In Drawing Crazy Patterns, I spotlight at least five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Note that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples (occasionally I'll be nice and toss in a sixth). So no instance is "missing" if it is not listed. It's just not one of the five examples that I chose.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Dylan C., we look at DC Comics' odd history of their male superheroes being really dismissive of new female superheroes popping up.

First up is a comic book that I have written about in the past (in fact, it was that article that inspired Dylan to make this suggestion) In 1950's Star-Spangled Comics #103 (by David V. Reed and Jim Mooney), one of Dick Grayson's classmates who is playing Juliet to his Romeo in the school play decides that she would much rather be hooked up with Robin, so she decides to become a superhero of her own....

Robins keeps trying to ditch her, but she stows away in the trunk of the Batmobile (I like that Robin just drives the Batmobile by himself) and he ends up teaming up with her while Batman is gone...

However, Mary makes a slip up and Robin is able to figure out her secret identity. He theorizes that if he could figure it out, so could the criminal underworld, so he sabotages her the next time they are out in public to force her to retire...

I mean, I sort of get where he's coming from, but it still seems super messed up, right?

In 1952's Adventure Comics #181 (by Paul Norris and an unknown writer), a young woman accidentally comes across Johnny Quick's magic speed formula and becomes his partner in crime-fighting...

Johnny doesn't want her around, so when she forgets the formula, he gives her a fake one and lets her believe that the power just wore off...

Such a jerk!

In 1956's Detective Comics #233 (by Edmond Hamilton, Sheldon Moldoff and Stan Kaye), Batwoman debuts and Batman right away is to cry about how unfair it is for her to be there, "But no! Only I can dress like a Bat in Gotham! Waaaah!"

He then vows to uncover her secret identity to make her stop being a superhero...

He succeeds and she agrees to stop...

Luckily, everyone knew she was so awesome that she was back to fighting crime in no time!

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Some less jerky ones!']

In 1959's Adventure Comics #266 (by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon), Aquaman has a better reason for doubting the new Aquagirl. Lisa Morrel suddenly has powers like Aquaman and she rescues Aquaman...

Even as she is getting herself a costume just like his, he is telling her to watch it and sure enough, she loses her powers abruptly...

This time around, Aquaman was actually not being a jerk. He was being reasonable because he knew she was going to lose her abilities. It's so weird that her parents lied about something so important even after Aquaman explained why it was so important.

Green Arrow's reaction when a female archery hero debuts in 1960's World's Finest #113 (by Dave Wood and Lee Elias) is pretty jerky, but to be fair, she does seem to be fairly sloppy...

Her screw-ups get Green Arrow and Speedy captured and when she goes to rescue them, she screws up and gets captured, too...

Still, in the end, instead of telling her to stop, why not TRAIN HER, dude?

But admittedly, she was a lot worse than Batwoman, so Green Arrow being skeptical was a lot more reasonable than Batman and Robin's problems with women (and don't get me started with Johnny Quick's douchebaggery!).

Thanks for the great suggestion, Dylan!

If anyone else has an idea for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!