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: 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.

Profile: Inza Cramer Nelson

Inza Cramer Nelson
First appearance: More Fun Comics #55, May 1940
Creators: Gardner Fox, Howard Sherman

History: Inza Cramer is the girlfriend/wife of Kent Nelson, alias Dr. Fate, the sorceror who debuted in his role during the Golden Age, and she assisted him in his various adventures. She was written as being a university archaeology student, and a descendant of a ship captain named Ezra Hawkins from New England. After the Fate stories ended in 1944, they both went into limbo for 2 decades, and Inza reappeared around the mid-60s, now established as Kent's wife. She'd also make appearances in All-Star Squadron. Thanks to the magics of Fate and what she herself could learn, she remained youthful for a time. And she took up the costumed role herself at least once.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: during the long notorious Zero Hour crossover, Extant forcibly turns both Inza and Kent aged, and senile, and they were among those knocked off into the afterlife at the time.

What's wrong with how this was done? A lady character with potential, as much as her magical husband, was thrown to the winds for the sake of a PC direction that went nowhere, and all for the sake of introducing another protagonist, Jared Stevens, who took the Fate role in the mid-90s, yet was wiped out himself in the equally pretentious 1999-2006 JSA series written by awful scribes like James Robinson, David Goyer and Geoff Johns.

(Earlier, in the late 1980s, Kent and Inza were put in death limbo for a few years to be replaced by Eric & Linda Strauss - who took up their roles in the 1988-92 ongoing Doctor Fate series for half its run before being wiped out as well - then returned, but both characters were shoved into the afterlife yet again by editorial mandate of the aforementioned crossover, in a precursor to what Johns did with Hector Hall/Silver Scarab and Lyta Trevor Hall/Fury in JSA the following decade.)

Some of the worst story ideas and ingredients at DC in the 90s came as a result of the crossovers they vehemently refused to stop relying upon so heavily. Inza was but one of the biggest victims.

Profile: Dian Belmont

Dian Belmont
First appearance: Adventure Comics #47, February 1940
Creators: Gardner Fox, Ogden Whitney

History: Dian was a girlfriend to Golden Age Sandman Wesley Dodds (who to me is the only true Sandman character in the DCU, and NOT the one concocted by the disgraced Neil Gaiman, which was supposedly based on Greek mythology's Morpheus). She was portrayed as a socialite and freelance investigator, the daughter of a district attorney named Lawrence Belmont, but Dian vanished from the Sandman strip after about a year. Sandy Hawkins, later established as a nephew of hers, replaced her in the strip, and IIRC, was created by Mort Weisinger, though Jack Kirby and Joe Simon took over the writing for the remainder of its run. (And during their run, the concept of Wesley using sleeping gas pistols was curiously abandoned in favor of grappling hook tools.)

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in All-Star Squadron, written mainly by Roy Thomas, it was established in the 18th issue that Dian was murdered by National Socialist agents while wearing a Sandman disguise during WW2, and they mistook her for Wesley.

What's wrong with how this was done? Fortunately, little, since it was self-contained, not written in gruesome shock tactic terms like much of what came down the pike in the early 2000s, and Thomas was a talented writer who did have a good enough idea how to handle such a storyline in a way that could be used to provide Sandy with some motivation.

Was there anything good to come out of this? The aforementioned motivation provided for Sandy the Golden Boy, which was handled organically enough back in the Bronze Age when they did it. However, much as I'd like to think the later Sandman Mystery Theater series from the mid-1990s Vertigo imprint was a great way to rework her background in a tale that might've been an alternate continuity, I will decidedly recommend avoiding that series altogether, because it appears to have some connections to Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and based on what was discovered about him and even his writings, that's why, if Sandman Mystery Theater drew inspiration from Gaiman's atrocity, it's best forgotten.

Profile: Princess Projectra

Princess Projectra
First appearance: Adventure Comics #346, July 1966
Creators: Jim Shooter, Curt Swan

History: Projectra, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, was heir to the throne of the planet Orando in the far future, and her power was the ability to generate illusions that could affect all 5 senses of the body. In later years, she fell in love with and married Karate Kid.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: she was erased from continuity/existence during the notorious Zero Hour crossover of 1994, in another example of modern editors treating other people's hard work like tissue paper or less, and replaced by a similar character named Sensor (Jeka Wynzorr), which was the name of a disguise she took up during the mid-1980s for a brief period. It's one thing to create a new character, but doing it at the expense of the original was simply unacceptable. Geoff Johns also allegedly "reintroduced" the pre-Crisis Sensor Girl in the Justice Society series he was writing during the mid-2000s, and under his type of writing, it's definitely not worth the paper it was printed on.

Projectra's co-creator, Jim Shooter, may have reintroduced her during the "Threeboot" era of the mid-2000s, when he was hired to again write some Legion stories, but it was far too late, and took place when one of the worst editors DC was ever under, Dan DiDio, was in charge. He may be gone from their employ now, but the damage has long been done, and even for Princess Projectra, it'll take ages to repair whatever damage was done to her.

Profile: Bat-Girl/Flamebird

Bat-Girl/Flamebird
Real name: Bette Kane (pre-crisis, her first name was spelled with a Y)
First appearance: as Bat-Girl in Batman #139, 1961, as Flamebird in Secret Origins Annual #3, 1989
Creators: Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff (pre-Crisis edition), George Perez (post-Crisis edition)

History: originally, this superheroine was created as part of the Batman family, along with original Batwoman Kathy Kane, and first took up the mantle of Bat-Girl, later making appearances in the Teen Titans as a member of Titans West. In the post-Crisis era, she was reinvented as Flamebird, a kooky fangirl-style protagonist who was a teen tennis player, and who wished for the kind of costumed career taken by original Robin Dick Grayson (who later became Nightwing), since she'd had a crush on him, and hoped to meet him in time, though when they finally did, it wasn't the fabulous dream Bette hoped it would be. Though not part of the Bat-family per se in this post-Crisis rendition, Bette similarly specialized in building gadgetry like Batman and his partners did, and practiced combat skills. And, her world view was of the more optimistic (and humorous) variety.

Was subjected to the following acts of discrimination: in a Beast Boy miniseries published around 2000, co-written by Geoff Johns and Ben Raab, and illustrated by Justiniano/Josue Rivera, she was made to look like a stupid idiot, as though her being hot was almost literally the problem, and the only way for her to be a "serious" superheroine was to dress in a more modest outfit and cut her hair shorter. The decidedly atrocious costume design Justiniano came up with as the artist was one of the biggest insults to the intellect, and when Bette was subsequently cast in the 2000 Titans Annual, the same writers even insulted her by having Arsenal and Nightwing talk about how they "love" her new outfit and attitude. The latter which included a panel with a bleeped expletive, as though being profane actually makes her more "serious" too.

What's wrong with how this was done? One of the most irritating things about these stories is that neither the writers, artists, nor the editors ever explain clearly why they believe how dressing or talking makes the character more "convincing" as a costumed crimefighter, if they even take the time to explain at all. And when you consider that Justiniano, as noted earlier, was arrested, convicted and jailed a decade later for possession of child porn, one can only wonder if he drew the more modest outfit for Flamebird as a form of virtue-signaling, and a way to conceal how evil and corrupt he actually was in real life.

Was there anything good to come out of this? Since then, the DCU's gone way downhill into a shoddy, sexless mess, and one can only wonder how much more awful Justiniano's costume design would be if he'd drawn it today, ditto Johns/Raab's writing. Like much of the rest of the DCU, even Bette's suffered bad writing since. Flamebird may be a minor character, but she's one of many who deserved far better than such an embarrassment, ditto her original creators, Finger, Moldoff and Perez, all of whom were insulted by Johns, Raab, Justiniano and even Eddie Berganza, who, if memory serves, was the editor on titles like the Titans at the time.

Profile: Element Girl

Element Girl
Real name: Urania Blackwell
First appearance: Metamorpho #10, February 1967
Creators: Bob Haney, Sal Trapani

History: Urania Blackwell was a spy for the USA government who'd undergone an experiment that gave her powers similar to Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho. Her first major assignment was to infiltrate a European crime syndicate called Cyclops and investigate its leader, a man codenamed Stingaree. Blackwell soon falls in love with Stingaree and agrees to marry him, only to have him spurn her when his affections turn elsewhere. In turn, Blackwell manages to convince her agency that the romance had been a sham and asks for their help in finding some way to strike back at Stingaree. The agency obliged by offering her the chance to take part in a long-planned experiment to replicate the incident that led to Rex Mason being transformed into Metamorpho. Blackwell volunteers for the experiment and is molded by the sun god Ra into an elemental with superpowers identical to Mason's. Blackwell, now calling herself Element Girl, seeks out Metamorpho and recruited his help in her mission to destroy Stingaree. Together they destroy Cyclops, and the two allies found themselves in danger of becoming a romantic pair, much to the dismay of Metamorpho's fiancee Sapphire Stagg. Deciding it best to remain with "Sapph-baby", Rex severed his ties with Urania to salvage his relationship with Sapphire, to Urania's disappointment.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the aforementioned Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, in the 20th issue, Death of the Endless, the sister of Morpheus, paid Urania a visit, and told her to look up to the sun and the pagan Ra, to have her powers removed so she can then die by turning to stone and falling apart. And when a phone call comes in at Urania's apartment, Death answers with a smirk on her face at how somebody's dying, as though it's something to celebrate.

What's wrong with how this was done? For one thing, it embodies the shoddy notion that specific characters are useless if they're minor and the writers supposedly don't know what to do with them. For another, it's yet another moment in the disgraced Neil Gaiman's resume that's simply repellent, and demonstrates how he practically used the autonomy he may have had in writing his own series for DC as a shield for bumping off a character who, if the editors/publishers wanted to, could've written decent stories around, and all without breaking up Rex and Sapphire's coupling. Put another way, if they'd wanted to, they could practically have given her personal agency and even created a boyfriend for Urania similar to Steve Trevor originally being Wonder Woman's. And that's an idea the Big Two have tragically faltered on considerably as time went by. When Gaiman was working in comicdom, what's irritating is how he could apparently influence what could occur in the DCU proper, but nobody else was allowed to make use of the characters from his comics? A total disgrace.

Was there anything good to come out of this? Nope. To date, Urania's still in graveyard limbo, and save for a recent 2024 Metamorpho miniseries set in the past written by Al Ewing, another bad modern writer, she's largely forgotten, mainly because that's what DC's management wants. It's utterly atrocious how some of the worst, most overrated writers have succeeded in bringing down the quality of mainstream entertainment, including Gerard Jones, and the damaging effects they were responsible for have lingered long after they fell from grace.

Profile: Shvaughn Erin

Shvaughn Erin

First appearance: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241, July 1978

Original creators: Paul Levitz, Jim Sherman

History: Shvaughn Erin was a member of the Science Police in the far-flung future era where the Legion of Super-Heroes is set (starting in the 30th century), who served as a liason for the team with local earth authorities. She helped them battle villains during "Earthwar" like Mordru, Dark Circle and the Khunds. She was subsequently written developing a love affair with Element Lad (Jan Arrah) during the Bronze Age period where she first appeared.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in 1992, during what's called the "5 Years Later" period, a curiously large team of writers/artists working on issue #31 of the Legion volume that began in 1989 (Keith Giffen, Tom and Mary Bierbaum, Curt Swan and Colleen Doran), penned a story where Shvaughn was retconned into a transsexual, or more precisely, based on the premise at the time, a man named Sean Erin who disguised himself as a woman by taking a drug called Profem. All that just to serve as an excuse for depicting Element Lad seemingly open to homosexuality, even as the relationship fell apart in the resulting story.

What's wrong with how this was done? Some of the worst things about this divisive story, in addition to how it was being used to promote LGBT ideology, are that an established character was retconned/exploited/abused for the sake of channeling the writers' purported goals, instead of creating a new character to serve the intentions, no matter how much in poor taste they may be. It was also a form of erasing women, and it's strange how there seems to be quite a few supposed advocates for more female representation in comicdom, mainstream or creator-owned, who're actually quite fine with erasing a woman for the sake of a man, in the most contrived ways possible. At its worst, the retcon also has the effect of making Shvaughn look creepy and icky, which is hardly what you'd think the creators' intentions were. But, that's exactly the result, and if an established male character were turned into a woman in such science-fiction stories for the sake of it, that too would be just as unacceptable. Science fiction and fantasy may be an okay place to explore such ideas as sex-switches. But that in no way justifies taking established characters and leading to divisive situations the audience can end up being revolted.

I'm very disappointed with the late artist Swan, who was one of the most well regarded Superman artists of his time, for willingly taking part in such an icky "project". Even if at the time, it wasn't intended as a political statement, it's certainly been hijacked since in some ways, and it had been done today, it's chilling to think the retcon would stick, no matter how badly it would tarnish the original stories.

I'm guessing the editors allowed this because the Zero Hour crossover was in the works around the corner, and so they intended to jettison it anyway along with quite a few other established characterizations up to that point. But regardless, that doesn't mean the relation between Element Lad and Shvaughn Erin should have to end on such a sour note, laced with creepiness and ickiness. That was a slap in the face to the fandom, and the worst part is how, in years since, only so many "woke" advocates want to refer to a character who'd never been depicted as transsexual in any way when she first debuted as though she were, and it'd make no difference to them if a whole bunch of established cast members had been retconned similar to how she was, because what we're talking about here is a generation where certain people are taught to believe everything's "their" property to determine what'll become of it, and if they want it changed to suit their beliefs instead of create their own ideas, so be it. I can only wonder what the original creators think, because if they refused to object, that was a huge mistake that's since enabled more woke abuse of this sort.

Was there anything good to come of this? Thankfully, in 1994, in one of the very few good things to occur during the Zero Hour period, when the Legion's continuity was rebooted, the female-to-male retcon was jettisoned and retconned away, and Shvaughn was restored to her original biological sex, though as depicted in the series going forward, Element Lad was younger again while Shvaughn was several years older, apparently because the writers decided to discard what had previously been written up in the Bronze Age.

In the end, it's wise to recognize that all these "developments", "establishments" and "retcons" are just pencil and paper, and what some pretentious modern writer concocts doesn't literally "prove" an established creation is this or that in their original incarnations from the time they originally debuted. Let us be perfectly clear: Shvaughn Erin was created as a biological woman, and bizarre subsequent retcons alone don't prove otherwise. What matters is whether writing - and artwork - are in good taste, to say nothing of organic, and the 31st issue of the 1989-2000 Legion series wasn't any of those things. It was just an embarrassingly bad wrapup to an era in writing prior to a crossover event (and one that came several years after Crisis on Infinite Earths) - apparently the only way DC is capable of reworking continuities, and Marvel today has also gotten to that point - that SJWs since have sought to hijack for their own selfish purposes, the real fandoms be damned. It also symbolizes a lot of the problems with corporate-owned franchises, and how they're much more vulnerable to "social justice pandering" than creator-owned products are. Legion fans who really care about the creations shouldn't let such reprehensible abuse of fictional creations go unaddressed, though in an era where much of mainstream comics fandom has since abandoned DC/Marvel, it's admittedly a moot point.

And it's also shameful how more creative concepts like emphasizing ethnic/national backgrounds, like being of Irish/Scottish descent (Shvaughn Erin's name sounds like it draws from such backgrounds), are repeatedly thrown out the window for the sake of this woke humilation. If the writers had wanted to, they could've developed a story about Shvaughn studying her Irish heritage and cultural traditions, including dining on colcannon salad and even playing bagpipes. Instead, they degraded her for the sake of modern PC. Seriously, I think all involved in that 31st issue of the 1989-2000 Legion series owe an apology for their creative bankruptcy.

Profile: Jet

Jet
Real name: Celia Windward
First appearance: Millennium #2, 1988

History: a black woman of Jamaican/British background, she was one of several people chosen to be part of the group of superhumans the Guardians of the GL Corps and Zamarons wanted to create (or, more specifically, Herupa Hando Hu and Nadia Safir), and was granted powers of electromagnetism, pulses and microwaves. She was a cast member of the brief New Guardians series in 1988-89, which was published under the short-lived "New Format" DC sub-label, and was co-created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton.

Current status: uncertain.

Was subjected to the following acts of discrmination: an attack by a villain called the Hemo-Goblin, sent by the villainous and racist African government bigwig named Janwillem Kroef resulted in her being infected with AIDS (this story element was seemingly meant to address the problems faced at the time), and she fought during the Invasion crossover of 1989 to stop the alien attackers before succumbing altogether to the disease.

What's wrong with how this was done? I think the writers/editors of NG wrote themselves into a corner and got nowhere fast. Why not a story where she not only survived Invasion, but also got cured of what the Hemo-Goblin (who died soon after fighting the NG) infected her with? All they did by knocking her off was make it look like they had no faith in what was already turning out to be a failed spinoff of the Green Lantern mythos (I'm sure it didn't help that a villain like Floronic Man was turned into a cast member). The use of a bizarrely thick accent may not have helped either.

Interestingly enough, she was later seemingly revived in the mid-2000s for "One Year Later". But that was coming on the heels of such a repellent "event" as Identity Crisis, it ruined everything. Since then, she appears to have vanished yet again.

Profile: Saturn Girl

Saturn Girl

First appearance: Adventure Comics #247, April 1958
Real name: Imra Ardeen

History: the first lady to found the Legion of Super-Heroes in the Silver Age, her powers were mainly telepathy, and she hailed from the planet Titan, which was comprised of a race of telepaths. She traveled to Earth, and along the way, had to rescue their benefactor, billionaire R.J. Brande, from an assassination attempt, which led to their formation as a team.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: when the Legion was rebooted in 2005, at the time when DC was really going downhill, she had her vocal powers removed, and "spoke" through telepathy only. She became emotionally isolated, much colder in personality than before, and more introverted.

What's wrong with how this was done? IMO, it reflected some of the worst ideas from when Dan DiDio forced darkness on the DCU post-Identity Crisis, right down to lacking a sense of humor in what followed. That kind of approach does not have wide appeal. And it's unlikely to have improved at a time when Heroes in Crisis has once again brought back the worst of these notions.

The cast of the modern day DCU suffered badly from DiDio's mandates, but so too did the future inhabitants, and Imra's one example.

Profile: Lori Lemaris

Lori Lemaris
First appearance: Superman #129, May 1959

History: Lori was a mermaid from Atlantean-related kingdoms (in this case, Tritonis) whom Superman fell in love with during the Silver Age. She was created by Wayne Boring and Bill Finger.

Current status: unknown

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: she was originally killed during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, and later the Infinite Crisis crossover of 2005, she appeared to have been killed there too during the Spectre's insane outbursts, like quite a few other characters who were just slaughtered because the editors considered them worthless, selectively or otherwise.

What's wrong with how this was done? Totally disrespectful to a character who'd been a notable member of Superman's recurring cast of characters, and it makes no difference whether she's minor, that doesn't automatically justify such awful attitudes. Certainly not in the 2005 example, where it was even bloodier.

Lori had the potential to work quite well as a recurring character. Instead, she's one of quite a few in a corporate-owned franchise who've been done a terrible disfavor.

Profile: Gloss

Gloss

Real name: Xiang Po
First appearance: Millenium #2, January 1988

History:
The Guardians who created the Green Lantern Corps invested in a Millenium Project to form a group of successors on Earth, which saw 10 people gathered together to learn about the cosmos and be granted special powers. One of them was the young Chinese girl Xiang Po, whom the Guardians bestowed the power to draw energy from the Earth's "dragon lines". She'd go on to form the New Guardians group, which had a brief series in 1988-89 running 12 issues and whose cast was partly comprised of characters from the GL series, whose 2nd volume had ended in 1988.

Was subjected to the following act of discrmination: during the Justice League: Cry for Justice miniseries written by James Robinson in 2009, she was one several characters killed off by Prometheus.

What's wrong with how this was done? The miniseries was notorious for serving as a cheap excuse to kill off almost any minor character the DC editors considered expendable, including Lian Harper. All for no good reason, and just to serve as justification for Green Arrow to kill off Prometheus later...and then get into a pointless clash with the Justice League, made to look as though they have zero understanding of the terrible incident Prometheus caused. One can only wonder if it was all intended as an anti-war metaphor, since this was in the years after the war in Iraq to bring down Saddam.

And it all gave the Justice League a very bad name, while doing nothing more than throwing Steve Englehart and Joe Staton's creation Gloss, who could've had potential on her own under the right kind of writers, into oblivion as though her being fictional makes her automatically worthless. I think the New Guardians series was mediocre, but that's mainly the fault of Englehart and Cary Bates (the latter who wrote the majority of the book), not the characters, some of whom were given very unfair treatment.

Profile: Harbinger

Harbinger
Real name: Lyla Michaels

First appearance: New Teen Titans Annual #2, 1983

History: an orphan who survived a shipwreck, she was rescued by the Monitor (the being stuck in an eternal fight with the anti-Monitor), and became an assistant to him during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, where she would help arrange for henchmen and weapons to test the superheroes in the impending war. After her appearance in the Millenium crossover of 1988, she joined the New Guardians, who were partially connected with the Green Lantern Corps.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the 12-issue New Guardians series, she, along with almost all the other team members, was subjected to the AIDS virus; one of the first stories in comics to address the subject that was big in the 80s. In 2004, when DC was reintroducing the original Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, to the DCU, she turned up in a guest appearance on Wonder Woman's Themyscira island, and was killed while defending Kara from the forces of Darkseid that would kidnap her for his own uses. Her corpse was later reanimated during the Blackest Night crossover.

What's wrong with how this was done? This had to be one of the cheapest paths they could go in to pointlessly kill off a character who could've still had her uses. But turning her into a living dead zombie only added insult to injury, and Blackest Night was by far one of the most disgusting, troll-the-audience publicity stunts DC could have ever conceived. And any friendship she was forming with the reintroduced Kara Zor-El was thrown out the window.

Most of the characters who were killed off at that time have thankfully been revived/exonerated since (though Harbinger's status is still unclear as of this writing). But the editors wasted tons of time pulling those stunts in the first place, and cost a lot of readership who shouldn't have been alienated in the first place.

Profile: Marla Bloom

Marla Bloom

First appearance: in a backup story published in The Fury of Firestorm #24, June 1984, as part of the subsequent cast of Blue Devil's solo book that ran during 1984-86. Her co-creators were Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn.

History: the president of a film production outfit, Marla Bloom Associates, she was in charge of stuntman Dan Cassidy's movie, where a magical demon caused the effects that would turn him into the blue-skinned humanoid who'd take up a career in crimefighting. She'd provide assistance whenever possible.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: during the Underworld Unleashed crossover in 1996, Blue Devil made a deal with Neron for achieving more fame, and was given the assignment to take down a power substation. But during the day he was supposed to do so, Marla decided to go out on a scouting assignment in a helicopter for filming locations, and died in a helicopter crash, mostly because of Blue Devil's utterly foolish quest for more fortune.

What's wrong with how this was done? It was nothing more than a pathetic decision to kill off characters whose creators worked so hard to get them on paper in the first place, and following this, did Dan Cassidy do anything to get her resurrected? Apparently not, because next thing you know, he's getting Neron to make him a real devil after he's been put to death briefly during a fight. If the idea was to show him punishing himself for his grave errors, I'm not impressed. This was a story that did not have to be, yet DC's editors went out of their way to make bad use out of Blue Devil and co-stars anyway.

Since then, as far as I know, the death of Marla was never reversed. If it was, then certainly that would be an improvement. But so far, it doesn't look like that's happened, and what's resulted is a pure embarrassment.

Profile: Blue Devil

Blue Devil

Real name: Dan Cassidy

First appearance: Fury of Firestorm #24, June 1984, in a special backup story. His solo book followed the same month. He was co-created by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn.

History: a stuntman on a movie set that bore the very name he'd take up as a superdoer, Cassidy was affected by a magic attack from a demon who thought he was a real one, and led to his costume becoming grafted to his body so he couldn't get it off, as it theoretically merged with him. But, he managed to overcome any depressed feelings and took up the usual career in crimefighting.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in 1996, during the Underworld Unleashed crossover, BD became one a victim of a pure embarrassment. He makes a deal with the demonic Neron to destroy an unmanned power substation in California, all because he wants more fame and fortune, and unintentionally leads to the death of his producer buddy, Marla Bloom, who was traveling in a helicopter later in the day, when the copter collides with some power lines. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, he's killed while seeking revenge on Neron and decides he wants to become a real blue-skinned devil, which Neron promptly fulfills. That's right, Cassidy doesn't act altruistically and actually try to get Marla's fate reversed. He just makes a mockery of his whole predicament by getting it shifted from bad to worse.

He later wound up in one of the worst stories written at the time Identity Crisis was published, a series called Shadowpact. Which didn't last long, thankfully. Later still, he appeared in the 13th issue of DC Universe Presents circa 2012, where he and Black Lightning get into a pointless clash as they're allegedly depicted trying to defeat a new take on the gangster Tobias Whale.

The catastrophe with Blue Devil is a leading example of how DC's modern managers have no faith or confidence in any of the creations they were in charge of.

Profile: Sapphire Stagg-Mason

Sapphire Stagg-Mason

First appearance: The Brave and the Bold #57, Dec/Jan 1964

History: the daughter of crooked scientist/industrialist Simon Stagg, she became Rex Mason/Metamorpho's girlfriend (and later wife) and loved him even after he was turned into a man of the elements by the Orb of Ra, which he'd been seeking in Egypt for Simon.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: when a miniseries for Metamorpho was written in 1993, Sapphire had decided by the end that her crooked father Simon Stagg was not worth supporting anymore, and had left him. But several years later, when JLA #52 was written up, this worthy development was ignored, and she was back in Simon's company again as though nothing ever happened. This was certainly also the case by the time Birds of Prey 51-52 Volume 1 was published in 2003.

What's wrong with how this was done? It has the effect of making Sapph-baby into a bimbo, but if anything, it certainly makes a mockery out of everything prior. Of course, it's the writers who have to shoulder the blame. What's surprising is that Mark Waid, who wrote the 1993 miniseries for Rex, inexplicably reversed this turn himself circa the time his JLA run went to press, and if he did, that's downright peculiar.

It's a pretty good demonstration of how plausible story development went out the window at DC as the 1990s came about.

Profile: Lucy Lane

Lucy Lane

First appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, April 1959

History: the younger sister of Lois Lane, she began as an airline stewardess and occasional girlfriend of Jimmy Olsen's. When the DCU was reworked in 1986, she was reintroduced as more of an air traffic controller.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the early 1970s, she was seemingly killed in issue 120 of Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane after a boating accident in Latin America.

What's wrong with how this was done? Depending on your viewpoint, the story from SGFLL was handled far better than a lot of the nastiest storylines DC put out in the post-Crisis era. It did serve as a motivation for Lois in the remaining years of her own series, who quit her job at the Daily Planet at the time and became a freelancer.

Was there anything good to come out of this? A short time later, Lucy was found alive in the series where she'd first debuted, SPJO, towards the end of its own run in the early 70s (both series ended in 1974 and were replaced by the semi-anthological Superman Family, which ran for at least 8 years). She continued into the post-Crisis era and had some pretty good stories built around her.

Profile: Aquaman

Aquaman

First appearance: More Fun Comics #73, 1941

History: coming 2 years after Sub-Mariner's debut in early Marvel books, Aquaman was easily the second most famous seabound superhero, although it was in the Silver Age when Arthur Curry really became significant with the first solo series that ran during 1962-71. It was in this series where Mera was introduced and they married for many years. His creators were Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the 2nd issue of the mid-90s series written by Peter David (from September 1994), Arthur lost his left hand after a verminous villain named Charybdis - who paralyzed his ability to communicate with sea life - forced it into a piranha-infested pool, where it was promptly turned into mincemeat. He later replaced it with a short harpoon-style blade, not unlike what Captain Hook's got in Peter Pan.

What's wrong with how this was done? Coming at a time when Kevin Dooley - who turned out to be one of DC's worst editors in the 90s - was at work, this was a pretty gratuitous attempt to make the Sea King more "badass". His personality was soon rendered more aggressive and unhinged, and it's apparent Dooley and company were going out of their way to make Aquaman not all that different from other superheroes at the time, who just had to have "drive" so people could supposedly identify with them.

Even today, with overrated writers like Geoff Johns in charge, this hasn't changed so much. Aquaman may have regained his left hand since, but the grisly tone Dooley started (and Johns amplified) still prevails.

Profile: Alanna Strange

Alanna Strange
First appearance: Showcase #17, November 1958

History: the daughter of a humanoid scientist named Sardath on the planet Rann, she later became the wife of Adam Strange, the archaeologist who was transported across the galaxy courtesy of a Zeta ray, an invention of her father's, where Adam became a hero of the peoples of Rann (as the story went for many years, it had the annoying effect of wearing off and teleporting him back to Earth when he wasn't hoping for it). She joined him on many adventures in their galaxy sector, including some team-ups with the Hawks of Thanagar.

Current status: still adventuring, and mother to a young daughter as well.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the miniseries Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds from 1990, it was revealed that Rann's population had a negative opinion of him, and he'd just been teleported there to serve as a breeding stud (there had already been allusions to this premise first featured in an issue of Swamp Thing in 1987 written by Alan Moore). Alanna died while giving birth to their daughter Aleea. Adam was left feeling disgusted and disillusioned with Rann and went back to Earth where he dated another girl for awhile.

What's wrong with how this was done? Adam and Alanna Strange were more victims of political correctness, and possibly even that DC's writers were ashamed of their own stable of amazing works as supposedly too silly for words.

Was there anything good to come out of this? Thankfully, almost 8 years later, in JLA #20, Alanna's fate was reversed (written at a time when Grant Morrison was relatively better in handling superhero comics), and she and her daughter were reunited with Adam.

Even so, her initial fate was an early example of the kind of political correctness that ruined a lot of 1990s comics.