#bobby barnes

[sinizade]

Here comes the Wonder Kids!

[soranatus]

The Wonder Girls That Were The Wonder Girls (& Boy) That Weren't

[justmenoworries]

"I've often imagined what it would be like to have a little brother growing up on Themyscira. And if I did, I'd have liked one as loving and as compassionate as you. I hope you'll accept this gift from me. It might not keep your friends from harassing you, but it would mean the world to me if you'll join the Amazons of Themyscira as their very first Wonder Boy." - Diana Prince to Bobby Barnes, Wonder Woman Vol. 2, Issue #188

(art commissioned from @xxplastic-cubexx)

Bobby Barnes, the first and to my knowledge only official Wonder Boy! I've loved this character ever since I first heard of him and I think it's a shame DC writers seem to have pretty much forgotten about this existence. I thought about how I would reintroduce him to the Wonder Family and came up with a few ideas.

Expanded Origin:

Following up on her promise and to honor his uncle Trevor Barnes, Diana took Bobby with her to Themyscira for the festival of the goddesses, making him one of the very few males who'd been allowed to set foot on the island. Keenly aware just how big of a deal this was, Bobby was eager to prove himself worthy of this gift but was unsure how he might do that.

During the festival, he spotted an elderly woman sitting apart from everyone. Being naturally kind, Bobby approached her to talk, thinking she might be lonely. The woman introduced herself as Doso. After some pleasant conversation, Bobby confessed his insecurities over his worthiness of the role as Wonder Boy, as after the untimely death of his uncle Trev he felt resentful towards the very gods that were so important to Diana and doubted he had what it took to carry such a legacy. Doso listened with great interest, showing understanding for his plight. She then mentioned that a baby Kanga she'd grown fond of had wandered into one of Themyscira's more dangerous caves. Due to her advanced age she was unable to rescue the small thing herself and she didn't want to approach the other Amazons due to not wanting to impose. Bobby immediately offered to retrieve the Kanga.

Following Doso's directions, Bobby found both the cave and the baby Kanga, only for both of them to be attacked and prevented from leaving the cave by a giant boar. Using subterfuge and some tricks Diana had taught him, Bobby managed to incapacitate the boar without hurting it and left the cave with the baby Kanga. To his surprise, he found Doso waiting for him outside. She revealed herself to be the goddess Demeter, one of Themyscira's patronesses, and the whole ordeal to have been a test. Finding Bobby worthy, she used her power as a goddess to imbue him with divine power and gifted him tools forged by the gods.

Returning to the Amazons, Bobby told Diana what had happened and became her partner in crime fighting.

Powers:

Due to Demeter's blessing, Bobby possesses super-human strength, agility, speed and durability. Because of his patron goddesses close ties to nature, he can also speak to and understand animals and has mild healing powers.

Equipment:

The Bracelets of Submission: A gift from Bobby's mentor Diana. The bracelets are indestructible and can be used to deflect projectiles.

The Lasso of Revelation: Created by the goddess Aletheia, the Lasso compels everyone bound by it to show their truest self, even if that self might be unknown to them. It can be used to dispel disguises and figure out the captive's true intentions, feelings and thoughts.

The Chariot of Demeter: Re-created into a hoverboard from its original form to better suit its new owner, the Chariot is capable of flight at high speed and nigh indestructible. It cannot be ridden by anyone but Bobby and will always return to him at his command.

Abilities:

Bobby was trained by Diana, Phillipus and Orana of Themyscira. He's proficient in hand-to-hand-combat, swordfighting, rope-fighting and has some knowledge in aviation to fly the Invisible Jet.

[movalise]

[girl-in-c-major]

Wonder Woman Vol 2: Issue #188

Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning

[peachyblkdemonslayer]

⅔ of my team! Lian was a last minute add for this but I do really like the design I picked for her. She routes between red and black when it comes to ber hair color. Gave Bobby dimples and a beauty mark just to add some flare to his design. Also made his colors black, red and gold after the black american pride flag. Maya has that soul piercing brown eyes and I made Cerdian look like their mom, and yes their nonbinary.

[leoruby-draws]

Continuing from yesterday, two more members for the team (they really, really need a name jeez...)!! Eliza Harmon aka Trajectory and Bobby Barnes aka Wonder Boy!! Yes, I'm doing a wonder boy, its my au and I'll do what I want with it!

As for why, well I noticed there weren't a whole lot of sidekick options from the Wonderfam/Amazons. I got a a bit lucky with Vanessa for Jason's team, since she could've been Wonder Girl in a nicer timeline. I kind of thought about Yara Flor as an option but I felt she might not mesh well with the team, or at least not in the way I wanted. Plus during the time I was trying to decide this, I was not actually sure how old Yara actually was or what exactly her history was.

So I decided to get a bit creative and try something new for the role I wanted, I thought if Tim had Wonder Girl on his team then Steph should have a Wonder Boy on hers! And back when I was doing my Vanessa read-through I found the perfect candidate, a nephew of one of Diana's loves interest called Bobby Barnes. It kind of struck me how few examples of women having male sidekicks are, we see a lot the other way around.

(Btw there was an actual canon Wonder Boy in the comics, in Team Titans but I think he got erased in Zero Hour. At any rate, he wasn't connected to Diana nor did he interested me enough.)

Bobby is the nephew of Trevor Barnes, who had a short-lived romance with Diana. Its a shame it didn't last, because I thought Trevor was very charming, very good-looking, and with good chemistry with Diana. And Diana's crush on him was kinda adorable to read. In the issue showcasing Trevor's family, we meet Bobby, who's a bit of a superfan of Diana.

His admiration of her reminded me of Vanessa, who also hero-worshiped Wonder Woman (along with collecting all her merchandise). It's always nice to see when media has boys admiring woman, its something that should be shown more often. When meeting him, Diana remarks that she in fact liked the idea of making him Wonder Boy, so the idea's already been put out there.

But after Trevor dies, we never see Bobby or the rest of the Barnes family so the chance for that was lost. But I really liked the idea so I'm putting it into my au.

Here's some concept drawings for Bobby, when trying to work out what kind of costume I could use for him. We can see him interact with Kara and Steph, making for a little trinity here. There's Diana trying to encourage her new sidekick, I didn't draw her well here I'll admit, I need to practice drawing her more. We also see Bobby converse with Cassie, they're probably talking about how cool Diana is.

I'm still not sure how exactly Bobby gets powers, right now I've got three options:

A- he gets them the same way Cassie got them, by using magical items to power him

B- he uses some form of technology to mimic the powers the Wonders have

C-by having a god grant him the powers he needs to fight. I actually had the idea of having one of the gods that contacted Trevor to grant him the powers. Specifically Lady Ala, since she was located where Trevor's (and thus Bobby's) ancestors came from. This option might be the most interesting tbh.

Well, I spoke about Bobby the wonder of the group, so now I'm gonna talk about the speedster Eliza!

You can see her interact with the others in this concept doodle of her, she definitely has a fun dynamic with everyone (also little cameo of Jenni Ognats, I'll talk about her later tho).

Eliza was someone I found while searching for speedsters around Steph's age, which was surprisingly hard considering how many speedsters there was out there. But they were either too old, or too young, but then I found out about Eliza. She was part of a team created by Lex Luthor, using the name Infinity Inc (he bought the trademark, what a dick). She's a major fan of the Flashes (and Impulse), and wants more than anything to be a speedster.

So she joins Luthor's team and due to being rude to Luthor ends up dying for it(on Luthor's orders no less). It's a pretty messed up way to go, esp since in just 2 short issues you get to see a ton of personality from her. She's kinda of rude, ambitious, fame-hungry but her geeky fangirl tendencies also make her come off a somewhat innocent and adorable in a way. She's delightful and her unique personality made me want to draw her, I think she'll have great chemistry with the team.

In my au, I thinking I might still have her be connected to Luthor, gaining her powers in a similar way (don't know if through the Everyman Project, maybe a different way). since she's younger (and my au's lighter) its not likely she'll have the same fate. I'm not well versed on Lex Luthor but I don't think he kill off a 10 year right? Right?? I honestly think Luthor might be using her as a spy/mole among the baby heroes, debatable if Eliza even knows it, she's very grateful to him for her powers tho (she's still a rude little shit, this frustrates Luthor lmao).

Also its shown in the comics thats she using a drug cuz her powers have the drawback of not letting her slow down. Obviously I'm not having a kid use drugs, she might still have issues with slowing down tho. Maybe the Flashes can help her with that?

Actually I kind of had the idea that during the time she has her artificial powers she somehow unlocks the speedforce and gains speed powers all on her own. She's so ambitious and determined to run, I think this works thematically.

Little extra doodles of her, she's so fun to draw! Here you can see her, and Owen, bother poor Wally. Everyday he suffers lol, despite (or because?) the fact she's a huge fan of him.

Also just like what I did with Owen and Jack, I also had Eliza become good friends with a lantern, Miri Riam (an apprentice Violet Lantern). Another homage to the Flash/Green Lantern friendship. Two energetic, happy kids (with a slight moral bent) just having fun! Surely two little girls won't cause too much trouble lol!

Well, thats it for the moment for introducing members, I've got ideas for even more members (including for the other teams as well) but for now I'll just stop here.

Hope you liked all that!

[thedarktowerdames]