Z is for … Zorro

Zorro, or Don Diego de la Vega, has been around for a while. The Mexican Robin Hood was created in 1919 by Johnston McCulley and has been swashbuckling around books, comics, stage and screen (both large and small) every since. He's a man of many faces, and though he's a Mexican hero, he's seldom been played by a Hispanic person (at least in English language renditions). 

Usually, he's a rich nobleman in Spanish-ruled California, fighting for the rights of the common man against the landowners and less noble noblemen. He wears a mask, which leaves room for the role to be passed on to other men (as happened in the more recent movie version with Antonio Banderas inheriting the role from Anthony Hopkins). 

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I first knew Zorro from his old movie persona with Douglas Fairbanks and the 1950s Disney program with Guy Williams, programs I watched in re-runs with my parents. Both of these went with the silly secret identity. I liked this idea that everyone thought de la Vega a useless fop or fool, but really he had the heart of a hero! No one suspects him of the acts of heroism his alter ego accomplishes. 

There are resonances with a lot of other heroes with secret identities and deep pockets, from the Phantom to Batman, Oliver Queen to the Scarlet Pimpernel. It's an idea that still resonates for me today: the advantage you can gain from having your enemies underestimate you. And it takes a special kind of brass to let your public identity be the one everyone thinks little of, so you can accomplish your mighty deeds in secret. Zorro is a tricky fox indeed. 

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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

Y is for …Gertrude Yorkes

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If you're a comics fan and you've not yet read Runaways, you definitely should. It's a series about a group of teenagers who learn that their parents are supervillains and band together to break out on their own.

Gertrude Yorkes is my favorite of the main characters. She's sarcastic and cynical, as well as smart and capable. Gert's parents are time-travelers. Gert is telepathically bonded to a dinosaur. When they make their escape she takes on the name Arsenic and calls her dinosaur Old Lace, after the classic comedy. Got to love a teenaged character who knows that play/movie and loves it enough to reference in her superhero name!

I tend to like characters with gruff exteriors and hidden deep compassion and love. Gert fits this category. She's skeptical to the point that it causes tension with the rest of her team, but she would fight for any of them, and often does. She spends a lot of time caring for the youngest runaway, a superstrong girl name Molly.

I can't say too much more about Ms. Yorkes without spoiling her character arc for other readers, but she is really something different among comic book heroines. She's not interested in being anybody's eye candy or taking stupid risks. She believes in justice, and not just for herself. She's quite a young woman!
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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

X is for …Professor X

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Professor X or Charles Xavier is the leader of the X Men, the founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I love him best when played by Patrick Stewart (though James McAvoy is awesome, too), but he's an intriguing character every place I've encountered him.

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He's a visionary, with all the moral ambiguity and arrogance that includes. He wants to do the right thing, but has a power that can easily be used to manipulate others. The X Men universe makes great use of that moral struggle in the friendship between Charles and Max (aka Magneto). Magneto sees the inherent bad in people and wants to protect against it; Charles sees the inherent good and wants to trust to it. They're both wrong and right, and are proven so by circumstances, which makes for some good dramatic tensions.

Like Nick Fury, Charles Xavier isn't always perfectly forthcoming about his plans, and what he wears close to his chest might be dangerous to others, despite the best of intentions. He's a great character for ensemble stories like the X Men, because he can be the lynchpin that holds the group together, or the point where loyalties divide. 

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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

W is for…Wolverine

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Wolverine has been known by several names, and had several looks depending on who is drawing him. I tend to think of him as Logan, and I always picture him in a bloody teeshirt and jeans (no yellow pajamas for me, please).

When I first discovered the character, in comics, Hugh Jackman wasn't yet associated with him, and he was allowed to be kind of squat and ugly. He's definitely been prettied up now, though I'll give Jackman credit for understanding the character psychologically and mastering some of the iconic poses.

Logan is probably my favorite superhero character, besides those I myself have written. He's an antihero, in that he's not always interested in being a hero and he's willing to use deadly force. I like him because he's got such a relentlessly tough and grumpy exterior, but he's got a marshmallow of a heart when it comes to people who need protecting.

He has an especial soft spot for young women and in many of his storylines has had a young protégé: Kitty Pride, Jubilee, Rogue, X-23, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan). I've admired the relationships for avoiding sexual complications (and the ick factor of teenager with an old dude) and for the way he manages to protect these women while still helping them fight for themselves. He's egalitarian in his own way, and old fashioned and modern at the same time, teaching that the best defense is a strong offense.

He's an amazing character, with a healing factor (at least in most storylines) that slows his aging and gives writers a long history to play around in. He's been a soldier, a mercenary, a recluse, and a hero. I'll keep reading him as long as they keep writing him.
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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

V is for . . . Velma!

Velma Dinkley might not seem like a superhero to some. She can't breath underwater or fly or throw fire or anything like that. But not all superheroes have superpowers. Without their gear, Ironman and Batman are just rich guys, after all.

Velma is a superhero to me because she's a woman making it on the strength of her intellect. She always has the necessary background knowledge to spot the clue that is out of place. She's brave and stalwart, willing to walk into the heart of the volcano or into the depths of the swamp.

She even has a weakness: blindness (in the form of a tendency to lose her glasses).

I've loved Velma since I was a child watching the original Scooby Doo,  Where are You? series, and I've enjoyed the interpretations since in other cartoons and the movies. Especially in more recent programming, both Velma and Daphne get a rewrite and are no longer just comic relief and victim, respectively.

Velma is so hipster that she was cool with her own geek-ness before the world began to realize that smart is sexy. I still wouldn't mind growing up to be Velma.
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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

U is for…Underdog

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Underdog might be the first superhero I ever admired. I used to sit on the floor as a toddler watching the humble and lovable shoeshine boy save Sweet Polly Purebred while my mother folded laundry around me.

The cartoon was silly and light, in the vein of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Hong Kong Phooey, and other cartoons of the era. Underdog had a range of talents/powers, with no consistency from episode to episode, but this didn't bother me. I liked his rhyming speeches. I even sort of got the Superman references, thanks to watching the old TV show with George Reeves in reruns with my uncles.

Sometimes, in the face of dark and twisted superhero stories like the recent Batman franchise, I miss the wide-open optimism and joy of heroes like Underdog, who knew simply what was right and fought villains who were clearly wrong. His secret identity stayed secret and his ego remained in check. Maybe some more recent superheroes could learn a thing or two from this shoeshine boy.
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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

T is for…the Tick!

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SPOOOON! It's the battle cry of The Tick, a hulking nigh-indestructible superhero who dresses in what appears to be blue latex, though the antennae move, which begs the question of whether that's a costume or his flesh.

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I've loved him in comics, in cartoons, and in his short-lived but absolutely fantastic live-action TV show. The Tick in some ways parodies superheroes and in other ways gets to the heart of what makes superheroes great. 

He does often save the day, though it's by luck more than skill. He's unrelentingly sunny and optimistic, and convinced that he is on an important mission. His childlike wonder makes for some fun and hilarious moments. The cast surrounding him (Arthur, American Maid, Bat Manuel, Die Fledermaus, Bipolar Bear, and Sewer Urchin, among others) are equally absurd, with their strange powers.

I wonder if they were inspiration for some of the Evil League of Evil heroes Joss Whedon wrote for Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog?

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 This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories. Change of Life, book two of my Menopausal Superheroes series just came out a few days ago!

S is for…Swamp Thing

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You might be expecting to see Superman here. He seems like the obvious choice, being the most famous superhero there is, and even wearing the big letter S on his chest. But, the truth is, I've never found Kal-El that interesting. He's so overpowered, that writers really have to reach to write challenges for me, and sometimes that reach really shows. I have a superman tee shirt, but I always say the S is for Samantha and that Kal-El and I have an agreement.

So, instead, let's talk about Swamp Thing. The original eco-warrior. He never set out to be a hero. But, that's what he became. First, he was a scientist. You might think a scientist working the swamps of Georgia would be safe from supervillains, but, no! Apparently, when you're working on a plant that can survive anywhere, word gets out. And before you know it, you're a mutated beast fighting another mutated beast to save the woman you love and the world. Stuff happens.

I met Swamp Thing in the 80s movie pictured above and I've loved him ever since. He's that reluctant hero, doing what he feels is morally right and accepting the way his life changes with quiet dignity. Plus, have you ever been to the swamp? I totally can picture some kind of swamp creature living there meting out justice to wrongdoers among the hanging vines and murky water. Can't you?

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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories: The newest one released yesterday! Check out Book 2: Change of Life (the kindle is now live and the paper edition will be out in the next few days!)

R is for…Red Sonja

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When I was a little girl in the 1970s, there was a used bookstore on the avenue in my hometown: Tom's Book Nook. My mother used to take advantage of the trade-in program, exchanging a pile of paperbacks for a pile of paperbacks on pay days.  I was allowed to spend a dollar on old comic books, from a box Tom kept under the counter, of comics for ten cents each.

It was always a strange collection. A mix of Spiderman, Tales from the Crypt, Archie, Duck Tales, Doctor Strange, Thor, all kinds of disparate heroes. But I loved Red Sonja. I still do. 

As a child, I was sure I was getting away with something, reading her tales. After all, she was nearly naked, and assuredly not ladylike or sweet. My grandmother definitely wouldn't have approved, though I suspect my mother did, even if she didn't say so aloud. 

Given how the women in most of the other comics in Tom's shop were either victims or noir-ish schemers, I liked Red. She was direct. She was strong. Tough. She'd have to be. Chain mail bikini. (Ouch). In spite of looking like some kind of pin-up girl, she was so much more to me. 

In recent issues, she's been updated by Gail Simone and I love her even more. In my heart, I might just be Red Sonja, even if my surface is a lot less fierce.
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This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be writing about superheroes I love all month. You can check out other bloggers and see their creative takes on the challenge here.

Don't forget to check out my own superhero stories: The newest one released TODAY! Check out Book 2: Change of Life (the kindle is now live and the paper edition will be out in the next few days!)