#xudarian

Seeing as the GL fan comic I'm working on right now broaches the subject of male Star Sapphires, I realized I hadn't actually drawn all of the ones I'd come up with to have on hand as a visual reference, even if they don't play a major role.

So as a refresher, here's Meshul'm (Lem).

This fellow here is Koan-Ro, a Xudarian (Tomar-Re's species, aka "fishbirds"). How exactly he was chosen is another story for another time (if ever), but as I was drawing him, a backstory and all hit me like a truck hitting C'hp. ... wait Fan characters are fun like that sometimes.

The gist is that the 5 dudes chosen (and it's limited to ONLY 5 for reasons) represent different kinds of love in various forms. Koan-Ro's deal here is that he's... well... ummm... ahhhh... how can I say this in an appropriate way for civilized conversation...

He's bonded to a sentient plant (temp named Passaflor).

Like, we're talking "facultative mutualistic symbiotic relationship" bonded, but add actual love to it. That kind of love, however unusual and weird, counts I would think. And like, xudarians are half-birds, so you could make the leap that it's rooted in actual real world biology: hummingbirds and flowers.

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow #1

Maybe you've heard of Green Lantern Tomar-Re, the Xudarian Green Lantern who kind of looks like a cross between a human, a bird, an elf, and a swordfish. He debuted in the 60's, I think, and eventually he died and had his ring passed down to his son, Tomar-Tu, who looks just like him.

Well, when Grant Morrison, the writer of The Green Lantern (the only ongoing Green Lantern comic on the shelves), must want it to be explicitly clear that Xudarians look like birds, because he created Trilla-Tru, a busty Xudarian Green Lantern who likes to make bird puns and say bird-like things.

I don't have anything deep or cool to say about this. I just think it's weird, and not in a normal Grant Morrison-y way. I don't know if he thinks Trilla acting this way is funny or if he's hanging a lampshade on how ridiculous he thinks Xudarians look. But he also created a Green Lantern whose head is a volcano, so it's hard to read this guy (in more ways than one).