EIE: Infusing Estrogen into the JSA 1: Tsunami

This made me think of the previous discussion about the presence of women in the JSA.

From the sound of it, Geoff Johns is going to be taking the JSA into a different, more societal direction. Reading OWAW issues recently, I think I saw the roots of this, wherein Sand called on the "reserves" of the JSA for their battle. These reserves included a lot of other Golden Age legacy characters, like Shining Knight and the Freedom Fighters, to help the JSA on their mission.

I've always liked the idea of the current JSA going beyond the legacies tied specifically to only the members seen in the old All-Star Comics issues or the Multiverse crossovers, so this makes me happy. The other reason it makes me happy is that it allows for a lot more opportunity to start using lesser known Golden Age legacies (or retroactively created GA legacies) to start bringing a bit more diversity into the group without sacrificing any of the existing characters that I love.

Anyway, this has led me to decide to try a new, semi-regular feature. Which basically means I'll do it as long as my attention span holds. It's a subgroup of my Exercises in Egotism and I'm calling it Infusing Estrogen into the JSA. And in it, I'm going to propose my ideas about how certain largely abandoned Golden Age legacies could be revisited for the Modern Age with a particular emphasis on more female characters.

Infusion of Estrogen: Tsunami

The first character/legacy that comes to mind is Tsunami, which might be a surprise given my stated animosity for the character. But I really think that it's a shame that such a promising character was never really developed beyond her representation of an issue.

I'd personally love to see a granddaughter of Miya Shimada take on her grandmother's legacy and become linked to the JSA.

I know that Tsunami's daughter has shown up in Aquaman for a time, but while she'd work as a legacy as well, I'm really much more enamored with the idea of using a younger woman. Tsunami was a teenager in the Young All-Stars so it makes more sense to me that the new Tsunami would be a teenager (or a very young adult) when she'd become connected to the JSA. This would also allow for the pre-existing character to still make appearances as mother or (more likely) aunt.

I basically have two requirements personally, when it comes to new characters. They must, I think, be interesting in their own rights and they should bring something new to the table for the existing characters/team that they're joining.

In the case of the granddaughter, developing her into an interesting personality shouldn't be a problem. For one thing, the political issue looming over her grandmother's head would be in the past, not as direct an influence on her life. This will make it harder to allow the character to become overpowered by the issue.

I think that the best way to go about this new character would be to take her in a completely opposite direction, personality wise, than her grandmother. Miya was gracious and dignified, a constant spokesman against the evils of war. She was grave and serious and responsible and socially aware. I would like to take her granddaughter counter to that. Make her initially quite uninterested in social responsibility or issues, instead emphasizing the "American" aspect of her Asian-American heritage. I want her to be fun-loving, shallow, petty, and resentful of the burdens and expectations of her parents. I'd like her to see heroism as an escape.

I think that this would allow some strong retroactive exploration of Miya Shimada herself through the contrasts with her granddaughter. The new Tsunami seeks to escape the pressures of the past, but does so by entrenching herself in a group with a legacy/family theme. A group that had a lot of ties to her grandmother, as a Young All-Stars member. This means that she'll have many opportunities to explore the woman her grandmother was and ultimately grow.

I like the idea that essentially what this girl is subconsciously afraid of is being defined solely by her race and sex and the social issues contained within, basically she's afraid of being what Tsunami actually was in Young All-Stars. And it's through the exploration of herself and of her grandmother as a character, as well as her heroic experiences with the group itself, that allow her to realize that she doesn't have to be afraid of who she is. That she can take pride in her heritage and racial/sexual identity, that she can remember the past and be socially aware without losing her individual identity at the same time.

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As for what she'd bring to the group and the pre-existing characters...

Well, the initial goal of this exercise is to bring a bit more diversity into the "old boys club". Women are still quite a minority (as we've discussed before) in the JSA, and there really isn't any representation at all for Asian-Americans in the group. A new Tsunami, I think, would be a step in the right direction.

There's a power advantage too, I think. Where the JLA has (had?) Aquaman, the Teen Titans had Tempest, the modern JSA never really had any characters specifically suited to underwater missions. While this new Tsunami might be of debatable use on land (depending on how her powers are defined), she'd definitely have a place as an underwater reserve fighter.

On a character level, her arrival and activities would very likely have an interesting effect on Sand as well, in a number of ways. Sandy the Golden Boy was, for a brief time, on the same team as her grandmother. In fact, he had been the token racist. I've complained about the way that had seemed gratuitously tacked on to an already fully developed character (especially the only character with pre-existing, if slight, ties to Asia), but it does allow for an interesting exploration of both characters now.

It's established that Sand has since followed in his mentor's footsteps, studying in China and Tibet, and very likely further East. He speaks some Asian languages and understands elements of Tibetan Buddhism at least. How much, if any, experience he's had with Japan is as yet unknown, but it's probably safe to assume that the person he is now would find his own behavior very shameful and embarrassing, even if she'd managed to forgive him.

And there's the time-lost element, that I've always wished they'd do a bit more with. While he's mentioned some awareness of the passage of time as a monster in stasis, as far as experience goes, the Young All-Star events would have been only ten-twelve years ago for him. That's not a terribly long time. But for Miya it's long enough to have had children and grandchildren. Miya's granddaughter would be a lot like her in many ways, but also so very different that it would really emphasize how much his own time perception doesn't match the rest of the world's.

It could also have an interesting effect for Miya herself. As of last notice, she's still alive which would allow for the opportunity to meet again. The annoying pest of her childhood is now only a little older than her granddaughter. Cognitive Dissonance doesn't seem nearly enough to encompass what that must feel like. It's really an interesting concept for me.

I just think there'd be a lot of story potential in introducing a new Tsunami and it could be a lot of fun as well. It'd be also, I think, a nice way to introduce a new female character into the JSA.