My introduction to Starfire

We all remember our first time.

Oh dear God, NO! (Although with this new continuity it could well BE his first time. 😛 ) However, it is Starfire I’m talking about. The first time I saw the admittedly sexy alien was in this comic.

The New Teen Titans, as you may recall from my long-ago review, was an anti-drug PSA comic, and I think a rather good one. I had not heard of her at this point because she wasn’t on the original Teen Titans cartoon (which I rarely saw aired in reruns) and the next one was decades away. So this obviously affects my view of Starfire as a character. Let me give you some samples.

Vic, the door was open!

The very first time I saw her besides the cover, hanging with her friends and kicking tail. Starfire 52 wouldn’t remember then. And probably slept with all of them. Yes, including Wonder Girl, I’m that cynical about the New DCU.

The Starfire I knew was young and rather naive when it came to Earthlings and strange customs like deliberately poisoning yourself and selling that poison to other kids. (This was an anti-drug comic, after all.)

"A comic called Red Hood & The Outlaws. I wonder if it's any good?"

Starfire 52 has less emotions than a robot, at least from the panels I’ve seen. (Granted, all I’ve seen is her showing off her body and propositioning Roy Harper while forgetting the names of everyone she ever met on Earth, including her LONG TERM BOYFRIEND!) Starfire PSA is angry that a child will never experience love, and happiness because of drugs. Apparently, emotional responses are the norm for Starfire PSA because Wonder Girl reminds Titan friend The Protector (because of licensing issues with Robin, long story) that “she’s like that”.

In fact she’s so angry that she blows the drug factory they found the kid in to splinters, forgetting that prosecuting the dealers may have just become a little harder. (Naturally, not addressed.) And is she crying in the last panel? Over an Earthling that Starfire 52 isn’t supposed to care less about?

I’ll just let that panel speak for itself.

"Red Hood isn't paying you for this, or whatever he does now, who really cares it's only Jason Todd."

Because humans are just “sights and smells” to a Tamaranean, you know. But I’m sure the new writers know exactly how her creators intended her to be. I mean, this is just some PSA comic for Keebler and the President’s Drug Awareness Campaign. These are never in canon. Who made this anyway?

Oh, the…creators of the character Starfire. Well, what do they know? (Hopefully that Scott Lobdel is giving them the proverbial finger.)

And what’s DC’s response to the outrage?

https://twitter.com/#!/DCComics/status/118881338186145793

Way to NOT get the point, guys.

Related articles

• DC Comics’ Reponse to Starfire Controversy: Don’t let your kids read our comics [Comics] (io9.com)
• New 52: DC’s Response to Starfire Controversy = FAIL (alldaycomics.com)
• A 7-year-old girl responds to DC Comics’ sexed-up reboot of Starfire [Comics] (io9.com)
• I shouldn’t be the target audience. (dicemonkey.net)
• Filler article: The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their ‘Liberated Sexuality’ (bwmedia.wordpress.com)