Often in superhero comics it’s all men all the time, but I have a great deal more respect for the lovely women of the DC Universe who can go toe to toe with the manly men. Here we talk about four additional ones. Two with powers, two without, but all are gutsy.

Introducing Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife of Aquaman. Mera is the queen of another dimension and she becomes King Arthur’s consort and eventual wife and mother of Arthur, Jr.

Usually the stories of “happily ever after” end at the wedding, and there is a reason for that, and almost every married couple will tell you what that is…after the wedding comes the really hard work, the marriage. There are bumps in every marriage, but losing a child has to be one of the hardest to overcome.

Mera and Aquaman fall on tough times and are separated when I started reading comics and in fact Mera had left Aquaman to return to her home dimension, but like all good couples their love continues through the hard times. Mera like most of the undersea characters has enhanced strength, the ability to exist under water as well as on land for a limited amount of time, she cannot command marine life however, but she can create and shape water into “hard water” shapes that are rather powerful. She has been powerful enough to sink a submarine with one hit. Truly, she is Arthur’s Guinevere.

Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman as she was beginning to be called when I started reading comics is Shayera Hol or Sheira Hall of Thanagar. She and Hawkman came from Thanagar together and started fighting crime in Midway City as a married couple, though as Hawkgirl she was basically the femme version of Hawkman.

Adam Strange, Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman in the first Rann/Thanagar War.

In later versions Hawkgirl/woman is viewed as just as vicious as Hawkman, just not as strong, to make up for this Hawkgirl/woman is frequently depicted as being more agile than the bulkier Hawkman. Armed with her wings, nth metal anti gravity laced costume, and medieval weapons Hawkgirl/woman is a very powerful adversary and even joined the Justice League of America. She did not appear so far in the JLA stories because she and Carter were ALSO on the outs when I started reading and Shayera went off for some “me” time. How 70’s huh?

Time for our first non-powered female to get a spotlight here, and I think it’s overdue…

 

Oh Lois.. will you ever learn? The intrepid investigative reporter who doesn’t have a CLUE who Superman is? Really?

From her early appearances to Noel Neill in the Adventures of Superman show, to the time when I started reading comics, Lois went from being a doggedly determined reporter to stereotypical 50s Donna Reed/Doris Day to Mod-Fashion challenged to the 70s reliant interpretation from Margot Kidder to the 80s when she started to emerge as that strong business woman thanks to influences like Gloria Steinem and the movie 9 to 5. It is important to realize Lois was a big enough draw that she did have her own book for a long time geared towards female readers and she does show up every now and then while investigating a story without Superman around, even better if Supes happens to be off planet at the time.

Oh, and did you notice the banner on the bottom of Lois’ comic? Rose and the Thorn? hmmm…

Rose and the Thorn is one in the same. Let me explain.

Rose Forrest is a woman whose father is killed by The 100, an organized crime group in Metropolis. Rose being a tender flower “loses it” and a second personality is born, that of the avenging Thorn. Rose is unaware of anything that Thorn does as Thorn is equally unaware of Rose’s activities yet they both house the same body. Even when Batman hypnotized Thorn, she only revealed “I.. Am… The.. THORN!” Even though Batman had correctly deduced her identity. A brilliant case of Do as I Say Not as I Do from the Batman there, eh?

Thorn is originally a Golden Age villain who fought the Flash, Green Lantern, and the rest of the JSA on a regular basis.

This edginess moved DC to make the new Silver Age Thorn a bit of a bad girl as well. Not afraid to hurt, maim, or even prevent from saving a bad guy, Thorn has vowed to put all the 100 behind bars or die trying. To that end Thorn has almost unbelievable skills as a fighter with no training. She fights as if possessed and certainly fights dirty. She carries thorn like gimmicks such as thorns full of smoke screens, bombs, or just sharp. Thorn carries a barbed whip and she wears a straight red haired wig to confuse others, Rose is a blonde with short hair.

There are a ton of more lovely ladies, but next time we’ll get into some of the male guest stars!

Next Time: Air Wave, Captain Comet, and The Creeper