5) FEMME NOIR

In the dark streets of Port Nocturne, lies, murder and blackmail await at every turn… but justice is BLONDE! But is our mysterious hero Dahlia Blue, the scarlet-tressed songstress who holds court nightly at the trendy Club Selene? Or is it lovely Laurel Lye, ace crime reporter for the Port Nocturne Eclipse? Could it be the raven-haired mob princess Vanessa DeMilo, daughter of Port Nocturne’s late crime kingpin, Don Gino DeMilo?

It’s the distaff version of The Spirit that you didn’t know you needed, with art by comics legend Joe Staton. What’s not to love?

4) FIREFLY

Bearing two legacies, Fly-Girl and Fireball, with the name of a THIRD Golden Age MLJ/Archie hero, Kelly Brand is the daughter of Fly-Girl.  She initially replicated her mom’s powers with technology; after the death of Fireball, she added flame-powers to her repertoire and changed her name to honor her fallen friend.

(The change in name may have had something to do with Archie losing the rights to The Fly/Fly-Man due to copyright termination, but that’s somewhat unclear.)

3) GOLDEN GIRL

Golden Lad was a late entry to Golden Age comics, debuting in 1945, but it wasn’t until his lady-friend Peggy Shane found his Heart of Gold power source and began to share his power that things really started getting interesting.  Sadly, her first appearance was the last issue of Golden Lad, but she definitely improved in his whole aesthetic by adding a cutout minidress and long flowing blonde locks…

2) HYPERFORCE BLACK RANGER

The first female Black Ranger in the 25-year history of Power Rangers, Vesper Vasquez was a cadet at Time Force Academy in the year 3016, under the tutelage of former Time Force Ranger Jen Scotts. #TimeTravelShenanigans ensued…  As the Power Rangers Hyperforce Black Ranger, she has a mythical monster theme (a Cerberus) and is the team’s resident tech wizard.

(Vesper is later revealed to have a shocking secret that helps to explain her expertise with machines, but you’ll have to find that out for yourself by listening to Hyperforce.)

1) THE WOLVERINE

Cloned from the genetic material of that Logan fellow, Laura Kinney started out as X-23.  Her mother/genetic donor had to make due when the sample suffered chromosomal damage; substituting her own genetic material, Sarah Kinney created a female clone. Laura had a rough upbringing, including conditioning to make her a vicious killer-for-hire, but has come to terms with her occasionally feral nature, replacing “Dad” during one of his extended deaths and becoming the caregiver for another, younger clone, Gabby. Now, they’re X-Men sisters, and that’s pretty wonderful…

Thanks to Faithful Spoilerite @SpreewaldFuchs for this week’s topic, Ten Better Female Versions Of Existing Characters! Feel free to follow along @MightyKingCobra for more Ten Things madness on Twitter or check out the full Twitter archive here! As with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete if only because none of us, not even Superman, is gettin’ any younger and more legacies are likely…  Either way, the comments section is Below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!