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, donât 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 Iâm saying is she didnât start out as evil.
Okay, so what do we know about Shiva so far? Sheâs a thrill-seeking peripatetic martial artist of great capacity and skill. She cared about her sister. Sheâs willing to kill. Sheâs 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. Iâm not saying she had a heart of gold, or that there werenât tropes she fell into. She wasnât 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 âan archetypical Dragon Lady, complete with sinister motivations and exotic sex appeal,â which⌠she isnât. She subverted this trope in several ways actually. She never had âsinister motivationsâ 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 didnât use her sex appeal for shit (until the Richard Dragon reboot comic kms), she didnât 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, Iâll get to that in a sec).
This same article states that she began as the arch-nemesis of Richard Dragon? Unless youâre accepting the version of the two of them from the very short lived Richard Dragon 2004 series as their canonical relationship then NO she didnât. 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 wouldnât last a second in a fight with her into typical 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!). Listen, Iâm 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.
âKill him, little bird. Kill him and become a predatorâŚArenât you my weapon? My instrument of death? Say you are mine.â Like?? She would not fucking say that, respectfully.
That isnât even to mention Richard Dragon (2004) where Dixon turned Shivaâs relationship with Dragon into a resentful, sexually charged dick-measuring contest.
Even so, I donât entirely hate Shiva as a villain, especially in Batgirl (2000). Pucketts Shiva is a bit less egregious imo. So sheâs 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 thatâListen, THE RETCON THAT IS SHIVAâS SISTER BEING KILLED BY DAVID CAIN, SHIVA DESCRIBING THIS AS FREEING, SAYING SHEâS 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 donât 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 Iâm done, this is getting too long and I donât even want to get started on New 52 era Shiva. I donât have a conclusion, Iâm just annoyed. Thanks for reading. The Question (1987) is NOT a perfect comic but if youâre interested in Shiva please please please check it out, itâs very moody and philosophical, noir-esque. Also Chuck Dixon suck my dick.
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