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The Appeal of the Birds of Prey

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I think Barbara Gordon and Dinah Lance both represent self-empowerment. Each character has had external sources remove their ability to do something they want to do, and they've each taken the initiative to create their own agency in response. Barbara Gordon: Disempowered physically and prevented from fighting crime by being shot and crippled by The Joker. Empowered herself by mastering technology, becoming an expert capable of helping the entire superhero community. Dinah Lance: Disempowered by her mother preventing her from becoming a superhero. Empowered herself by training in secret and becoming Black Canary anyway. Disempowered by the trauma she suffered during Longbow Hunters -- torture is an extreme example of powerlessness, and it also literally depowered her by removing her Canary Cry. Empowered herself by continuing to fight crime by using gadgets (Canary Bombs) to replace her ability. I would also add that the general notion of disempowerment turning into empowerment i...
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The Appeal of Orion

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I believe Orion of the New Gods embodies the universal drive to be better than our parents. The battles between Orion and his father, Darkseid, are really conflicts about progress vs stagnation -- the bold, futuristic design of Orion vs the rocky, rigid, and therefore stagnant appearance of Darkseid. The power of Orion's conflict comes from the fact that every human being faces the same one, on some level. Your parents may not be as bad as Darkseid, but they make mistakes, big and small, and it's up to you to avoid making the same ones if we're going to create a better world. If everyone can just be better than their parents, society will constantly move forward; but when we repeat their mistakes and perpetuate their cognitive distortions, society stagnates. So when Orion battles the forces of Darkseid, behind every blow is the power of you defying a negative impulse that you inherited from your parents. Where the conflict becomes more complicated and realistic is in the s...
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