Betty Clawman

Betty Clawman
Drawn by Joe Staton in Millennium #2.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Millennium #2 (January 1988)
Created by	Steve Englehart (writer) Joe Staton (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Betty Clawman
Team affiliations	New Guardians
Abilities	Cosmic awareness

Betty Clawman is a fictional superhero and disembodied cosmic force in the DC Comics shared universe. She first appeared in Millennium #2 (January 1988), ^{[1] [2]} and was created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. ^{[1] [3]}

The Millennium series was specifically written to introduce superheroes of color into the DC universe. Betty Clawman is an Aboriginal Australian woman, and her teammates include Gloss (aka Xiang Po, from mainland China), Jet (aka Celia Windward, an Afro-Caribbean British citizen), Extraño (aka Gregorio de la Vega, from Peru) and Inuit mechanic Thomas Kalmaku. ^[3]

Fictional character biography

Betty Clawman was a young Aboriginal Australian girl from Uluru, ^[4] who was selected by the Guardians of the Universe to take part in an experiment in human evolution, ^{[1] [5] [4]} and to advance the human race. ^[6] Clawman, along with the other nine "chosen", are taught about the nature of the cosmos and endowed with immortality and metahuman abilities. ^[1] Clawman was given the power to enter and merge with the Dreamtime, gaining vast and ill-defined abilities. ^[1] Together with Harbinger, seven of the chosen form the superhero team New Guardians. ^[7]

Betty Clawman and the New Guardians appear in Teen Titans Spotlight #19. ^[8]

Following the end of the New Guardians series, Betty Clawman largely fell into obscurity. She returns in the miniseries Doomsday Clock as a member of the Sleeping Soldiers, a group of Australian metahumans created as part of an international arms race, under the name Dreamer. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Powers and abilities

Betty's abilities since entering Dreamtime are vast and unspecified. She appears to have a degree of cosmic awareness, as befitting an Earth Mother figure, ^{[10] [11]} and has some ability to influence dreams. ^{[1] [2] [10]} On one occasion she "synced" with Tom Kalmaku and amplified his abilities to unleash the genetic potential of several human clones.

Reception

Writer and scholar Frederick Luis Aldama described Betty Clawman as one of several superheroes of color that began to emerge in comic books in the 1980s and 1990s, ^[3] and he described her character as "interestingly fleshed out". ^[6] Luke Pearson of the Special Broadcasting Service noted Clawman is one of several Aboriginal characters in comic books who was not originally written or drawn by Aboriginal authors or artists, but said she is among a handful of recent characters created with more care for Aboriginal origins and characteristics, expressing hope that this would lead to future characters written and drawn by Aboriginals themselves. ^[1] Tyson Yunkaporta of The Guardian said that Clawman made an impression when first launched, but was among a handful of Aboriginal characters who were eventually "neutralised, reconciled with the main protagonists and retired to obscurity". ^[12] Tim Richards of The Sydney Morning Herald called Clawman "the most obscure of the big comic book companies' Aboriginal heroes". ^[10] Pop culture writer Valerie Estelle Frankel noted that Clawman is part of a trend of female characters having telepathy, mind control, or telekinesis, which Frankel said is presented in comic books as a "specifically feminine power". ^[13]

History professor Allan Austing and English professor Patrick Hamilton, both of Misericordia University, were critical of the portrayal of Betty Clawman and other members of the New Guardians, who they described as racial stereotypes rather than actual characters. Austin said he was "horrified" by the depiction, and said while the characters were an attempt to promote multiculturalism and the benefits of a more inclusive society, the way the characters were executed risked having the opposite effect. Clawman and others from the New Guardians were made part of a course the two taught at Misericorida called "Race and Graphic Narrative in Post-War United States". ^[14]

References

1. Pearson, Luke (January 16, 2017). "The Wombat to Kaptn Koori - Aboriginal representation in comic books and capes". Special Broadcasting Service . Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
2. Richards, Tim (January 30, 2020). "Aboriginal superheroes". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved January 30, 2020.
3. Aldama, Frederick Luis (2010). Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle. University of Texas Press. p. 3. ISBN   9780292722811 . Retrieved 14 February 2020.
4. Wickline, Dan (August 12, 2013). "What Were They Thinking? – Extraño". Bleeding Cool . Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
5. Englehart, Steve  ( w ), Staton, Joe  ( a )."Under"Millennium,no. 2,p. 4(January, 1988).DC Comics.
6. Aldama, Frederick Luis (June 1, 2009). Your Brain on Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez. University of Texas Press. p. 34. ISBN   978-0292719736.
7. Morris, Jon (2015). The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Quirk Books. pp. 222–223. ISBN   978-1-59474-763-2.
8. Teen Titans Spotlight #19 (February 1988)
9. Bondurant, Tom (December 19, 2019). "Doomsday Clock #12 Annotated, Part 1: Big Battles & Blue Breakthroughs". Comic Book Resources . Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
10. Shiach, Kieran (July 31, 2018). "Doomsday Clock Expands The Metahuman Arms Race To Even More Countries". Comic Book Resources . Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
11. Iacopini, Roberto (August 1, 2018). "Doomsday Clock, la "caccia" ai Metaumani si allarga al resto del mondo". ProjectNerd.it (in Italian). Retrieved January 30, 2020.
12. Yunkaporta, Tyson (December 15, 2017). "Beyond Batman: how Indigenous superheroes are turning comics inside out". The Guardian . Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
13. Frankel, Valerie Estelle (March 23, 2017). Superheroines and the Epic Journey: Mythic Themes in Comics, Film and Television. McFarland & Company. p. 46. ISBN   978-1476668789.
14. Sheaffer, Caleb (March 23, 2009). "Professors use comic books to teach about race". The Citizens' Voice .