Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Flamebird

This is the 26th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic. At the time of this posting, the Delta Variant is still a serious threat, and many areas in the United States, like the one I live in, are under advisement for everyone to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. This entry is also one of the final six "deluxe" entries to this series.

All hail the original Dick Grayson Thirst Queen! The character Betty Kane was created in the 1950's, not long after her aunt, Kathy Kane, to combat those pesky homosexual rumors about Batman and Robin. Kathy Kane's Batwoman wanted to aid the Caped Crusaders, and her niece, Betty, became the original Bat-Girl...in order to get closer to Robin because she had a crush on him. AND NO ONE CAN BLAME HER.

Along came the 1960's and DC Comics had a Batman TV show that made big waves in pop culture, and they decided to introduce a new Batgirl character by the name of Barbara Gordon. Kathy & Betty Kane had been long disused, and it seems as though it was decided that those adventures with Batwoman and Bat-Girl took place in a parallel universe on Earth-2. The character of Bette Kane was later created, a tennis champion as a young teenager, a young beauty pageant winner to rival any Tots & Tiaras star, an Olympic level swimmer and acrobat, trained in many martial art forms, an experienced sky diver, wind sailer, and mountain climber. All that, and the only prize she couldn't win was catching the eye of the original Robin, Dick Grayson. She ended up creating the identity of Flamebird and set out to get Robin's attention by becoming a crime fighter. Eventually, she joined the Teen Titans West and was an auxiliary member of the Titans throughout the years. My favorite Flamebird moment occurred during the 1998 JLA vs. Titans miniseries by Devin Grayson & the LEGENDARY Phil Jimenez, when trapped in an illusion of her perfect world, her fantasy was playing a game of tennis against Robin in his original short-shorts/short cape costume, and watching him bend over - over and over - to pick up the ball. Bless her heart.

Flamebird received a bit of a makeover in the Batwoman title when she wanted to serve as a sidekick to her cousin, Kate Kane, who is Batwoman. Bette ended up taking up the new identity of Hawkfire. It's a terrible name, especially because DC has long had a character named Firehawk in its Firestorm stories, but Hawkfire did have a great costume which the chest symbol in this outfit is lifted from and the gold layered bracelet inspired by the gauntlets on that costume. The rest of the outfit is inspired by her two Flamebird costumes, the original containing a tennis skirt and color homages to the original red and green Bat-Girl costume. Her character's history and portrayal contains a level of camp that endears this character deeply in my heart. It's a real shame she isn't used more in comics.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Flamebird" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Flamebird ©DC Comics 

Art For Mid-Ohio-Con Part 2

Here are more of the artcards that I will be selling at Mid-Ohio-Con this weekend, along with prints of some of the work in my Illustration Gallery:

Superman:


Wonder Woman:

Donna Troy as Wonder Girl:

Supergirl (I wanted to capture the feeling of the aerial ballet in the Supergirl movie starring Helen Slater.):

Green Lantern:

Batgirl:

Nightwing:

Flamebird (based on International Supermodel and D-Listed.com's Hot Slut of the Year 2007, Phoebe Price):