Should the Superverse fully adopt Tanya Spears?

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

They already aren't. Ever read Red Son? That's about as different as you can get. What? You said race. That's not the same as skin color.

Not being a different race in already existing alternate continuities does not preclude characters being of a different race in a newly created continuity, or a newly created adaptation.

The discussion was about race. daBronzeBomma said race mattered, you later replied about equality and skin color.

If you weren't talking about race, and skin color separate from race, does that mean you don't think race is a trivial detail?

[Robanker]

I hate that this question always comes down to race for new POC heroes.

This isn't a question of if Tanya should exist, she should. She looks cool, has a decent enough power set, and she has great potential. This is a question of if she should tie into the Superverse, and I'd argue she fits more as a Teen Titan or younger member of the JSA. The big trouble, of course, is that TT is itself a tortured franchise.

Don't see her as a Super character. I know she has a minor connection to Kara Zor-L, but that really felt more like a handwave to make her take Power Girl's mantle. There was no reason she had to be PG as opposed to, say, Liberty Belle, Wonder Girl or some other legacy.

If they want her to be part of the Superverse, they really need to build her back into it. A good place to start would probably be bringing Kara back with the JSA (where she fits best, to be honest) and build her connection to the Super characters through their mutual connection. Have her apprentice under another character, work in Metropolis, or something.

[marhawkman]

Not being a different race in already existing alternate continuities does not preclude characters being of a different race in a newly created continuity, or a newly created adaptation.

The discussion was about race. daBronzeBomma said race mattered, you later replied about equality and skin color.

If you weren't talking about race, and skin color separate from race, does that mean you don't think race is a trivial detail?

When people say "race" it can mean skin color, ethnic identity or some weird conflation of the two.... Problem is a lot of people don't bother paying any attention to the difference. For example, in the old Captain Planet show, would you say that Linka was "a white girl"? If so, you're totally missing why they wrote her backstory to be what it was.

[Kuwagaton]

Your original post said that "skin color" was a trivial detail, it was the other poster who said "race."

The task of accepting a Superman who landed in Russia is easy for most, because aside from being in an elseworlds tale (so like Calvin Ellis, he's not the "real" character), he's still the same Superman from the same Krypton. Have him land in Smallville as a child of a different skin color, and you are likely to see more difficulty accepting it in canon. It would be called "pandering" by some. Even though the whole point of New 52 was creating a different continuity, making him appear Asian American would probably get a different reaction, so unfortunately in those likelihoods we'd have to say that skin color isn't equal.

I hate that this question always comes down to race for new POC heroes.

This isn't a question of if Tanya should exist, she should. She looks cool, has a decent enough power set, and she has great potential. This is a question of if she should tie into the Superverse, and I'd argue she fits more as a Teen Titan or younger member of the JSA. The big trouble, of course, is that TT is itself a tortured franchise.

Don't see her as a Super character. I know she has a minor connection to Kara Zor-L, but that really felt more like a handwave to make her take Power Girl's mantle. There was no reason she had to be PG as opposed to, say, Liberty Belle, Wonder Girl or some other legacy.

If they want her to be part of the Superverse, they really need to build her back into it. A good place to start would probably be bringing Kara back with the JSA (where she fits best, to be honest) and build her connection to the Super characters through their mutual connection. Have her apprentice under another character, work in Metropolis, or something.

Agreed. The only real snag would be the fans of Karen lose their character. But despite legacy characters, many of the same characters from the 1940s still exist. We already know that they're working on JSA. As for the name thing, Karen shouldn't be called a girl, she isn't a minor like Tanya. Or if DC says she is well, then they can't have it both ways because breast jokes would be wrong.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

When people say "race" it can mean skin color, ethnic identity or some weird conflation of the two.... Problem is a lot of people don't bother paying any attention to the difference. For example, in the old Captain Planet show, would you say that Linka was "a white girl"? If so, you're totally missing why they wrote her backstory to be what it was.

Let me get back to the original question, since we seem to be getting away from it.

Do you think race is a trivial detail when it comes to comic characters?

[dietrich]

I agree that the name holds her back.
Don't see why she has to be adopted by the Superverse Priest is doing wonderful things with her while the Superverse isn't even using Karen so please leave Tanya where she is.

While we're at it Karen should graduate to PowerWoman.

[marhawkman]

Let me get back to the original question, since we seem to be getting away from it.

Do you think race is a trivial detail when it comes to comic characters?

Depends on the character. But you seem to be taking my statement out of context, that being that this:

Equality means that the color of your skin is equal in importance to the color of your hair and eyes.... IE, a trivial detail.

Which was a response to the idea that there actually "needs" to be a black character added for real-world reasons.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Depends on the character. But you seem to be taking my statement out of context, that being that this: Which was a response to the idea that there actually "needs" to be a black character added for real-world reasons.

The context is that one person said race matters, and you responded that it didn't, that it was a trivial detail. You phrased it as skin color, but it was in response to a discussion on race.

I wanted to know if you were consistent in that belief. I got my answer.

[marhawkman]

You seem to be reading something other than what I said.... that or you can't tell the difference between commenting on things in-universe and out-of universe.

[daBronzeBomma]

To be clear, if Tanya were to join the Superverse proper, it would have to be right after Karen herself is properly rejoined (as "Power Woman").

[Powertool]

To answer the titular question, NO.

The way I see it, Tanya Spears was conceived as the quintessentially boring superhero character.

She's a 16-year-old super-genius AND she's a millionnaire AND she's an emancipated minor running her own tech company AND she has her own high-tech secret base AND she's pretty, kind, polite and respectful AND she wants to help others out of the pure goodness of her heart AND she pretty much appeared from nowhere to take the role as the legacy of a famous character AND she's Azor Ahai (Ok, maybe not the last one...).

No wonder if she was absolutely forgettable every time she appeared before Priest had the right idea for her: showing that she actually has a character by using her as the counterpart of Deathstroke in the latter's title and that she lives in a world where good people aren't automatically entitled to a life free from compromise (as far as I'm concerned, Priest should have won that Eisner just because of the sequences where Tanya has to deal with her PCOS). The moment she quits interacting with Slade to start being used in group shots of the Superman supporting cast and having her dialogues hadled by someone like Tomasi is the moment when Tanya will be back at being irredeemably boring.

The real question should be: is there a way to keep the new Power Girl away from any writer who isn't Priest?