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 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Artemis

This is the 25th 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 of the COVID-19 virus is posing a real threat upon the world. It is even more contagious than previous iterations of the virus, and the World Health Organization recommends mask wearing regardless of vaccination status.

If this writing had an audio option, this is where I would cue up Mariah Carey saying, "And now for the deluxe." This entry is one of the last six entries in this series that I had planned and considered "bonus material" of "deep cut" characters. Artemis of the Bana Mighdall Amazons was created in the mid 1990's, thus she's a redhead with an impossibly long flowing ponytail that never seems to hinder her in her adventures. The Bana Mighdall tribe of Amazons had split off from the Themiscyran Amazons thousands of years ago, before they were lead to Paradise Island. The Bana's (as they became known) were unwilling to give up their desire for revenge against men. Eventually, they ended up settling in Egypt and developed a worship of some Egyptians gods, who erected a mystical sandstorm around their city of Bana Mighdall (which translated to "The Temple of Women"). The Banas became a very warrior-like and violent tribe, adopting modern weapons and kidnapping men to use as breeding stock. Their tribe's champion was call Shim'Tar. As Artemis grew, her best friend and love, Akila, competed against Artemis for the right to become Shim'Tar, but Akila ended up winning that title before eventually meeting her death. Eventually, the Banas agreed to help the evil sorceress Circe attack the Themiscyran Amazons. Artemis was 14 at the time and was the only Amazon who protested the decision before the Bana Council. They should have listened, because they were betrayed by Circe, and all Amazons were cast into a demon dimension where the two tribes were forced to join forces fighting off demon hordes for ten years.

Eventually, Wonder Woman convinced Circe to return the Amazons to their own dimension. However, Queen Hippolyta began having visions of Wonder Woman dying, so she arranged to have a new Contest for the title of Wonder Woman and she secretly had the Amazon sorceress Magala cast a spell that siphoned Diana's powers off to Artemis when they were near each other. This caused Diana to lose the Contest, and Artemis won and became the new Wonder Woman for a time. Artemis was brash and had no patience for complex situations and problems that she blamed Diana for not fixing in the world. Her time as Wonder Woman was short, as she ended up dying fighting the White Magician. With her last breath, she gave Diana the Gauntlet of Hermes, which she used to increase her strength, thus giving Diana the power that she needed to defeat the White Magician. Since it's comic books, Artemis ended up returning from the dead, and she maintains an uneasy and sometimes slightly antagonistic relationship with Diana. Currently, the Bana Mighdall are back to being based in Egypt, and Artemis, seems to be their champion, or at least a trusted agent, as she is currently appearing in the new Wonder Girl title.

This look pulls mostly from Artemis' current "DC Rebirth" costume, which in itself is a black, red, and gold rework of her Requiem costume, a look she wore when she was first resurrected and joined a group of demon hunters. the footwear is a callback to her time wearing the Wonder Woman costume. Her mask pattern is a variant on the theme that the other Wonder Woman characters in this series have featured.

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

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Katana

This is the 24th 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.

Tatsu Yamashiro is a Japanese immigrant to the United States who fights evil and injustice as the sword-wielding Katana. Once, Tatsu was a happily married wife and mother in Japan, until her husband's Yakuza-involved brother killed him with an enchanted sword called the Soultaker, which ended up possessing the soul of her husband, Maseo. Her family killed, Tatsu trained under a samurai master, and took her skills to the United States. She ended up joining a group called The Outsiders, created by Batman as a more proactive team than the Justice League. Katana has been on many teams, including the Justice League, the Birds of Prey, and the Suicide Squad. Her martial arts skills along with her Soultaker sword (which can capture the souls of those she slays with it) make her a formidable member of any team she's been a part of, though the Outsiders is the one she is affiliated with the most.

For this look, Katana has had many costume designs throughout the years. Many of the costumes have incorporated elements of the Japanese national and military flags, so I chose to reflect some of those here. I also really have enjoyed including armor pieces with dresses in this series, and this design was another great opportunity. For her facial features, I used Karen Fukuhara as my inspiration, who played the character in the movie, Suicide Squad, but with a mask that covered the upper half of her face. I'm also really glad to be able to post this illustration during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States.

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

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Starfire

This is the 23rd 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.

Starfire is a warrior princess, Koriand'r, from the planet of Tamaran. Her people have the ability to absorb ultra violet light and convert it into energy that gives them the power to fly...which was used as a reason by the character's creators to justify why she and most of her people wear very little clothing. The more skin they expose, the more energy that they can absorb. (Insert side-eye here. I've yet to see Superman fly around half naked, when his powers work on largely the same principle.) She was trained in combat, but also ended up being given to brutal aliens by her family as a peace offering in hopes that they wouldn't be conquered. She and her older sister, Blackfire (Komand'r), were experimented on in captivity, which lead to them being able to project energy blasts called starbolts. Eventually, Koriand'r escaped, made her way to Earth, she demonstrated another of her powers: the ability to absorb language through kissing. She kissed Robin (as in "Batman and...") upon her arrival, and the two ended up in a relationship quickly. She also quickly became a member of the New Teen Titans.

Her relationship with Dick Grayson, the first Robin and now Nightwing, seems to be an on-again, off-again phenomenon, usually based upon which group of fans the comic book editors want to please: the fans who want Dick Grayson and Koriand'r as a couple or the fans who want Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, to be a couple. Currently, Starfire is the head of Titans Academy, where the older twenty-something Titans are training empowered and/or skilled teens how to be heroes.

For the look in this illustration, I pulled mainly from Starfire's current costume that debuted in the Justice League Odessey series and her original costume from the Marv Wolfman & George Perez runs of The New Teen Titans. The current costume features big armored shoulder pads with jewels, and I thought it'd be fun to turn those armored pieces into decorative epaulets. Her earrings are inspired by the design of a pendant from the original costume. The sandals are also inspired by the original costume's boots. Her incredibly long hair and gravity defying abilities lend to creating a wonderful shape around her where her hair can float, almost like she's under water.

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

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Raven

This is the 22nd 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.

Raven, also known as Rachel Roth, is the daughter of a human woman named Arella and a world-conquering demon named Trigon. She was raised by monks to help her control her emotions, lest they overcome her and she opened the dimensional door to allow Trigon back to conquer the world. Raven originally brought the Teen Titnas back together again in the 1980's to fight Trigon. Raven is an empath who also has many other powers, including flight, magic, and sending her consciousness about in a form called her "soul self." Eventually, with the help of the Titans, Raven defeats her father, Trigon, and is currently a respeced senior member of the Titans.

Raven has had many looks since she was first created in the 1980's by Marv Wolfman & George Perez for The New Teen Titans. Her original look was basically an evening dress, opera gloves and a hooded cloak. Over the years, Raven would get various other looks. When the character appeared in the Teen Titans cartoon with grayish skin and violet hair, visual elements from that design began showing up in the comic books. I tried to come up with a look that incorporates various designs the character has featured into this look.

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