SwanShadow Thinks Out Loud

By any measure, superheroing makes for a tough lifestyle choice. You’re fighting bad guys all the time, you usually have a secret identity to protect, and the annual cost of replacement outfits alone must be astronomical.

Which is why I’m surprised more heroes haven’t taken up job-sharing.

Of course, having an identical twin would help.

That’s the unifying factor between the two heroines in today’s featured artwork from the Common Elements series — an artwork that is both the last commissioned piece I received in the just-concluded 2017, and the first to land its own Comic Art Friday post in the just-begun 2018.

Both Ladyhawk (standing) and Crimson Fox (crouching) are heroic identities shared by pairs of identical twins: the Morgan sisters, Rosetta and Regina, in the case of Ladyhawk; the D’Aramis sisters, Vivian and Constance, in the case of Crimson Fox. Ladyhawk made her/their mark primarily as an ally of Spider-Girl, the alternate-universe daughter of the amazing Peter Parker. Crimson Fox was best known as a member of the 1990s-era Justice League Europe.

Comics aficionados of a certain age will note that Ladyhawk’s costume bears a striking (and non-coincidental) resemblance to the original kit worn by Captain America’s longtime associate Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the high-flying Falcon. Before Sam gained the winged red-and-white uniform in which he’s most familiar, he wore a green get-up trimmed in orange that had no wings, aside from the ones on the falcon medallion he wore around his neck. Ladyhawk’s gear precisely matches the old Falcon design, right down to the medallion, because of course it does.

Sadly, both halves of the Crimson Fox duo met with untimely ends relatively early in their crimebusting career. Vivian D’Aramis was murdered by the supervillain Puanteur; three years later, Constance was done in by the female version of Mist. More recently, another woman (presumably just one) has taken up the Crimson Fox mantle. One hopes that her long-range prospects end more favorably than those of the D’Aramis twins.

Our heroines are drawn in this scene by Canadian artist Sanya Anwar, who — so far as I am aware — is not an identical twin. Although it would be awesome if she was.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.