DC’s partnership with WEBTOON has given Vixen the chance to shine in a new adventure. Vixen: NYC‘s recent episodes have also served to completely alter the heroine’s early life. For years, her story has been the same, but now she gets more agency in its development than ever.
Vixen (Mari McCabe – known as Mari Jiwe in Vixen: NYC) debuted in 1981 and has long been a member of various iterations of the Justice League: Justice League Detroit, Justice Society of America, and Justice League International. She is often depicted as an adult model with a tragic backstory in terms of her family. Now, WEBTOON’s partnership with DC is revitalizing her story with a lot more hope and less tragedy – thus far.
Vixen: NYC has the creative team of Jasmine Walls, Manou Azumi, Omar Vallejos, Hailey Stewart, Toby Fan, BBM, Micah Myers, Mickey, and Amani Kabwe. Episode 13, 14, and 15 fully allowed Mari to confront one of her biggest foes: General Maksai. He has long been one of her biggest antagonists, despite the fact that this is only the second time she’s truly been able to fight him. As her uncle, it seems like he would have played a bigger role as a villain to her by now, but he is usually a background detail for her tragic past. He is the murderer of her father in past DC Comics, but now, both of her parents are still very much alive – giving her the chance to save them from him.
In past comics, Vixen was usually shown after the loss of her parents in Africa, before she came to America. Her mother was killed by poachers and her father was killed by her uncle when he sought the totem given to her family by Anansi. Debuting in 1985, Maksai has had all of five appearances – one as a very brief mention only. This history eventually led to a fight against Maksai in Justice League of America #234, 235, & 239. However, this was a revenge fight for Vixen and after defeating him, she never fought him again. Now, with her parents kidnapped by her uncle, Vixen confronts him and while she loses her totem, she is able to save her parents. This leaves room for her uncle to be a more prominent villain in her life and also for her to not be orphaned so early in her story. She has the chance to save them and protect them.
WEBTOON has a few DC stories, but none have rewritten a character’s history so completely like in the case of Vixen: NYC. This departure from Vixen’s history is a wonderful marker of what could come for the young heroine in the future. She hasn’t had the spotlight very often and is rather underutilized compared to many other DC heroes. With the chance to reach a new audience and generation of readers, DC and WEBTOON’s approach to the story is one of the most promising and refreshing. It’s truly a chance to start over and allow Vixen to define her own life and history in a way that she’s never been able to do before. She already has a personal nemesis that is a large threat early in her career and this story is feeling very original for the character. Vixen could prove to be one of the most promising heroes in WEBTOON’s current offerings thanks to the creative team diving into a fresh iteration of the character and her origins.
