Aqualad Redux

The new Aqualad, Jackson Hyde, is one of the first Character Spotlights I did on this blog. You can view the original post here.

He got the short end of the stick because he debuted, both in comics and on tv (Young Justice, in case you didn't know), right before The New 52 happened, and then he disappeared. He didn't appear again until DC Universe Rebirth #1 (May 2016), and not as Aqualad.

To be honest, I haven't really known how to handle Rebirth, which is why it's taken me so long to post him. New 52 was easy; it was a new universe, so everything that showed up was new. But Rebirth is kind of a continuation of the previous universe and kind of a continuation of New 52 (of course, New 52 was also kind of a continuation of the previous universe, but that's a different topic), so I didn't know whether I should post him again or leave him alone because he's already represented on the site.

Thankfully, DC did me a solid. See, Jackson recently became Aqualad for real. And unlike his previous, dreadlocked self, Rebirth Aqualad has hair to match his animated counterpart. So even if I can't count this as a character spotlight, it still works as an appearance spotlight.

Of course, his costume and tattoos LESS like the animated version than it used to be, but I can't win them all.

Costume Spotlight: Nightwing (Rebirth)

One of the goals of DC Rebirth is to make the characters more closely resemble their most popular versions. In some cases, that means making a character's physical appearance look more like an adaptational counterpart. last week we discussed Wonder Woman, but Nightwing is another good example.

When most people think of Nightwing, this is what they picture. It debuted in the Nightwing miniseries (1995) that led to him getting an ongoing:

Nightwing kept this costume until the New 52, and whenever Nightwing showed up in a show or video game, he wore a version of this costume. Except, for some reason, the blue part was turned into a bird. Almost every single time.

 

These are just five examples: The New Batman Adventures, Teen Titans, The Batman, Young Justice, and the Son of Batman trilogy.

In the New 52, beginning in Nightwing #1 (September 2011) to be precise, Nightwing got a new look after almost 20 years:

Then he quit being Nightwing and became a spy, but as part of the course correction - for lack of a better word - of Rebirth, Nightwing showed up in Nightwing: Rebirth #1 (July 2016) looking like this:

It's not exactly the same as any animated appearance, but it is clearly inspired by them.

52 Shake-Up: Artemis

"52 Shake-Up" is a series focusing on DC's New 52. Posts get a 52 Shake-Up tag if it's an already existing canon immigrant who now exists in the New 52 as well, or if it's a previously existing character who was changed so drastically by the New 52 to fit a version of themselves in another medium that they could be mistaken for being a canon immigrant.


You'd be forgiven for thinking that the archer named Artemis first appeared in Young Justice (2010), but she didn't. She actually first appeared all the way back in Infinity Inc #34 (December 1986) as a villain who was the daughter of Golden Age villains Tigress and Sportsmaster, just like Infinity Inc were the children and proteges of Golden Age heroes. In Young Justice she's likewise the daughter of Sportsmaster but trying to be a hero (or is a mole pretending to be a hero; it's been a while since I've seen the show)...at least until she becomes Tigress in season 2.

In the New 52, she makes two brief appearances. The first is in Teen Titans #8 (April 2012), where she's seen wearing a rugged version of her Young Justice outfit. She also has the blonde hair and long ponytail of her animated counterpart. She dies during "The Culling" crossover, but is later revealed to have been revived along with the rest of the teens "killed" during the Culling.

Costume Spotlight: Mad Dog

Mad Dog is a bounty hunter that appeared in Suicide Squad #3 (November 2011). That's pretty much all we know about him so far. He looks like this:

Someone pointed out that he looked liked the Young Justice version of Sportsmaster (first appearance: "Drop Zone", January 2011). "Kinda, I guess," I said. "I mean, I suppose the mask is pretty similar." But then I looked up Sportsmaster, and...

...it's hard to argue with facts. They're not 100% the same, but they are at least 90.