Lashina
1703 - Lashina is born among the elite of Apokolips, and taken from her home to be raised in Granny Goodness's Terror Orphanages.
1744 - Lashina first meets Big Barda when she is selected to join the Female Furies. They train together.
9 years ago - Lashina and the Female Furies are brought to watch as Granny Goodness makes Auralie dance in High Voltage Shock Boots until she immolates herself.
7 years ago - Lashina and the Female Furies are sent to Earth by Granny Goodness to capture Scott Free. They are betrayed by Big Barda, who abandons them and leaves them in chaos.
5 years ago - Lashina competes for leadership of the Female Furies, but is defeated by newcomer Gilotina.
4 years ago - Lashina and the Female Furies join the Parademon wave invasion of Earth. She is defeated by Big Barda.
2 years ago - Lashina and the Female Furies are sent to Earth to capture Supergirl, sending an army of Doomsday clones as a distraction. Supergirl is put through a training gauntlet and is tested by the Furies but defeats them all, as well as Granny Goodness, earning her own freedom.
All of the other Furies, despite being some really out-there designs, can probably get away with just being referred to as superhero-style characters. Lashina, however... she requires some explanation. The obvious inspiration from fetish-wear is one thing, but it's not even a subtle reference, it's front and center. There's obviously something psychosexual going on with her, but it's just this side of too much, and in fact the character actually USES the cognitive dissonance of putting this design into a superhero setting to convey how unsettling she's actually supposed to be. This is, quite literally, Jack Kirby showing a real mastery of the design language he basically invented, and showing right where the boundaries of it are.
Lashina's StoryLike all of the original Female Furies, Lashina appeared for the first time in Mister Miracle #6, lying in wait to ambush Mister Miracle only for Barda to arrive in the nick of time and beat the ever living hell out of her. I've seen it observed that all of the Furies were based on different stereotypes or archetypes of womanhood, but I don't know if "fetish dominitrix" fits that mold. She is still clearly a bold as hell design, and is actually probably the most prominent of the original Furies, especially given her extended role in the Suicide Squad.
We're not adapting this, but it is definitely worth talking about anyway. In the original Ostrander Suicide Squad series, at one point they are confronted by the Female Furies when they came to Earth to recover Glorious Godfrey. Shortly afterward, Duchess made her first appearance, a hyper-muscular, neigh-invulnerable, gun-toting gender-swapped Rambo character, and was added to the squad shortly thereafter. Her actual identity was a subtle mystery, but eventually it became clear that this was actually Lashina, stranded on Earth due to the machinations of Bernadeth in a bid to take over leadership of the Furies, and gathering intel for Apokolips. This has the cumulative effect of actually making Lashina the Fury with the most appearances, while also being the most appearances of ANY of the Furies in any one series. |