Ghost in the Sword: Katana Appreciation! (2019)

[MajorHoy]

NOTE: This thread is to serve as continuation of the previous Katana Appreciation Thread, which can be found at https://community.cbr.com/showthread...-Appreciation!

from the previous version (originally created by Energist back in March of 2015):

1) No negative comments about the honoree of this thread. It's an appreciation thread, not a non-appreciation one.

2) No negative discussion about any competitors of the honoree of this thread (i.e. John Stewart in the Hal Jordan thread). No ifs, ands, or buts. Find another non-appreciation thread to do that, just not here.

3) No negative comments about other versions of the character. For example, if you like the DCU version of Cyborg, but hate the DCnU version (or visa versa), just appreciate the earlier version and keep your comments about the latter to yourself.

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Katana


Did a search, and I was surprised to see that my favorite DC character didn't have an appreciation thread yet. So, with the afternoon mostly free to me, I felt I'd take the time to get one started.

Created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo, Tatsu Yamashiro (山城 たつ; her surname literally meaning "Mountan Castle") is a woman with a vendetta. After her husband Maseo and their twin sons were murdered by Maseo's sinister brother Takeo, Tatsu took up the cursed Soultaker sword containing her slain husband's soul in pursuit of justice. Traveling to America on the trail of Takeo, Katana soon fell in with Batman's new group of Outsiders, and has been a longstanding member with the team ever since.



For The New 52, Tatsu received a whole new look (her best one yet, in my opinion), as well as a few tweaks to her origin. Nevertheless, she remains at her core the same powerful, self-assured warrior that she's always been. Introduced as a somewhat unpredictable and seemingly unhinged member of the new Birds of Prey team, Katana was later recruited for Amanda Waller's Justice League of America. Around the same time in the publishing world, the character was granted her very own (long overdue) solo series penned by Ann Nocenti, which was, unfortunately, less than stellar.

Still, with multiple media appearances outside of comics in recent years, including as a featured character on the animated Beware the Batman show and a semi-regular on the highly-praised CW live-action Arrow series (played by Rila Fukushima of The Wolverine fame), it's apparent that DC are actively trying to give the character a bigger spotlight than ever before. Will the added exposure lead to added popularity, however? The jury's still out on that one, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

So what's Katana been up to lately in the DC Universe? Not really sure, myself. She hasn't been featured in anything I've been reading lately at least, and I haven't heard much about the supposed Outsiders team that appeared to building last year, either. But with Convergence nearly upon us and DC apparently looking for new avenues in which to feature some of their less popular characters, I think it's only a matter of time before the deadly superhero called Katana emerges from the shadows once again. And when she is, evil better beware!

There was a third image in the previous version of the thread, but it didn't seem to connect for me when I was copying it.

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One other old thread that may be of interest:

Katana (from 2016):
https://community.cbr.com/showthread.php?83954-Katana

[MajorHoy]

from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol. XII (February 1986)

[Frontier]

I wonder if Katana is mentoring Cass in Young Justice since they both wield swords and are women of few words?

Would further the rivalry with Shiva that they seem to be setting up...

[signalman112]

Cover to Batman and the Outsiders #12.

BATO12.jpg

[MajorHoy]

Also from the previous version of this thread, Katana's entry in Who's Who in the DC Universe #2 (September 1990):