#richard dragon

[madcapmento]

When I say Shiva had respect for other peoples personal codes I mean she appreciated anything that she found interesting, including people who did not share her philosophy and world views (because there was NOBODY who shared her philosophy and world views, nobody who was remotely like her).

I always got the sense that she approved greatly of others going through their own personal journeys in order to reach their full potential, and this was doubly true when the end result of them reaching their full potential was having somebody else in the world worth fighting. (See Cass or even Dinah) Then, in the case of Dragon or Vic (on top of that), you kind of get the sense that she’s fond of them. They’re both unconventional enough to be entertaining, and they’re always in dangererous situations (she loves that especially). They’re also both very disciplined, and Richard cares as much as she does about the art of combat. That’s why she likes them, that’s why she hangs around them sometimes. That’s why they’re the closest thing she has to friends.

But she would never want them or anyone to become evil due to her manipulations (though I will stress again, the manipulative part of her personality came from Dixon alone) or due to trauma inflicted by her, because that would be predictable and boring. She doesn’t care for people who are predictable and boring.

Anyways… Most important comic book page for understanding Shiva (to me):

#lady shiva #sandra wu san #the question 1987 #save me the question 1987 #vic sage #richard dragon #chuck dixon when I find you #🔪🔪🔪🔪

[badassbirdsofprey]

#birds of prey #dinah lance #black canary #helena bertinelli #huntress #ted grant #wildcat #connor hawke #green arrow #aleksandr creote #creote #brian durlin #savant #richard dragon

[somewherefornow]

“You just spout zen at passing drivers?”

“Only the ones that stop to listen.”

HELENA BERTINELLI & VIC SAGE in BATMAN/HUNTRESS: CRY FOR BLOOD

#cry for blood #batman/huntress cry for blood #vic sage #helena bertinelli #vic x helena #richard dragon #*panelsandpages #questress #vichelena

[latinotimdrake]

arguments and supporting evidence welcome. I haven't read enough Richard Dragon comics to weigh in here but if there is a definitive answer, well, that's welcome too I guess

#cassandra cain #richard dragon #.txt

[quaveyllc]

My friend @fierrochaseist4t suggested I watch Batman: Soul of the dragon and let me tell ya'll. If you love blaxplotation and kung fu movies, you're gonna love this. The whole thing is just batman but a 70's Kung fu movie. The movie has some crazy deep cuts for comic fans.

Like they had Judomaster, Richard dragon, Jade Nguyen, and O sensei

Highly recommend this movie man solid 9.9/10

#dc comics #dc #bruce wayne #dc animated universe #dc animation #dc animated movies #richard dragon #cheshire cat #batman: soul of the dragon #O sensei #jade nguyen #judomaster #kung fu movies #bronze tiger #silver saintcloud #katana #soultaker

[havendance]

Richard Dragon: He murdered two innocent people! He plans to murder more! I'm going to stop him-- --at any cost! Lady Shiva: That's why I enjoy you, Richard! You are constantly running into peril… and peril is my lifeblood!

The Richard Dragon comics are certainly dated, but Lady Shiva is fun in them. Every issue, Richard Dragon is like 'Oh no! I need to face someone dangerous!' and then he calls Lady Shiva and she's like 'Danger! Excellent! I'll be right over!'

#richard dragon #comic panel hoard #havendance reads comics #dc #carthago delenda est

[the-swift-tricker]

in my mind there are three types of people in the dc universe when it comes to vic sage:

people that actually like him: helena bertinelli, cassandra cain, lady shiva, richard dragon, oliver queen

people that tolerate him: bruce wayne, tim drake, edward nygma

people that actively hate him: literally everyone else, from clark kent to the joker

#vic sage #the question #cassandra cain #lady shiva #sandra wu san #helena bertinelli #richard dragon #oliver queen #bruce wayne #tim drake #edward nygma #riddler #batfam #dc comics #swift-tricker's posts

[hawkzeyes]

Now kiss 😚

Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood #3 (2000)

#you can pry this ship from my cold dead hands #The Huntress #The Question #Helena Bertinelli #Vic Sage #Richard Dragon #dc #detective comics #dc comics #comic panels #in the quiver (queue) #his hairline is WACK HERE

[dc-vs-marvel-tournament]

Submitted by anonymous

#dcvsmarveltournament #dc comics #poll tournament #tournament poll #tumblr tournament #dcau #marvel #dcu #marvel comics #poll #polls #richard dragon #dragon #dragon dc #dc dragon #Zheng Shang-Chi #zheng shang chi #shang chi

[thecruellestmonth]

Lady Shiva

Who's Who: Update '87 #3

The Question Annual #2 (1989) // Batgirl Secret Files (2002)

See also: Lady Shiva reading guide by judgeanon, Talia al Ghul profiles

#Lady Shiva #Sandra Woosan #Sandra Wu san #Detective Comics #Cassandra Cain #DC Comics #Green Arrow #Batgirl 2000 #Richard Dragon #Vic Sage #The Question #Dennis O'Neil #Batguide #some DC profiles collection #ID in alt #described #transcribing this sure was a task #But I did it for Lady S.

[fungi-maestro]

The Question #14 (1988)

#book club #vic sage #the question #dc comics #comics #genuinely helpful advice coming from a scorpion and dehydration hallucinations #genuinely the thing that helps me when something seems unbearable. reframe the way you think about it. #toughening up doesnt always work #and the best thing to make time pass faster is to stop thinking about time passing #anyway the REAL question is whether I should tag this as richard or not #I will anyway #richard dragon #this issue is great and you see plenty of discussion on honor and what the right thing to do is #as well as seeing vic vs myra handling torture simultaneously #very very good

[madcapmento]

One sec I need to talk about Shiva.

Lady Shiva was introduced in Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter in the 70s. She was a traveling martial artist hellbent on getting revenge for her sister, who she believed had been killed by Richard Dragon. She lured Dragon into a trap, revealed herself as Carolyn's sister, and tried to fight him to the death. Once she realized that Dragon had nothing to do with it, that Cravat and The Swiss (unimportant villain characters, they killed Carolyn) had been the ones to kill her sister, she helped Dragon defeat the villain (by giving him her shiny belt so he could redirect the beam of a deadly laser that was being pointed at them while they were fighting, don’t even ask) and Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva became allies, friends even. Dragon convinced her it would be a waste to kill Cravat and told her that he had killed the Swiss himself. She accepted this. They shook hands. This all took place over the course of one issue of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter. It took ONE issue for Shiva to go from antagonist to ally. She then tagged along with Richard because she liked the adventures he got up to, the danger, the challenge, and the thrill of it. Richard even called her later on when he needed help on a different adventure. What I’m saying is she didn’t start out as evil.

Okay, so what do we know about Shiva so far? She’s a thrill-seeking peripatetic martial artist of great capacity and skill. She cared about her sister. She’s willing to kill. She’s an adventurer and a valuable ally. Great. Moving on.

The Question 1987 features THE Lady Shiva. A character capable of both ruthlessness and mercy, cruelty and tenderness. A curious, thrill-seeking, teasing character. She was vicious and nonpartisan and she was working as a mercenary for hire. But she was an ally, even when she was beating the shit out of Vic. She loved the O Sensei. You can tell she even cared about Vic in her way. I’m not saying she had a heart of gold, or that there weren’t tropes she fell into. She wasn’t and there were. But she was a fairly well-rounded, morally gray character that played a key role wherever she showed up. She was closer to a non-traditional anti-hero than anything else. Idfk, just go read The Question.

I read a tvtropes article describing Lady Shiva as “an archetypical Dragon Lady, complete with sinister motivations and exotic sex appeal,” which… she isn’t. She subverted this trope in several ways actually. She never had “sinister motivations” until Chuck Dixon got his grubby little hands on her. Her motivations were pretty neutral. She had her own set of principles, she was very morally gray. She wanted to travel and fight worthy opponents on her adventures for the thrill of it. She seemed to operate mostly on personal whims, and on the basis of building worthy rivals, out of love for the art of combat. And she didn’t use her sex appeal for shit (until the Richard Dragon reboot comic kms), she didn’t tolerate sexual advances or objectification. She just WAS NOT a conniving temptress, I don't understand where this misperception came from (but I do blame Dixon, I’ll get to that in a sec).

This same article states that she began as the arch-nemesis of Richard Dragon? Unless you’re accepting the version of the two of them from the very short lived Richard Dragon 2004 series as their canonical relationship then NO she didn’t. But I digress.

There was a marked change in the way Lady Shiva was written by the time Robin (1991) came out, this is where her character starts to lean towards the Dragon Lady trope imo. She also weirdly, and maybe arguably, leans more into traditional femininity while at the same time being written as more wild and uncontrollable. Chuck Dixon seemed to fundamentally misunderstand Lady Shiva as a character. He turned her (sometimes ironic) disdain for brutes who wouldn’t last a second in a fight with her into stereotypical womanly haughtiness. He turned her capacity for ruthlessness into bloodlust. And he made her into a conniving, somewhat deranged, villainous woman, tempting our young hero towards evil (oh my!). Again, I’m not saying she ever had a heart of gold, but Dixon changed core character traits (namely her respect for other people's personal code) to turn her into a villain.

“Kill him, little bird. Kill him and become a predator…Aren’t you my weapon? My instrument of death? Say you are mine.” Like?? She would not fucking say that, respectfully.

That isn’t even to mention Richard Dragon (2004) where Dixon turned Shiva’s relationship with Dragon into a resentful, sexually charged dick-measuring contest.

Even so, I don’t entirely hate Shiva as a villain, especially in Batgirl (2000). Pucketts Shiva is a bit less egregious imo. So she’s a passively suicidal evil mentor-figure who wants Cass to be a killer like her. Whatever, I can get on board with that I guess. I can enjoy it because I love Cass and this is a great comic run. But the retcon that–Listen, THE RETCON THAT IS SHIVA’S SISTER BEING KILLED BY DAVID CAIN, SHIVA DESCRIBING THIS AS FREEING, SAYING SHE’S GRATEFUL, THEN AGREEING TO GET PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD IN RETURN?? This boils my blood. Shiva, who was introduced as somebody who cared about getting revenge for her dead sister. Shiva, for whom freedom and autonomy were core character traits. That Shiva?? That Shiva is relieved her sister is dead and is willing to carry her sister's killer's child to term?? What the fuck?

I hate it. I don’t understand it. Why would you take a complex character who makes it difficult to tell who she really cares about, and flatten them into somebody incapable of love?

Okay I’m done, this is getting too long and I don’t even want to get started on New 52 era Shiva. I don’t have a conclusion, I’m just annoyed. Thanks for reading. The Question (1987) is NOT a perfect comic but if you’re interested in Shiva please please please check it out, it’s very moody and philosophical, noir-esque. Also Chuck Dixon suck my dick.

#lady shiva #the question #vic sage #tim drake #chuck dixon #Chuck Dixon anti #denny o'neil #shiva #sandra wu san #90s comics #70s comics #cass cain #the question 1987 #richard dragon #david cain #dc comics #dc characters #dc meta #80s comics #please forgive how rambling and disjointed this sounds #and the writing quality is just not there but I have a point!!

[fancyfade]

[image: a series of screnecaps from Huntress 1989, Catwoman: Her Sister’s keeper, and Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood. first, from huntress 1989, we see helena bertinelli inside her house talking to tony angelo. she says "helena bertinelli is just a scared rabbit. someone who keeps looking over her shoulder, terrified that there's a man out there gunning for her. It's a thought I can't live with. So i've created someone else... someone who can be bigger than they are... who can do the hunting... instead of being hunted. A true huntress. I can think about what this perfect person would do in my situation. She would never be afraid. She would never run. She's a totally different person fromme... one whose first instinct is to fight back." She holds her huntress costume in her hands. Tony says "sounds schizoid.

next panels from cry for blood show helena bertinelli talking to richard dragon. she is looking at her huntress outfit as he is cooking. she says "she scares me." Richard dragon says "she should. She's a killer." helena looks at the costume again. she walks to the table and says "she used to be... stronger than me. now... when I was huntress, I wasn't afraid." richard says "she keeps you from breathing." 

next scenes from catwoman: sister's keeepr show selina kyle in a coat with a hat with lace obscuring her face talking to her sister maggie. maggie is in a nun's outfit. maggie says "why?" Selina says "Because she's a killer! She killed Stan! She almost killed you --! And she's me! I'm the killer!" Maggie says "you didn't kill anybody. Not me, and not stan." Selina turns to face her and says "You don't understand. taht's not just a costume. I put it on and something happens... I can't take it. But she can. The catwoman -- she can stand it all. Everything crummy that life can throw at her, she just throws it right back -- and it doesn't even faze her -- nothing hurts her -- it's like she's dead -- oh, maggie -- it's so much easier being dead!" Someone off screen says "selina?" finally we see selina, now in her catwoman costume, looking down at maggie in the dark. maggie asks "Do you really fell so much safer in there?" Selina asks, "Do you?" end image]

.

.

parallels w/ mindy newell’s catwoman and huntress... there’s something about needing an alternate identity to protect you but simultaneously being afraid of the power it has ... creating a place where you’re stuck between your own powerlessness and your own power ;_;

#helena bertinelli #selina kyle #catwoman #huntress #catwoman 1989 #huntress 1989 #batman/huntress: cry for blood #dc comics #tony angelo #richard dragon #maggie kyle #suicidal ideation cw

[paigeoforacle]

I think it's worth considering that Babs was trained by RICHARD DRAGON when she was in the chair. Aka one of THE best martial artists alive in the DCU. Like, I think only Shiva and Bronze Tiger can be considered better.

Part two which I cannot find rn is Richard saying "now you're ready" basically and a year later... Oracle has that dream. If I remember the ordering right.

Source is Oracle: Year One.

#paige rambles #barbara gordon #oracle #Richard dragon #dc comics

[cccovers]

Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter #5 (December 1975-January 1976) cover by Dick Giordano.

#richard dragon #kung-fu fighter #lady shiva #comic covers #70s #dc comics #dick giordano

[lgspears]

If we get a Richard Dragon Movie or TV series, i nominated Lewis Tan as Richard Drakunovski/Richard Dragon, Trevante Rhodes as Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger and Xia Li as Sandra Wu San/Lady Shiva.

#Richard Dragon #Lewis Tan #Bronze Tiger #Trevante Rhodes #Lady Shiva #Xia Li #DC Universe #DCU #fancast