DC Hero Who Used To Be A Big Deal Now Doesn't Seem That Big Anymore

[John Venus]

Not sure what you do with her character now. She is kind of redundant with Harley, Ivy, and Tim Drake passing her in terms of gay/bi representation in Gotham, especially Harley. She is now this awkward cousins of Bruce that doesn't really fit with the other Batman family. They can't really erase her because she is a gay character and it would look bad for DC, but she really doesn't have any kind of role unique to her anymore.

There is way more to the character than just being gay. And while gay was part of her character, there was always more to her character. Your ludicrous as saying that since you can't do anything with Batman now because he's not the only straight character in the Bat Family.

Batwoman niche was more horror. She has a problematic father and an evil sister. She has connections to Renee Montoya, Director Bones and the DEO. She has a side kick in the form of Bette Kane. Tons of potential with the character. She just needs a writer with vision.

[John Venus]

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned Bob, the Galactic Bum. There was a period there in the mid-90's when Bob was everywhere- teaming up with Lobo, convincing Hal Jordan to sacrifice himself in Final Night, setting into motion the events that led to Morrison's back-to-basics JLA, and then, just like that, he was gone.

Poor ol' Bob.

Does Bob have a last name or a code name at least?

You don't screw yourself by getting more Morrison's material.

Or we can have both Morrison and Rucka? Though ultimately we did get both Rucka's WW: Rebirth and Morrison's EO series.

[Bruce Wayne]

There is way more to the character than just being gay. And while gay was part of her character, there was always more to her character. Your ludicrous as saying that since you can't do anything with Batman now because he's not the only straight character in the Bat Family.

Batwoman niche was more horror. She has a problematic father and an evil sister. She has connections to Renee Montoya, Director Bones and the DEO. She has a side kick in the form of Bette Kane. Tons of potential with the character. She just needs a writer with vision.

That writer was Greg Rucka. He was the only person at DC imo who was had big plans with the Religion of Crime and of course wanted to build on her relationship with Renee.

[Badou]

There is way more to the character than just being gay. And while gay was part of her character, there was always more to her character. Your ludicrous as saying that since you can't do anything with Batman now because he's not the only straight character in the Bat Family.

Batwoman niche was more horror. She has a problematic father and an evil sister. She has connections to Renee Montoya, Director Bones and the DEO. She has a side kick in the form of Bette Kane. Tons of potential with the character. She just needs a writer with vision.

Her being gay was kind of her biggest story by a lot though. Not just from the stuff from her background, but she was promoted as the face of DC's gay representation in comics for years. That is what made her relevant in a lot of ways. Now Harley has kind of overtaken that. So Kate is left with two things to anchor her. One is the Batwoman identity and the other is being Bruce's cousin, but Kate has always been on the outside of the main Batman family since her introduction in the the 00s. So it has been this awkward dynamic with Bruce having this cousin he doesn't really interact with much running around with the Batwoman costume.

Also I think that making Bette Kane her cousins has been a disaster for Bette in the comics. Bette is the character that has the much longer history and more ties to other heroes than Kate. So having Bette's character become subservient to a character in Kate that I feel struggling for relevancy on her own has really diminished Bette's character in a significant way.

[Username taken]

Teen Titans
Legion of Superheroes
Firestorm (the first incarnation of the character)

[Frontier]

Her being gay was kind of her biggest story by a lot though. Not just from the stuff from her background, but she was promoted as the face of DC's gay representation in comics for years. That is what made her relevant in a lot of ways. Now Harley has kind of overtaken that. So Kate is left with two things to anchor her. One is the Batwoman identity and the other is being Bruce's cousin, but Kate has always been on the outside of the main Batman family since her introduction in the the 00s. So it has been this awkward dynamic with Bruce having this cousin he doesn't really interact with much running around with the Batwoman costume.

Also I think that making Bette Kane her cousins has been a disaster for Bette in the comics. Bette is the character that has the much longer history and more ties to other heroes than Kate. So having Bette's character become subservient to a character in Kate that I feel struggling for relevancy on her own has really diminished Bette's character in a significant way.

Tynion screwed Bette over by sticking her in West Point. It still didn't seem like Kate took her seriously.

[Jim Kelly]

While the publication of Superman in ACTION COMICS jump started a craze for super-heroes in 1938, publishers discovered that other types of heroes were sales boosters, too. At the dawn of the Second World War, there was great interest in war heroes--especially air aces. And one of the best of these was Blackhawk.

The Polish refugee who sought to avenge his family and his people against the Nazi invaders was created by Chuck Cuidera, Bob Powell and Will Eisner for Quality Comics.

In the early adventures, the man known as Blackhawk formed a team of other air aces from different nations--mostly those nations that had been invaded and/or attacked by the Axis powers. Gradually, certain characters were identified and established as the key members--Andre, Hendrickson, Olaf, Chuck, Stan and Chop-Chop (later renamed Chopper).

They were headquartered on Blackhawk Island. A lot of effort went into the design of the artillery and the aircraft that the team utilized. Readers were passionate about these details in the comics. There was also "The Song of Blackhawks" with sheet music--written and composed by Dick French--published in MILITARY COMICS 8 (March 1942). There were also different women over the years who stepped into the role of Lady Blackhawk, although they were never shown sleeping over on Blackhawk Island.

The Blackhawks starred in MILITARY COMICS 1 (August 1941) - 43 (October 1945) and MODERN COMICS 44 (November 1945) - 102 (October 1950)--the title change seems to have happened exactly when the Second World War ended. Their own title took over the numbering from UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY with BLACKHAWK 9 (Winter 1944) which continued until issue 107 (December 1956), when Quality went out of business.

Kirk Alyn--who had previously played Superman--starred as Blackhawk in THE MIRACULOUS BLACKHAWK: FREEDOM'S CHAMPION (1952), a 15 part serial from Columbia Pictures.

National Comics (D.C.) acquired the rights from Quality and continued publication with BLACKHAWK 108 (January 1957) - 243 (October-November 1968), 244 (January-February 1976) - 250 (January-February 1977), 251 (October 1982) - 273 (November 1984).

Reed Crandall, one of the greatest artists to ever work in comics, worked on many of the team's early adventures in the 1940s. Co-creator Chuck Cuidera had a long history with the Blackhawks, although his later contribution was mainly as an inker.

The debut of Dick Dillin as artist came in BLACKHAWK 40 (May 1951). He didn't return again until BLACKHAWK 64 (May 1953), after which he was the ongoing penciller, with Cuidera as inker. When National Comics acquired BLACKHAWK, Dillin and Cuidera were kept on as the art team, finishing their run with BLACKHAWK 241 (June-July 1968), when Dillin went over to JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, where he was the regular artist up until his death in 1980.

In their 1960s comics, the letter page "Blackhawk Bylines" was turned over to collectors writing in with lists of issues they had and issues they needed. In this way, through the comic book, Blackhawk fans got in touch with each other to trade and complete their collections.

When Bat-Mania had every publisher following the camp super-hero trend, 1966 through 1967 saw the Blackhawks become the Junk-Heap Heroes, dressed up like super-heroes. This mercifully did not last for too long. But the title ended soon after that, with attempts at revivals in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Steven Spielberg has shown interest in doing a Blackhawks movie for decades--in fact since the early 1980s, which is one reason the series was revived at that time. Despite all the talk, nothing has ever come of this.

Post-Crisis, Howard Chaykin did a revival of the concept with the prestige format limited series BLACKHAWK 1 - 3 (1988). Next Blackhawk appeared in ACTION COMICS WEEKLY 601 - 608, 615 - 622, 628 - 635, in 1988. Then a new ongoing series, BLACKHAWK 1 (March 1989) - 16 (August 1990) plus BLACKHAWK ANNUAL (1989). Then BLACKHAWK SPECIAL (1992).

The New 52 revived the concept again for a short run--BLACKHAWKS 1 (November 2011) - 8 (April 2012). And a non-traditional version of the Blackhawks were included in DARK KNIGHTS: METAL (2017).

[HsssH]

That writer was Greg Rucka. He was the only person at DC imo who was had big plans with the Religion of Crime and of course wanted to build on her relationship with Renee.

I don't remember well, but I think that religion of crime kinda died oit after Final Crisis tie-in? Like, it still made some appearances, but I think it didn't feel like next big thing anymore.

[dornwolf]

While the publication of Superman in ACTION COMICS jump started a craze for super-heroes in 1938, publishers discovered that other types of heroes were sales boosters, too. At the dawn of the Second World War, there was great interest in war heroes--especially air aces. And one of the best of these was Blackhawk.

The Polish refugee who sought to avenge his family and his people against the Nazi invaders was created by Chuck Cuidera, Bob Powell and Will Eisner for Quality Comics.

In the early adventures, the man known as Blackhawk formed a team of other air aces from different nations--mostly those nations that had been invaded and/or attacked by the Axis powers. Gradually, certain characters were identified and established as the key members--Andre, Hendrickson, Olaf, Chuck, Stan and Chop-Chop (later renamed Chopper).

They were headquartered on Blackhawk Island. A lot of effort went into the design of the artillery and the aircraft that the team utilized. Readers were passionate about these details in the comics. There was also "The Song of Blackhawks" with sheet music--written and composed by Dick French--published in MILITARY COMICS 8 (March 1942). There were also different women over the years who stepped into the role of Lady Blackhawk, although they were never shown sleeping over on Blackhawk Island.

The Blackhawks starred in MILITARY COMICS 1 (August 1941) - 43 (October 1945) and MODERN COMICS 44 (November 1945) - 102 (October 1950)--the title change seems to have happened exactly when the Second World War ended. Their own title took over the numbering from UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY with BLACKHAWK 9 (Winter 1944) which continued until issue 107 (December 1956), when Quality went out of business.

Kirk Alyn--who had previously played Superman--starred as Blackhawk in THE MIRACULOUS BLACKHAWK: FREEDOM'S CHAMPION (1952), a 15 part serial from Columbia Pictures.

National Comics (D.C.) acquired the rights from Quality and continued publication with BLACKHAWK 108 (January 1957) - 243 (October-November 1968), 244 (January-February 1976) - 250 (January-February 1977), 251 (October 1982) - 273 (November 1984).

Reed Crandall, one of the greatest artists to ever work in comics, worked on many of the team's early adventures in the 1940s. Co-creator Chuck Cuidera had a long history with the Blackhawks, although his later contribution was mainly as an inker.

The debut of Dick Dillin as artist came in BLACKHAWK 40 (May 1951). He didn't return again until BLACKHAWK 64 (May 1953), after which he was the ongoing penciller, with Cuidera as inker. When National Comics acquired BLACKHAWK, Dillin and Cuidera were kept on as the art team, finishing their run with BLACKHAWK 241 (June-July 1968), when Dillin went over to JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, where he was the regular artist up until his death in 1980.

In their 1960s comics, the letter page "Blackhawk Bylines" was turned over to collectors writing in with lists of issues they had and issues they needed. In this way, through the comic book, Blackhawk fans got in touch with each other to trade and complete their collections.

When Bat-Mania had every publisher following the camp super-hero trend, 1966 through 1967 saw the Blackhawks become the Junk-Heap Heroes, dressed up like super-heroes. This mercifully did not last for too long. But the title ended soon after that, with attempts at revivals in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Steven Spielberg has shown interest in doing a Blackhawks movie for decades--in fact since the early 1980s, which is one reason the series was revived at that time. Despite all the talk, nothing has ever come of this.

Post-Crisis, Howard Chaykin did a revival of the concept with the prestige format limited series BLACKHAWK 1 - 3 (1988). Next Blackhawk appeared in ACTION COMICS WEEKLY 601 - 608, 615 - 622, 628 - 635, in 1988. Then a new ongoing series, BLACKHAWK 1 (March 1989) - 16 (August 1990) plus BLACKHAWK ANNUAL (1989). Then BLACKHAWK SPECIAL (1992).

The New 52 revived the concept again for a short run--BLACKHAWKS 1 (November 2011) - 8 (April 2012). And a non-traditional version of the Blackhawks were included in DARK KNIGHTS: METAL (2017).

That New 52 series was so weird, felt like GI Joe just not merely as fun

[Bruce Wayne]

It was basically reskinned Gi Joe since Costa was the writer on the GI Joe Cobra book. Many of us had actually hoped he'd graduate to the main book, but he screwed up majorly on Transformers and then he started doing stuff for Marvel so that pretty much ended that possibility.

[K7P5V]

Definitely, my choice would be...

Gen-13

[Factor]

Maybe not a character that used to be a big thing, but one that I thought was going to be big was Aztek:

He had a cool design and he was created by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar who were arguably the biggest names in the business at the time so it seemed like Aztek was going to be HUGE...but he only had a ten issue run and then a few appearances in Morrison's Justice League.

Maybe that should be another thread: Characters that you thought would take off but never did

That was a great series. And finally someone who isn’t American getting a series.
I wish they’d use him again for a Global Guardians book.

[Factor]

BATWOMAN never recovered from the departure of Greg Rucka...

This is a big one. DC and WB did her so dirty. She should be one of the company’s flagship characters (just like Vixen should, but DC is terrible at supporting their diverse heroes).