GEOFF JOHNS responds

Geoff is fairly new to comics, with DC's "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." being his first regular assignment. The star of the book, Courtney Whitmore, is a delightful creation--the kind of joyous young girl character I've been hoping for. He's one of the recent trend of Hollywood writers (he worked on Lethal Weapon 4) who are also comics fans coming to work in the industry, and has brought enough imagination and professionalism in his first assignments to be given DC's next big crossover--"Day of Judgment." A big Dead Chix thanks to Geoff and Mike Carlin for giving Courtney a book, I say! (GS)

You've got a great point about the hard times female heroes have faced. No doubt it's probably due to a long history of the majority of male creators in the comic field. I do feel it's getting better. Female heroes are more widely accepted and I hope to break all the rules with Courtney.

She's headstrong and not over-developed in the chest area. She'll face hard times but nothing too violating. Hope the book continues to pique your interest.

I could go on and on about female heroes. Heck, the whole reason I wanted to do a female Star Spangled Kid in the first place was so that the DCU had a teenage girl hero that WASN'T tied to Batman, Superman or one of the other big guns--a teenage girl who had a legacy of her own to uphold.