DC Comics Introduces Gay And Overweight Daughter Of Starfire
DC Comics introduced a brand new character in the form of Starfire’s daughter with the announcement of their new young adult comic, I Am Not Starfire.
Based on a press release obtained by Bleeding Cool, the comic follows the high school shenanigans of 17-year-old Mandy Koriand’r, who is apparently the complete opposite of her mother Koriand’r.
The press release explains that Mandy is a high school outcast and that she is “constantly trying to get our from under the shadow of her bright, bubbly, scantily clad, and famous mother.”
In order to do so, she dyes her bright orange hair black and “spends her days at school avoiding Teen Titans superfans and trying to hide her feelings for the gorgeous, popular, and perfect Claire.”
She also tries to avoid spending time with her mother, and when she’s not doing that the press release implies that one of the main conflicts of the book is the fact that she walked out of her S.A.T.
It reads, “And while Mandy usually avoids spending too much time with her alien mother, she’s been particularly quiet as she’s keeping one major secret from her: Mandy walked out of her S.A.T.”
And the reason she skipped out on the S.A.T. is that she has “plans of moving to France to escape the family spotlight and not go to college.”
However, things take a turn when Mandy is partnered with Clair for a school project. The press release states, “Their friendship develops into something more and a self-confidence unknown to Mandy begins to bloom. Clair seems to like Mandy for being Mandy, not the daughter of Starfire.”
With things on the upswing, it’s someone from Starfire’s past that disrupts it. And “Mandy must finally make a choice: give up before the battle has even begun, or step into the unknown and risk everything.”
Finally, the press release concludes by describing the book as “a story about mother-daughter relationships, embracing where you come from while finding your own identity, and learning to be unafraid of failing, if it was even failing in the first place.”
Writer Mariko Tamaki shared Bleeding Cool’s article on Twitter writing, “Ah! I can FINALLY share the cover of my new DC Comics GN with the amazing Yoshi Yoshitani.”
Artist Yoshi Yoshitani also shared a video meme explaining the Starfire and Mandy dynamic.
She wrote, “Can’t wait to show more from I’m Not Starfire GN by Mariko Tamaki and me. But here’s the Mandy and Starfire vibe.”
Can’t wait to show more from I’m Not Starfire GN by @marikotamaki and me
But here’s the Mandy and Starfire vibe 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/LOky3hjqlU
— Yoshi Yoshitani (@yoshisquared) November 30, 2020
Yoshitani added in a subsequent tweet, “It’s just hard being the daughter of a galaxy wide known super hottie.”
The book appears to be in the vein of DC Comics other Young Adult offerings that includes Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero by E. Lockhart with illustrations by Manuel Preitano. That book describes the protagonist as a social activist who is also trying to find their identity.
In fact DC Comics described the book as a “coming-of-age tale about perseverance, heroism, and finding your voice to make change in your community.”
It also appears to be in the vein of Melissa de la Cruz and illustrator Thomas Pitilli’s Gotham High that turned Bruce Wayne into a Chinese-American and introduced a gay Alfred.
That book is currently ranked #134,462 on Amazon’s Bester Sellers Rank in the Books category. It fares better when it is positioned in the Young Adult Coming of Age Comics & Graphic Novels at #64.
However, the book plummets when you switch it over to its Kindle Rank. It’s ranked #411,959 in the Kindle Store. Maybe even more interesting is that it only has 131 total reviews between both the Kindle version and the paperback.
Needless to say, it’s pretty safe to claim that this book is not popular among the young adult target audience as well as traditional comic book readers. And I would bet that I Am Not Starfire will soon follow in Gotham High’s path.
It looks and reads like drivel, but this is modern day DC Comics. That’s what they produce for the most part.
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