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.

Profile: Tana Moon

Tana Moon
First appearance: Adventures of Superman #501, June 1993.

History: the first love of Superboy, when Kon-El was debuting, she was a reporter for the fictional Galaxy Network Broadcasting company who gained some of her fame as a result of the Boy of Steel's provision of an exclusive interview for her. They maintained an on-off relationship for several years.

Current status: dead

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: died at the hands of Amanda Spence in 2000, via electrocution.

What's wrong with how this was done? I've got a sad feeling it was done less as a motivation for Superboy and more as a wish by the editors to just discard cast members as they were coming to the point of cancellation for the Superboy series.

Worst, she may have bitten the big weenie because she's not literally Lois Lane.

Profile: Sarah Essen Gordon

Sarah Essen Gordon
First appearance: Batman #405, March 1987

History: first introduced in the Batman: Year One story told in 1987, she was a detective partnered with Commisioner James Gordon who'd had an affair with him that led to the breakup of his first marriage. She later returned and revived her relationship with James Gordon, becoming his second wife.

Current status: dead since Detective Comics #741.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: in the No Man's Land story of the late 90s, while trying to rescue a group of infants from the Joker, who was holding them hostage in the GCPD basement, the Clown Prince of Crime forced her to have to catch one of the infants, and following that, gunned her to death in the head. James Gordon, who'd caught up with them, could only react by shooting the Joker in the leg.

What's wrong with how this was done? A grave result of overusing the Joker because he signals sales spikes, this was particularly atrocious, not just because of how only so many minor characters or even unnamed civilians were being turned into sacrifices, but also because of how neither Jim nor anyone else was written as having what it took to deal the Joker the death blow he was asking for. How many more people have to be slaughtered in cold blood by the Clown Prince of Crime before this particular supervillain is finally put to death for his obscenities and abominations?

In the time since this terrible story was written, the Joker's use has been downplayed, but if you're familiar with how things are going under the reign of Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns in the past decade, you'll know they haven't improved, thus, no credit can be given.

Profile: Lian Harper

Lian Harper
First appearance: New Teen Titans #21, Vol. 2, June 1986

History: Lian was conceived by Arsenal/Roy Harper with mercenary Cheshire/Jade Nguyen, whom Roy had a brief affair with when he was working as a special government agent to investigate her. (He still went by the Speedy handle at the time.) Eventually, following a special Nightwing story written by Marv Wolfman in Action Comics Weekly, Roy took up custody of Lian.

Current status: died in a citywide explosion in Star City, as the result of a bomb planted by Prometheus in the widely panned Cry for Justice miniseries in February 2010, which even wiped out almost 100,000 other residents as well.

What's wrong with how this was done? As if it weren't enough that Cry for Justice contained some of the most awful characterization ever seen in a modern day DC comic, depicted Roy getting his right arm gored off, and even depicted the League in a pretty negative, incompetant light, Lian's own death was pointless and offensive, even if we don't see her body in a mangled state. It must also be made clear that, even if Green Arrow did slay Prometheus at the end, it does not justify Lian's death any more than Josh Jackam's death when the Rogues' killed Inertia in Rogues' Revenge.

The Cry for Justice miniseries even imitated some of the same grave errors made with Green Lantern at the time Zero Hour was published: Coast City, Hal Jordan's own residential burg, was leveled by Mongul, and Jordan subsequently descended into madness. Now, Green Arrow's own city has fallen, and one of the worst things about this is how he's being villified for seeking justice against the supervillain who committed the horrific crime. Those against him include the League, and even the recently resurrected Barry Allen, Silver Age Flash. Not that I'm surprised, though. They have pulled this nonsense for long enough, allegedly making GA the real hero here at the expense of his fellow crimefighters and their common sense, yet it's not like even GA comes off well here either. Thus, it fails even at that.

James Robinson, who penned this miniseries, has thrown away all his credibility as a writer, and like Geoff Johns, does not deserve to write any more DC or Marvel comics. As long as DC continues to adhere to this monstrosity, to say nothing of a lot of other elements they've been using for about a decade now, then their output must be shunned. Lian's own fate must be reversed, just like with a lot of other DC characters who've been victims of character death and destruction.

First, they came for the adults. Now, as stories like these show, they're coming for the children.

Profile: Josh Jackam

Josh Jackam
First appearance: The Flash #170 Vol. 2, March 2001

History: the son of the late Julie Jackam, the policewoman shoehorned into Wally West's life by Geoff Johns, he was taken into custody for a while by Iris West Allen, whom Julie had granted permission to serve as custodian should anything happen to her (and sadly, did).

Current status: dead.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: not only did he lose his mother, young Josh later lost his own life to Bart Allen's leading nemesis, Inertia. In Rogues' Revenge #3 in 2008, a Final Crisis tied miniseries, Darkseid tried to invade earth, and Libra kidnapped Josh from his grandmother, into whose custody he'd been passed, as a ploy to get the Rogues to fight on their side. But Inertia, who'd become a pathetic "Kid Zoom" sidekick to the neo-Zoom Hunter Zolomon, decided to end any hostage crisis by murdering Josh with a sonic wave blow at point blank range. Did I mention that his biological father, the Weather Wizard, had no problem with offing him earlier if that's what it took to get some increased powers?

What's wrong with how this was done? Not only did this useless story turn a once decent supercrook into an embarrassment, just like Dr. Light post-Identity Crisis, it went overboard with the pointless murder of an infant. Or, more precisely, Geoff Johns went overboard, and pretty much explained why I won't be reading his future output as a writer anymore. I will not give accolades to a writer who indulges in violence and shocks for the sake of it, and sullies a title that wasn't built on the kind of R-rated violence Johns has been forcing down people's throats for a decade now.

On this page, it tells that we don't actually see a body. Well I'm sorry to say, but that makes zero difference. What matters is that an infant was turned into a sacrifice in a violent crime for no good reason, and looks to be simply forgotten. This vile death of an infant preceded that of Lian Harper, the daughter of Roy Harper, by a year and a half, and while it may not be the first of its kind in DC Comics, it's still a sad signal that DC has added young children to their character-killing spree that's been going on since the early 90s.

I know there's been plenty of rightful outrage over Lian's death in Cry for Justice, which I want to write about as well. But where was the outrage over the monstrosity that is Rogues' Revenge, and the death of a young infant in that particular miniseries? Of all the shock tactics and repeated hammering of readers' senses Johns has pulled in his career of writing series like the Flash, this has got to be his worst yet, and if that's how he's going to handle things, he does not deserve to even be an editor.

Profile: Julie Jackam

Julie Jackam
First appeared: The Flash #170 Vol. 2, 2001. Her only live appearance too.

History: it's not like there's much, but as Geoff Johns shoehorned into continuity, and not very well at that, Julie was a NYPD officer who'd had an affair with Wally West a few years before. She was murdered almost immediately by a member of the Cicada cult that was committing murders in the Flash's name(!), leaving behind a young son whose father turned out to be the Weather Wizard.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: already told above, but what I didn't mention till now was that, true to the title of the story, "Blood Will Run" her death featured quite a shed of red.

What's wrong with how this was done? While I'm quite familiar with the idea of characters introduced in order to be killed as part of the story drive, this one leaves me with a very bad aftertaste today, because of how it was built on a vile premise of a gang that was killing people the Scarlet Speedster once saved out of twisted worship for the Flash?!? It seems more like an insult to both the character and the reader by making it look as though his efforts had been for nothing.

Worse, it was a very bloody story to boot, featuring quite a few panels with blood dripping. And this ended up setting the tone, more or less, for the rest of Geoff Johns's run on the series at the time - that is, over the top violence and other disturbing elements, no matter how subtle, that seriously detracted from the entertainment value in a book that wasn't exactly built on that kind of R-rated mayhem when it first began years before.

And for someone who's supposed to have a family, the bad news is that since that time, Julie's son Josh, whom I want to write about next, if he represents said family, has sadly since gone to the great reward with her in "Rogues' Revenge".

Profile: Adam Grant

Adam Grant/Morgan
First appearance: Adventures of Superman #429, June 1987

Current status: dead.

History: When Cat Grant was first introduced in 1987, she was a news columnist who'd come from Los Angeles to work for the Daily Planet, and she had a young son named Adam, via her ex-husband Joe Morgan, who'd been a cast member too.

Was subjected to the following act of discrimination: he was murdered by the Toyman (or as recently claimed, a robo-Toyman) in Superman #84, December 1993, after this villain kidnapped him along with several other children to his hideout. After Adam tried to help work an escape plan, Toyman decided to kill him for daring to "disobey". He even later told Cat Grant while in prison that he killed Adam because she was "a bad mommy".

What's wrong with how this was done? Although it had been established since Toyman/Winslow Schott's reintro in 1987 that he was capable of killing, he did have limits and an honor sense, drawing the line when it came to children. For example, when he discovered that Sleez from Apokalips was planning on harming children at the Happyland Amusement Park, he turned against him and even tried to blow Sleez to smithereens. Superman #84, penned by Dan Jurgens, usually a pretty good writer, was quite a departure from that initial characterization, taking an otherwise established villain and making him more reminiscient of those you'd see in Batman, making him hard to use without embarrassment for many years.

(In fact, I suspect the Batman movie of 1989, to say nothing of comics like Watchmen, might've had an unhealthy influence that led to this kind of bad storytelling that was harming comics in the mid-90s. I know that the Batman movie seemed to have influenced the short Flash TV series that aired during 1990-91.)

This is an early example of a young child becoming a sacrificial lamb instead of being developed as a character, and took place during the time when several other heroes/cast members were being offed, including at least 2 Infinity Inc. members I've already written about.

Was there anything good to come out of this? I don't think so. Recently, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns wrote a story claiming that it was actually a Toyman robot who committed this heinous deed. But how does that excuse the fact that a young child was slain as part of a mindset that went out of control in the 1990s, turning "minor" characters into sacrificial lambs? I'm afraid that's too easy to try and redeem a villain instead of try to turn back the clock on a young child's death in a world of fantasy. That's very weak and only suggests the writers/editors are treating this as fait accompli, exactly the reason why comics have become only so ghettoized and weaker in storytelling value as the years have gone by.

Profile: Wonder Girl 2

Cassie Sandsmark, Wonder Girl 2
First appearance: Wonder Woman #105 Vol. 2, January 1996.

Current status: a leading member of the Teen Titans.

Was subjected to the followings acts of discrimination: when John Byrne introduced her years ago, it was a rather peculiar way to begin: he didn’t want for her to be a team player, despite that she can and does work well with one, and succeeding writers did make good use of her. Well, until more recently, that is. She also joined Supergirl, during Amazons Attack, in an assault on the president’s plane in the DCU that turns the US public against her.

What’s wrong with how this was done? The story in Amazons Attack was already bad enough in how it featured a ludicrous story that may have been intended as an swipe at the US administration for its policies on Iraq, depicting the Amazons out-of-character and depicting Cassie doing something as irresponsible as attacking the US president’s plane in order to bring him to the would-be Hyppolyta, who actually turned out to be Granny Goodness, was not helping matters one bit.

Even before this, she agreed with Ares during Infinite Crisis to accept special extra powers he’d give her to compensate for a loss she’d suffered when Zeus distanced himself from earth along with the rest of the Amazons, which raises some questions as to how kosher such an agreement really is. Lately, another big problem is that she seems to be defined only by her brief affair with Connor Kent, the newer Superboy, who was killed off during Infinite Crisis because of a copyright dispute with the Siegel estate. How can she stand out as her own character if that's all she's really known for, and laments about it too often?

And these are just some of the things that have led to the deterioration of the recent volume of Teen Titans. It could also explain why a recent miniseries written by J. Torres sold so abysmally – because, as something tied to the pointless crossovers DC Comics has been producing lately, it’s not really able to stand on its own.