Darby Pop/IDW Publishing 2015
Written by Jeff Marsick
Illustrated by Luca Reguzzoni
Coloured by Zac Atkinson
She was a high school swimming star until her mutation was revealed, and Kelly (aka Stingray) was barred from competition. Turned lemons into lemonade by going “pro” as a superhero. Exceptional underwater strength and speed, but only limited “fish” physiology (i.e., she can’t breathe H2O).
Welcome to the not so secret origin of Stingray. This story takes place five years ago with her public introduction to the League of Defenders on Santa Monica Pier. I have to say that the interior artwork here is gorgeous and her sexy youthfulness really is a PR lovers dream. Not everyone is happy with induction to the team however but this is the story of how she becomes a member and wins her spot on the team.
Her tour of their headquarters though already leaves us with questions as she’s told to pick a criminal out there and his record and everything about him is brought up and she chose Black Adder, though Princess doesn’t believe her reasoning and doesn’t like her and her standoff nature with her could be an interesting facet of the story. Yeah thanks to the interior artwork we see there really is more here than meets the eye and could she have joined just in order to betray them?
I love Princess and her question about why you’d need someone with water based powers on the team, heck I think every since Aquaman that question’s been on most lips. Still they are based in California and we all know the ocean is right there so they’ll be plenty of opportunities for her to show her mettle as a hero. Confronting villains on bridge it really does open up a great opportunity for her to show she can be a valuable member of the team. Then however something happens underwater that again calls her motives into question.
Infiltrating a super-team isn’t anything new but for once i’d like to see where the hero in question actually likes being a hero and ends up betraying those who got into this position in the first place. This leads us to learning already why she asked about the Black Adder and who he really is to her as well as who the person is she’s working for/on their behalf. Daddies little girl is not the brightest and has a habit of making bad decisions and he’s using his own daughter to further himself as a player in the underworld. Here’s hoping that we’ll see her finally find herself and become a true hero and make amends for her past.
Darby Pop has some really innovate stories coming from their ranks and here’s hoping they continue to break the mold we’ve come to know all too well.