Amazon Space Pirate Starfire, or the Appalling Dearth in the DCU's Outer Space Setting

After I posted my Starfire post yesterday/early today, I got to thinking. You know what I find really disappointing?

The lack of really good pulp sci-fi space opera shit in the DCU.

I mean, yes, Marvel does some neat space stuff and I'm not going to complain about that, but Marvel's space setting doesn't really lend itself well to the old school "Warlord of Mars" or "Pirates of Venus" type genre. I'm not sure why, but in my opinion that kind of REALLY old school sci-fi stuff fits more with DC.

Hell, I think Ragnell has a post somewhere about how the GLC pretty much IS the Lensmen. Only awesomer, naturally.

Anyway, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the GLC with every little cell in my body. But that (and spinoffs) are pretty much IT when it comes to space DCU.

But considering that we have like 300 Earth based heroes all of whom are perfectly capable of fronting good stories with a distinct style and flavor from one another without confusion, why don't we have more out in the vastness of space? (I'm not counting that ill-fated Darkstar thing with John Stewart and Donna Troy back in the nineties. Though, it was a good attempt!)

Where are the Omega Men? Where did Adam Strange go? Why did everything just kind of fizzle after the Rann-Thanagar War and 52?

And we've got characters that could suit this kind of stuff already. I mean, granted, for all the Edgar Rice Burroughs nods in his origin, J'onn Jonnz is pretty Earth based. But what about Starfire?

How many teams has she been shunted to lately? When really, wouldn't she be AWESOME flying around, kicking the crud out of pirates of the Oort Cloud, rescuing the well-oiled princes of Betelgeuse V, and wrecking the SHIT out of some thinly veiled parody of Gor?

Especially with a space battleaxe. If I do no other thing for the comic book universe, I swear at some point before I die, I will see Starfire carrying a space battleaxe.

But these really aren't the sort of story that flows naturally with the Corps, anymore than an imp from another universe really fits a Batman story. But that doesn't mean that it wouldn't rock hard.

And there's so much depth to plunge! We've got E.E. "Doc" Smith (kinda), we could have Edgar Rice Burroughs (ish), what about something inspired by Perry Rhodan? Immortal space marines with adventures spanning millenia? I could totally go for something like that. Hee, the clashes with the Green Lantern Corps ALONE!

Obviously, we probably couldn't get the actual property, but that doesn't mean we can't take inspiration where we can find it! And that entire era is just blooming with it!

The original inspirational material has a lot of problems, of course. Racism and sexism especially. But we can take the good and fun parts from the genre and leave the rest. It could be a blast!

There is absolutely no reason for the DCU's space setting to be so empty! Please, DC, consider filling some of it up!