersi was introduced as a member of Kirby's Eternals series, an evolutionary offshoot of the human race, and certainly could be considered humanoid. She was established as being born in Greece, the land where a lot of mythological figures came from in remote times, and in subsequent years, retcons were drawn up to establish that she was the mythological Circe, who also had a presence in Venus #9 from 1950, and Strange Tales #109 from 1963, which had been drawn/written by Werner Roth and Stan Lee, respectively, along with Kirby himself (he was of course, the artist who developed the Marvel take on Thor, the Norse thunder god).

Current status: was seen dying in the Avengers in 2019, in a story written by the awful Jason Aaron featuring the Dark Celestials, though may have been revived 2 years after.

Was subjected to the following acts of discrimination: in the Eternals miniseries written by the disgraced Neil Gaiman around 2007, she was portrayed as having forgotten her life as an Eternal. Gaiman even injected a very repellent joke where Sersi told another woman that a LGBT practitioner said he liked her because she looked like a man/cross-dresser(!). If that was supposed to be a "joke", it was very anti-feminine. It didn't help matters when Sprite was depicted as guilty of wiping out their memories and made to look bad, nor that, as a character who was meant to be portrayed as something like an 11-year-old, he was written telling how he'd like to have sex with Sersi, a woman who's an adult. One of the most embarrassing examples from Gaiman's worthless portfolio.

And there was also the aforementioned Avengers story, where Sersi and the other Eternals commit suicide for no good reason. It could even be noted that the 2023 Eternals movie didn't improve matters either, and that was a box office flop, one of several to have come since the start of the decade.

Kirby may be considered one of the best artists of his time, but the way creations like Sersi were mishandled by modern writers and artists contradicts any claim they may make that they supposedly respect his legacy.

Profile: Abigail Arcane

Abigail Arcane
First appearance: Swamp Thing vol.1 #3, March 1973
Creators: Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson

History: a native of Transylvania in Romania, Abby became the love interest of the Swamp Thing, though she'd married recurring character Matt Cable before that storyline occurred. She was the niece of the Swamp Thing's adversary Anton Arcane, a modern day sorceror and very abusive man. Abby worked as a nurse when she came of age.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: during the New52 retcon of 2011, Abigail's history was changed so that now, she and a brother of hers were tied to a cosmic force called the Rot, representing death and decay, and this was apparently done for parting her from Swamp Thing.

What's wrong with how this was done? It's bad enough Dan DiDio's staff was throwing out past history like it were nothing but trash. Making Abigail into some kind of demon force representative was disgusting and meaningless, and just because this was a horror title doesn't make it justified.

Stuff like this is exactly why DC/Marvel should've been closed down as publishers long ago. Sadly, they continue business today long after their cohesion is in tatters, dragging down notable creations with them into ruin.

Profile: Alexandra deWitt

Alexandra deWitt
First appearance: Green Lantern #50, vol.3, 1994
Creators: Ron Marz, Darryl Banks (although it could be argued both she and Kyle Rayner were committee creations, and it wouldn't be surprising if they indeed were)

History: Now here's a subject that perhaps I should've considered writing up a topic for in previous years, but only now did I finally think could be worth it, if only because of some interesting recent developments. But anyway, Alex, as she was perhaps called more often, was the original girlfriend of the 3rd Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, the forced replacement for Hal Jordan, who'd been turned into a dishrag for the sake of one of the worst crossovers DC ever put out, Zero Hour. And she knew Kyle was the new GL immediately, because he was written revealing this to her shortly after the encounter with the then last Guardian.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in one of the most repugnant death scenes from the time, Alex was graphically murdered by Major Force, who first choked her to death, then stuffed her into the notorious refridgerator. Though the scene was toned down from what was originally intended, according to interviews from the time, it was still strongly implied Force had dismembered Alex, and certainly squashed her body into the shelves behind the door.

What's wrong with how this was done? It was built upon the now repulsive notion that a hero must find dedication and drive for what's ahead by having a loved one turned into a sacrificial lamb, but what really made this repellent was the way Alex was put to death: through graphically violent circumstances. Which stems from another serious problem: the whole notion a villain must "pose a credible threat" to the heroes, or, more precisely, to those around him. Even Morlun, the bizarre vampire-like villain in J. Michael Straczynski's overrated Spider-Man run, was built closely on something like that. And that's exactly the problem: instead of posing a formidable challenge to the heroes in combat, they're written instead as a threat to the heroes' civilian co-stars.

Also worth considering is that regardless of whether the premise is tastless, Kyle never had any meaningful characterization during the near-decade he was shoehorned into the GL role. He was otherwise just a cypher, and wasn't always depicted as very talented in battle. And for replacement girlfriends, the editors would only allow established superheroine figures like Donna Troy and Jade. That's hardly allowing creative freedom in building up a new character, and actually diminishes their personal agency.

Was there anything good - or any improvement - to come since? Here's the amazing and miraculous thing: just recently, in what's described as the 600th GL issue (or 33rd, according to the cover data), written by Jeremy Adams, there was a storyline in GL that appears to retcon away what originally happened, and replaces it with a storyline where Alex simply breaks up with Kyle because she feels he hasn't done enough to prove himself worthy of her affections. If it's an accurate description of what the issue discusses, then while I've long avoided DC and Marvel's modern output, I will say in fairness that it's justice that could've been delivered much sooner, and at least that's a very fortunate turn of events.

It won't change the fact that under Dan DiDio and his current successor, editor Marie Javins, DC has long gone downhill. But at least this retcon in itself is relieving, and should make clear that the original premise from 1994 was entirely uncalled for and went way overboard. It's a repugnant premise that comicdom has to move away from.

Profile: Firebird

Firebird
Real name: Bonita Juarez
First appearance: Incredible Hulk #265, August 1981
Creators: Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema

History: one of the earlist Latina characters in Marvel's universe, Bonita was a social worker who first appeared as a member of the Rangers team that operated in the southwest USA, and her origin was that she'd been taking a stroll through the New Mexico deserts when she encountered a radioactive meteorite fragment that endowed her with superpowers like flame and flight. As a devout Roman Catholic, she considered it a miracle gift, and designed herself a superheroine costume to take up an extra career.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: she was one of a bunch of superheroes who were exploited for the sake of the 2007 Civil War crossover, whose only real purpose was to pit superhero against superhero. It makes no difference whether she was part of the team that opposed the Superhero Registration Act, what matters is that the whole point of that comic was to tear down on policies meant to protect the USA by making them sound literally totalitarian, and no genuine room was provided for making any points about why it's vital that the USA's security not be jeopardized.

Juarez was also shoehorned into the Secret Invasion crossover in the late 2000s, another shoddy crossover.

What's wrong with how this was done? If the whole idea was to spotlight a lot of notable superheroing faces in one crossover, Civil War was a very poor way to do so, as it was more for depicting superheroes divided than for depicting them uniting to combat evil and supervillains. And lest we forget the political angle forced into it. Secret Invasion was also an embarrassment.

What's sad about editorially mandated stories like those is how many characters with potential for building stories around were wasted on stuff that was so abysmal and shoddy.

Profile: Mary James-Pratt

Mary James-Pratt
First appearance: All-American Comics #19, October 1940
Creators: Bill O'Connor, Ben Flinton

History: Mary James was the girlfriend/wife of the Golden Age Atom Al Pratt, and the godmother of Nuklon/Al Rothstein of Infinity Inc. She'd eventually been told who the Atom was and married him, though in later years, it was established they'd been estranged/divorced, not unlike the Silver Age Atom and Jean Loring, another couple who'd been wronged by successive editorial boards.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: around the time of the 1994 Zero Hour crossover, it was written that she was kidnapped by Vandal Savage while pregnant, and her unborn child (Grant Emerson) was altered in the womb and then, when Mary bore him, the son was taken away and she was murdered circa the publication of Damage #12 in 1995.

What's wrong with how this was done? There seem to have been quite a few very badly arranged "replacement setups" for established characters, Al Pratt being one of them, during Zero Hour, and Mary was just one of the biggest victims at the time, of a shoddy cliche that was particularly disastrous for the DCU. What can I say? Even Damage's premise was alarmingly poor, and 3 decades later, it's clear nobody was interested in his series or later appearances in JSA, because of how badly the setup for his "ascension" as an heir to the Golden Age Atom was handled.

Mary James did not need to be turned into a sacrifical lamb any more than any other veteran character in the DCU, civilian or otherwise.