Women in Refrigerators, Part II

Batgirl/Oracle - Hellcat

Imagine if Betty Cooper, Archie Andrew’s heartthrob, was re-imagined as a full-fledged super heroine. That’s what befell Patsy Walker, a character published continuously in various teen romance titles by Timely/Marvel from 1944 to 1967, which is more than we can say for Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch.

Walker was said to have becomes disenchanted with her marriage to longtime boyfriend Robert Buzz Baxter: she became Hellcat, and of course Baxter goes nuts and is eventually transformed into the super villain Mad Dog. It’s as if Jughead turned into the Punisher. Hellcat was an appealing character in the Defenders in the 1970s and ‘80s, but unsurprisingly was shown to have lost her mind after marrying the Son of Satan and then to have been consigned to eternal damnation. Which of course didn’t last —she’s running around the land of the living again.

Barbara Gordon is a much more substantial character. She was created in the DCU to line up the with the Yvonne Craig character Batgirl in the 1960s Batman tv program: she is therefore known to a greater amount of non-fanboys than, say, Black Canary. Gordon was a fixture of the DCU in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

But in the 1980s, perhaps Batgirl was increasingly viewed as a relic. So Alan Moore’s Killing Joke story depicted Gordon being shot in the stomach by the Joker, so as to break the spirit of her father, Commissioner Gordon. The story was not intended as canon, but her brutal incapacitation stuck, and it remains the most vivid example of the Women in Refrigerators syndrome: the debate regarding this turn of events rages on to this day.

But writers Kim Yale and John Ostrander resolved to have Gordon turn lemons into lemonade; she has since become Oracle, the DCU’s premiere information broker. I suppose that’s a good outcome, but the tendency among comic book writers to mutilate female characters remains troubling.

Commonalities:
Redhead teenage characters turned crimefighters turned survivors of horrific calamities.

Differences:
Walker is not a super-genius, and has bounced back from a dreadful setback. Gordon has not, but is shown to have risen above ghastly circumstances to a preeminent position in her respective diaspora.

Alternate histories:

BG/OR: Barbara Gordon becomes dissatisfied with her conventional marriage; she encounters the Elongated Man, and dons a quasi-mystically uniform that enhances her already impressive athleticism. Taking the codename Batgirl, Gordon assists the Justice League on a number of missions before joining the Outsiders for a extended term. She marries noted demonspawn John Constantine, Hellblazer, and is eventually driven insane and is subsequently trapped in “Hell.” Gordon has recently returned to the realm of the living and has taken up the guise of Batgirl again.

HC: Patsy Walker is inspired by Captain America to hone her mental and physical abilities to peak conditions: she assumes the codename Hellcat, and assists the Captain and many other superhuman operatives. But Walker was crippled via an encounter with the Green Goblin, and has since become the preeminent information broker in the superhuman community. She also coordinates the Daughters of the Dragon network.

The disco mutant and the supermodel telepath

Looker- Dazzler

Why am I not surprised that, when Marvel was to collaborate on a character with Casablanca Records in 1979, the result involved a musical genre that was already then (and unjustly) considered a national joke? Marvel should have positioned Dazzler as a new wave singer, huh?

As for Looker, she was the creation of Mike W. Barr, a writer most fanboys underrate. Looker was a mousy young librarian with a husband who loved her: as soon as she transformed into a hawt piece of ass, the husband was outta there. This led to Barr making lots of obvious but still useful points regarding how “beauty is only skin deep.”

Commonalities:
Good looking broads, involved in glamourous day jobs: i.e. the kind of woman comic creators and fanboys generally will never get within 100 miles of.

Differences:
Looker has the full complement of psionic abilities: telepathy, telekinesis, etc etc. Dazzler can turn sound into light, which apparently comic creators were able to turn into a useful offense.

Alternate histories:

LO: Emily “Lia” Briggs is an aspiring model who discovers latent psionic abilities in her late teens; taking the alias Looker, she at first assists the Teen Titans, but declines membership in favor of her career. She nonetheless finds herself dragged into superhuman affairs at the expense of her modeling career; Looker eventually joins the Titans, where she meets and marries Booster Gold, with whom she travels to his native future timeline. She recently has returned to the Titans.

DA: Alison Blaire discovers a latent ability to transfer sound into light, and additionally transforms from a “mousy” appearance into an conventionally attractive aspect. As Dazzler, she joins Captain America’s Defenders, but later becomes a vampire. Her current exploits suggest that she is foregoing the traditionally nefarious tendencies common to vampires and continues to act as a force for good.

Pretty teenagers? Or abstract cosmic entities?

Halo - Cloud

Many weirdos on the innuhnet will admit to being turned on by comic book characters. While I am pleased to report that this has never been true of me, I will admit that, as a 15 year-old, the prospect of a female character having a crush on another female character (in this case, noted bald bitch Moondragon) was…intriguing. The second character cited above was represented as a teenager with storm clouds covering her naughty bits.

Then it was revealed that Cloud was a sentient nebula that could also take a male form …ahh, ‘80s comics!

Cloud is far, far more obscure these days than Halo, an appealing and similarly conceived character who makes the rounds of the DCU very occasionally. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cloud was brought back one of these days.

Commonalities:
Both are extraterrestrial beings take the form of teenage girls.

Differences:
Cloud shoots lightning and otherwise turn into a…cloud! Halo emanates various energy effects, based on colors of the spectrum.

Alternate histories:

HA: An energy being known as an “aurakle” takes the form of teenager Violet Harper; now known as Halo, the being learns about humanity while joining a shortlived incarnation of the superhuman organization the Outsiders, alongside Elongated Man, Kid Flash and a few others. She eventually returns to space.

CL: A sentient nebula inhabits the recently deceased body of teenager Carol Faber. The being does not remember its former state, and encounters Captain America, Colleen Wing and other superhumans; assuming the name Cloud, she joins the above-referenced in forming the Defenders and learns about humanity under the tutelage of Wing.

Slice and dice

Katana- Colleen Wing

So obvious that ain’t no comment necessary.

Commonalities:
Ladies! Swords! From the same country!

Differences:
Only that Tatsu is full blooded Japanese, and Wing’s pop was an American white fella.

Alternate histories:

KA: Tatsu Yamauchi is raised in Japan and grows up learning the ways of the samurai. She emigrates to America and partners with policewoman Karen Beecher; the two establish a private investigation firm and often ally with the superhuman operatives Steel and Thunderbolt.

CW: Colleen Wing is raised in Japan; she avenges her husband‘s murder by his brother and then trains in the ways of the samurai. She leaves Japan, encounters Captain America and joins his newly constituted Defenders with the Falcon, Sandman and two other operatives, with whom Wing has served sporadically.

Eventually, sisters will do it for themselves

Huntress- Spider-Woman

Sometimes, DC and Marvel introduce female characters that are wholly and somewhat cynically based on marquee male heroes. And sometimes, female characters of that sort can gain a measure of self-defined dignity…

The Huntress character was initially conceived to as Batman’s daughter —namely, the Batman from Earth 2, who had debuted in 1939, married Catwoman and sired Helena Wayne.

But along came the Crisis, and the Huntress was reconceived as a Italian-American Mafia Princess evidently possessed by rather a lot of Catholic guilt. Helena Bertinelli would now exculpate the sins of her family by combatting the criminal element a la certain Dark Knight. I’m only slightly familiar with this version, but I like the way she was portrayed in Grant Morrison’s JLA.

As for Spider-Woman: the Jessica Drew character was created to secure a copyright for Marvel and to launch an animated program in the late 1970s. She has been depowered a number of times to see the Spider-Woman name go to other characters, which suggests that she was not beloved of the Marvel PTB of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

But Brian Bendis, a writer who dominates the Marvel line and who writes sub-Mamet style dialogue that I don’t much like, has restored the Drew character (as well as Ms Marvel) to prominence. Strong women in the MU: how novel!

Commonalities:
Both characters’ histories have been ret-conned significantly, but the status quo for both currently is that both grew among and then rebelled against criminal organizations.

Differences:
Huntress is a female iteration of Batman and thus has no powers, whereas Spider-Woman is a female iteration of Spider-Man and has almost identical abilities.

Alternate histories:

HU: Helena Bertinelli is born in Europe but is orphaned at a very young age, is adopted by members of the terrorist organization KOBRA and is trained in various deadly martial arts disciplines. She becomes disaffected with the organization in her early ‘20s, moves to the United States and assumes the heroic guise of the Huntress. She is periodically debilitated, but has recently joined the Justice League— said membership, however, is said to have been assumed by an impostor.

SW: Jessica Drew is born into a family that’s deeply immersed in the criminal underground. After her parents are killed by rival gangsters, Drew resolves to destroy organized crime and trains herself to her physical pinnacle. Taking the codename Spider-Woman, Drew enters the orbit of an often disapproving Captain America and eventually joins the Avengers. But while Spider-Woman resigns from that organization in disgrace, she has has since worked with the Defenders and with a group of female operatives.

A good guy paired with a bad guy? Huh?

Metamorpho- Sandman

At first glance, this pairing appears to be based on what the characters do and not who they are. But Metamorpho and Sandman not only have similar abilities, but are rough around the edges dudes who have played both “good guy” and “bad guy” side of the street.

Commonalities:
Both are shapeshifters, due to their bodies being composed of sand/various elements found in the human body, are superhumanly strong, have dissipated and been reassembled into separate, seemingly unique personas several times and, like I said above, are rough and tumble fellas.

Differences:
Chiefly, the Sandman was conceived as a thug, but was reformed in the 1980s and ‘90s. Metamorpho has been shown to be easily hypnotized and thus has often been a pawn of various super-villains.

Alternate histories:

ME: Low level hood Rex Mason is exposed to radiation and is thus transformed into a being that can shapeshift into the various elements found in the human body. Using the codename Metamorpho, he opposes the Blue Beetle and other superhuman operatives. But after tiring of criminal activity, he is befriended by Robotman and eventually reforms, joining the Justice League. Metamorpho’s body has dissipated and reassembled in both benign and villainous orientations.

SM: Adventurer William Baker is exposed to the energies of a mystical artifact and is thus transformed into a being composed of sand like particles. Taking the codename Sandman, he works largely alone and declines an offer to join the Avengers. He eventually joins Captain America’s Defenders and the Avengers, but is easily controlled by super villains. Sandman’s body was thought to be destroyed, although he has recently reassembled himself and has since worked with the Defenders again.

The term "broad" is not always pejorative

Grace- She Hulk

I only know of first character from innuhnet perusal and not through any purchased comic books, and thus have no comment other than that she seems to be similar to character I’ve paired her with.

But She-Hulk? Here was a character created to secure a copyright, and as such was initially played as a distaff version of the Hulk: she’s beset by berserker rages, which she bemoans in human form etc etc. But then Roger Stern, who wrote the Avengers through most of the 1980’s, got ahold of her. He had the bright idea that maybe She-Hulk likes being green, super-strong and voluptuous, and can easily reconcile all that with a career in law. And that’s what has made her easily one of Marvel’s most important and beloved female characters since.

I would put have her with Power Girl if PG had not been reestablished as a Kryptonian. So this one’ll do…

Commonalities:
Two very tall, super strong women with prodigious sexual appetites that neither see any need to apologize for.

Differences:
Only that Choi was born with her abilities, and Shulkie got hers from a blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner. And Choi is nowhere near as prominent a character…

Alternate histories:

GR: Grace Choi receives a blood transfusion from her cousin, the Blockbuster: she is consequently granted with tremendous strength. She joins the Justice League for a short time before briefly replacing Robotman in the Doom Patrol. Choi has since worked the Justice League a number of times and now serves with the Outsiders.

SH: Jennifer Walters is a young woman whose tremendous strength manifested itself in adolescence; she recently learned that she is related to the Femizons of the 23rd century. Known as She-Hulk, she has spent her heroic carreer with the Defenders.

Two strangers in strange lands

Martian Manhunter- Silver Surfer

It occurred to me the other day that, since the very first pairing I unveiled here came in my first introductory post, I didn’t much ruminate on the characters themselves. So I’m gonna do so now…

J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars, was introduced in 1955 as a sci-fi character typical of DC’s post-Wertham line. Apparently, JJ’s own features during the 1960s were kinda confused, what with something about the “Idol-head of Diabolu,” and then with something about him as a secret agent. While he was a charter member of the Justice League, he was soon found to be redundant in light of Superman. So around 1969 or so, he was shunted off to live on his native Mars.

15 years later, J’onn was brought back to the Justice League fold. From the mid ‘80s onward, creators seemed to have found a noble, restrained and contemplative “stranger in strange land” role for him—not unlike the Marvel character I’ve paired him with. He seemed to have engendered a lot of affection in creators and fans, which only increased due the character’s prominence on Bruce Timm’s Justice League Unlimited program.

And so…J’onn J’onzz has recently been killed without much fanfare and without any gravitas as part of DC’s Final Crisis crossover. Wouldn’t put much on him taking very long dirt nap, frankly…

And the Silver Surfer? The Christ-like and earthbound spacefarer is simply one of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s great achievements, one that has been recognized as such pretty much consistently since the character's introduction. The Surfer has been rightfully prominent in Marvel Comics' line ever since.

(See the first post for commonalities and differences)

MM: J’onn J'onzz is native to Ma’lecaandra, i.e. Mars. He is disturbed by the fact that his race has become complacent, but when the vastly powerful being Krona comes to eviscerate the planet, J’onzz offers himself up as a herald so that Ma’lecaandra will be spared. Krona accepts the offer and imbues him with tremendous abilities, and for hundreds of years J’onzz travels the universe warning the populations of planets to evacuate. He comes to Earth to do so, and is opposed by the Doom Patrol, who inspire him to take an interest in humanity and turn against Krona who in turn confines J’onzz to the Earth. For several years, he wanders the planet and is known as the Martian Manhunter; he strives to understand humanity and often allies with other superhuman operatives, chiefly the Outsiders. After awhile, J’onzz is able to travel through space again, where he finds that his fellow Ma’lecaandrans have long been extinct.

SS: A plague overtakes the planet Zenn-La: one Norrin Radd sees the entire population, including his family, die. He wanders his planet for hundreds of years before he is teleported to Earth by a scientist, who promptly dies from shock. Radd lives on Earth inconspicuously for years, but the emergence of the Mighty Thor prompts him to use his native abilities to oppose various menaces as the Silver Surfer. He co-founds the Avengers and remains therein for many years; the Surfer also is the Southern Hemisphere's most prominent champion. He has recently been killed —that is, until editorial fiat revives him.

Charter members of the Outsiders, 1971

Dr. Fate
Aquaman
Martian Manhunter
Blockbuster
—joined later by Power Girl

Bit of a cheat here, as only one of the above DC characters were ever in the Outsiders, which was conceived as a team for Batman to lead, whereas the Defenders were a “throw these dudes with not much common purpose together and call it a ‘non-team’" thang. But both teams have often been highly mutable, so this’ll do.

Rhaaarrrggghhh!

Blockbuster- Hulk

In terms of character significance, this pairing is even more lopsided than the Wonder Woman- Thundra match-up. Like that one, we see a character lined up with it’s direct inspiration.

Clearly, the Blockbuster was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino to evoke the Hulk. I would imagine that the powers that were at DC took one look at the second creation of the burgeoning Lee-Kirby explosion and said “they’re gonna try to make a monster sympathetic?” Indeed, the Hulk is a link to the kind of comics Timely/Atlas/Marvel proffered in the late ‘50s/very early ‘60s: typically, ones in which grotesque beasts were either created or were awoken by nuclear testing. Apparently, when Marvel’s line began to make waves, DC brass couldn’t quite understand how these crudely drawn stories featuring squabbling, sometimes threatening (anti-)heroes could be appealing.

And the Hulk was a sinister creature initially, a real nasty Mr. Hyde-esque piece of work to Bruce Banner’s Dr. Jekyll —the infantile “Hulk smash/Hulk is the strongest one there is/Hulk wants to be left alone” characterization emerged in the late ‘60s (I think). It’s no surprise that the always rationalistic DC’s rendition of the character would be an unambiguous bad guy.

So this pairing is imperfect. For a long time, I put the Hulk with Metamorpho, which was not a good idea. Many have noted similarities between Solomon Grundy and the Hulk, but the former is a zombie, and has no correlative to the Bruce Banner persona. But despite the fact that the Blockbuster is a minor character (and one that’s seen at least two iterations since its debut version, created in 1965, was killed off in the late ‘80s), he’s the best parallel for Mean Green.

Commonalities:
Scientists turn into super strong, not-so-bright brutes.

Differences:
Only that one is a character known by everyone, one that represents its parent company to the wider world via merchandising, a ‘70s TV program and two major films, and one that essentially is misunderstood and known by other characters to be goodhearted . These are distinctions that elude the other entirely: only the nerds know of Blockbuster.

Alternate histories:

BB: Chemist Mark Desmond is inadvertently exposed to radiation, and when under duress is transformed into a childlike brute possessed of immense strength. Referred to as the Blockbuster, the creature becomes world-renowned for its destructive rages, but occasionally is allied with other super-human operatives, who often understand that Blockbuster is misunderstood and essentially goodhearted. Meanwhile, Desmond is most often haunted by the creature’s exploits, and thus travels the world as an outcast. A lot of stuff involving repressed childhood trauma, multiple personalities and exile to other planets has happened too!

HU: Physicist Bruce Banner bombards himself with radiation, and sporadically is transformed into a nearly mindless brute possessed of immense strength called the Hulk. His unscrupulous brother manipulates Banner to perpetrate destruction and to be enraged by the sight of Captain America when in the Hulk form . Eventually, the Hulk falls in with various super-human criminals, and finally dies in battle.

Hocus! And, Indeed, Pocus!

Dr. Fate- Dr. Strange

But of course!

I’ll limit my comments here just to note that the powers that were/be at DC found it necessary to replace the original Fate, Kent Nelson, with a variety of successors. This is part of a tendency at the company to have older characters cede their names and roles to younger, hipper iterations that, y’know, the kids can relate to. Never mind that magicians can easily avoid such things as aging…

Commonalities:
The two are the sorcerers supreme of their respective diaspora — magic being a discipline that has more or less been shown to do anything that creators need to do at a particular time. And Nelson was shown to have, likes Strange, medical training at least once, which is the only time that I'm aware of him having much going on besides practicing magic…

Differences:
Only that the “Fate” persona was often synonymous with his master Nabu and thus was separate from that of Nelson, whereas Strange comes by his portentous bearing on his own.

Alternate histories:

DF: An arrogant physician named Kent Nelson sees his medical abilities deteriorate, and resolves to seek out the ancient wizard Nabu in his abode in the Mesopotamian region Ur. Nelson intends to have the sorcerer cure his ills, but eventually recognizes his arrogance and consents to become Nabu’s disciple. He emerges fully trained as Dr. Fate, the most powerful mage on Earth, and returns to the west, where he opposes supernatural menaces and soon encounters a woman named Inza, who becomes his disciple and lover. Fate is the premiere mystical consultant to the superhuman community; he works closely with the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and another individual to be named later.

DS: A young Stephen Strange accompanies his father into a tomb in the Himalayas, where the two encounter the legendary wizard the Ancient One; Strange’s father dies, and Stephen is raised and trained in the mystic arts by his new mentor. By the dawning of World War II, Dr. Strange’s training as the most powerful sorcerer on Earth is complete, and he returns to the West, where he combats supernatural menaces and opposes the Axis Powers alongside the Liberty Legion. He marries his longtime companion Clea and retreats from view until recent years when he serves with a re-formed Liberty Legion and with the Avengers. Strange dies, but the spirit of the Ancient One chooses others to take his place.

One feminist with a sword, another with a cleavage window

Power Girl- Valkyrie

When I started to pay attention to super hero culture again a few years ago, I was very amused to see that, in the past decade, Power Girl has been established to be…ahem…the super heroine with the biggest rack in the DC universe.

Look around message boards frequented by the kind of miscreant who could possibly understand what I’m talking about here long enough, and you will find drooling references to the character.

This perplexes me, as I’ve never been turned on by, or have crushed on, distaff fictional creations of this sort. But adherents of “creator’s intent” should approve of DC’s prevailing policy on Power Girl’s pontoons, since legendary artist/co-creator Wally Wood apparently resolved to draw her breasts bigger and bigger until his editor noticed and told him to stop.

Otherwise, PG was created to be an Earth II answer to Supergirl. But Crisis Numero Uno did away with parallel Earth conceit, and then Power Girl was said to have been an ancestor of the obscure Atlantean wizard Arion…or some shit! Under this origin, she could have been paired with She Hulk or Warbird. But, come Crisis II, PG was again said to have come from Krypton of Earth II’s universe and as such is the only survivor of that universe…or some shit!

So she’ll go with an Asgardian character…one who was initially cooked up by Roy Thomas to clumsily acknowledge second wave feminism in the pages of the Avengers, and afterwards was convolutedly shown to be a female iteration of the Mighty Thor. My gawd, you try and untangle all the history of the Valkyrie!

Commonalities:
Respectively, these two are female versions of Superman and Thor, and both often spouted feminist boilerplate at the time of their creation.

Differences:
I’m not sure, but I think Power Girl has been shown to be essentially a modern woman; hardly a mythological maiden charged with escorting fallen warriors to their eternal reward in Valhalla.

Alternate histories:

PG: A kryptonian warrior named Kara Zor-L is put into suspended animation: her consciousness comes to reside in the body of an earth-woman named Karen Starr. The two aspects are fused, and under the code name Power Girl, she serves in a organization with the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and others. Although the “Kara Zor-L” aspect eventually perishes, the earthling Starr has survived and retains some kryptonian abilities.

VA: A parallel universe iteration of Asgard is destroyed by Ragnarok: like her cousin, the Mighty Thor native to this universe, Brunhilde is transported to Earth, where she emerges as an adult with all the abilities of an Asgardian: she takes the human identity of Barbara Norris. As the Valkyrie, she serves with the Liberty Legion until all universes are melded in to one. While under the impression that her heritage is entirely different, Valkyrie joins the Avengers and a new Liberty Legion; she has recently realized her true nature.

Mucho fast guy and super cold guy

Flash/Kid Flash - Iceman

After years of being written as an interchangeably gee whizzish-sidekick common to DC, Wally West was written by Marv Wolfman as a very frustrated fellow. Once the identity of the qualifier-free Flash was bequeathed to him, it seems he was written as a devil-may-care dude, which squares with both his characterization in Bruce Timm’s Justice League shows and Grant Morrison’s JLA. Other than those two, I’m not sure how he’s been portrayed in the past twenty years.

And Iceman? Always dug Bobby, the everyman of the X-Franchise.

Commonalities:
Both are every-guys, essentially. And the abilities described below can sometimes be put to similar ends: West’s wind vortices = Drake’s ice blasts.

Differences:
Wally’s the inheritor of the “Speed-Force,” and runs real fast: as such, he worships the memory of his deceased uncle Barry Allen. Whereas Bobby is the numero uno cold guy.

Alternate histories:

FL: Wally West discovers his ability to function at superhuman speeds during adolescence; as Kid Flash, he becomes a charter member of the Teen Titans shortly afterwards, and becomes close to the Elongated Kid. When the original team disbands, West goes to college and intends to lead a conventional life, but he eventually joins a version of the Outsiders with former Titans Arsenal and Elongated Man. As the Flash, he has since rejoined the Titans, and is coming to terms with his vastly increasing speed.

IM: As a preadolescent, Bobby Drake’s abilities to manipulate ice are activated by a freak accident; as Iceman, he is mentored by Mr. Fantastic and joins other young mutants combating injustice in the X-Men. When his abilities wane, he attempts to lead a more conventional life, but his resurgent powers see to a return to adventuring. Drake becomes the first X-man to join the Avengers and in addition becomes a husband and father.

Bird dude and bolt-thrower

The Falcon - Black Lightning

Landmark characters, these two…

Created by Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, the Falcon is the first African-American super hero character (Black Panther is of course purely African). In Marvel’s favor, it was not determined that his name needed the prefix “black.” In Marvel’s disfavor, Sam Wilson was initially characterized as an angry street thug, “Snap” who was turned into a good guy by the Red Skull, planning to trigger Wilson’s true inclinations once he gained the trust of his new partner, Captain America.

In any case, Wilson’s better nature prevailed (although his thuggish side has emerged from time to time). He has often been characterized as the defender of Harlem, often serving as a mouthpiece for various writers’ musings on urban decay etc etc.

Clearly, DC felt their first marquee African-American super hero (notwithstanding Teen Titan Mal Duncan) needed a qualifier indicating his ethnicity, whereas there is no White Lantern. Black Lighting co-creator Tony Isabella has revealed that the first draft of the character, courtesy of an unnamed creator, was to be the “Black Bomber,” a —wait for it— disguised white racist! WHOA!

But Isabella and African-American artist Trevor von Eeden instead produced Jefferson Pierce, a street-level crusader who used jive-talk when in uniform, so as to not sound like the school teacher he is. Like the Falcon, initially BL was often used to make equally heavy-handed points regarding the hardships of ghetto life.

Commonalities:
Both are benevolent, thoughtful family men with a social conscience: Wilson is a social worker, Pierce a high school teacher. Both are superb athletes and combatants.

Differences:
Obviously, the Falcon uses mechanical wings and communicates with birds (a la Aquaman), while Black Lighting throws bolts of bio-electrical energy. Not a problem, in my view.

Alternate histories:

FA: Social worker Sam Wilson returns to Harlem and resolves to fight the criminal organizations preying on the neighborhood using a flying harness. The Avengers attempt to recruit him, but he demurs, only to join the Defenders shortly afterwards. After accepting a cabinet position in a corrupt presidential administration, he finally joins the Avengers.

BL: Petty criminal Jefferson Pierce encounters a super villain, who compels a benevolent personality to emerge. Equipped with devices that channel electromagnetic energy, he takes on a heroic guise and partners with a hero to be named later. Pierce’s better nature prevails, and he becomes a veteran hero and schoolteacher, defending his community while also working closely with the individual referred to above, often alongside the Justice League of America.

Imperius Rex! And…whatever Aquaman exclaims

Aquaman — Sub-Mariner

This one’s pretty obvious, huh? I’m not aware if it has been definitively documented that writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris overtly plagiarized Bill Everett’s character Prince Namor, for Aquaman. Seems eminently possible, tho.

What is beyond dispute is that Namor is the first Marvel super-hero character —although his “anti-hero” posture was pronounced from his debut in 1939. Arthur Curry, debuting in 1941, was a much more discreet presence in DC comics— some historians believe that Weisinger, the Superman editor in the ‘50s and ‘60s, kept his creation in print long after most super hero titles ceased publication.

In any case, both are key to both diasporas: Namor for the reason cited above, Aquaman simply due to his inclusion in the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends (which of course leads to non-comic readers knowing his name, and thus thinking he’s goofy, and thus Entourage, etc. etc.…). And both deserve respekk…

Commonalities:
Both are —despite frequent sabbaticals and exiles— the mighty Kings of Atlantis, and thus function best in the ocean. Beginning in the late 1980s, DC began to characterize Aquaman as a regal, almost arrogant presence —which sounds familiar. Occasionally, Namor has been shown to be weakened when out of water for a long time, which echoes a long-standing but abandoned (I think!) conceit where Aquaman couldn’t be out of water for more than hour.

Differences:
Subby couldn’t command aquatic life; Aquaman does! Subby can fly via ankle-wings; Aquaman cannot. For many years, both were the spawn of a surface-dwelling father and Atlantean mother: post-crisis, Aquaman’s identity was shown to be Orin, son of an Atlantean wizard and a princess of same.

Alternate histories:

AM: A half-breed “avenging son” emerges immediately before World War II, defends his home of Atlantis against surface dwellers until joining with other operatives against the Axis powers. He becomes an amnesiac vagabond for many years until his memory returns after an encounter with the Doom Patrol. Since then, he ascends to the throne of Atlantis, marries noblewoman Mera, briefly joins the Justice League and alternately antagonizes or works with other superhumans.

SM: An Atlantean refugee emerges in the surface world as the King of the Seven Seas and co-founds the Avengers. He claims his throne in Atlantis, marries a woman named Dorma and fathers a child who is killed in infancy. After many years as a world leader, he is turned into a “Dweller of the Deep,” is replaced by a younger iteration and then dies— until such time as a editorial mandate revives him.