Stargirl

Courtney Whitmore is an eighteen year-old young woman with no criminal record. She has graduated high school at Blue Valley High in Nebraska. Courtney's mother, step-brother, step-father, and baby half-sister live there still.

Stargirl is a young but successful heroine which has been a valued member of teams with much older and experienced heroes, including the JSA. She's the daughter of S.T.R.I.P.E.

Background
Courtney Whitmore's life was just about perfect, thankyouverymuch. She was born and raised in the earthly paradise of Beverly Hills, California, was very popular at her Junior High and had made the varsity high school cheerleading squad during summer tryouts - as a freshman! Cruel fate would tear her away from heaven, though - in the middle of summer her mother announced that she was going to marry a man named Patrick Dugan... this peasant lived in somewhere called 'Blue Valley, Nebraska'. So, despite Courtney's protestations she was plunged into the hell of the Great Plains.

Things were nice enough - friendly people, a good high school, peaceful surroundings, and it was the home of Wally West as well. Those advantages hardly made up for the shopping wasteland and woefully out of style fashion scene. Still, Courtney decided to make do - soon she would have the rubes wrapped around her little finger.

Her step-father was a loud red-haired, red-faced jock named Pat Dugan. Sure, he meant well and did his best to try to connect with Courtney... but he was just OLD. He had all sorts of funny old-fashioned notions and even his slang seemed like something from an old movie. He totally insisted on interfering in Courtney's personal life at school, even volunteering to be a chaperone at a Spirit Day dance. That was really the last straw - Courtney knew she had to get back at Pat for this terrible insult. So, when he was out of the house for a while she snuck into his forbidden office and began to snoop through his boxes of things. One such box had yellowed and brittle newspaper clippings mostly about a teenager dressed in a costume covered in stars and a slightly older (and much larger) red-haired young man - together they were called "The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripsey". There too was that very same star-spangled costume and a belt with a red metal can on the front, almost like a small film can. What could be sweeter - revenge on her annoying step-father by dressing up as his lame super hero friend? Even better, it didn't take much for her to change the costume to better fit her - just a few touches and...

...Yankee Poodle was going to make an appearance at Spirit Day! Alright, so Courtney had to make some changes to the Star-Spangled Kid's costume to better match her favorite comic character's costume - red gloves, she left off the red pants, added some stompy boots with red laces instead, and the long top had to become something to show off her midriff. OF COURSE Pat was furious when he saw her - she had gone into his office and taken his precious mementos without asking. Just as he was about to drag her off home something interesting interrupted - ninjas. It turned out that these ninjas served a WWII spymaster from Japan called "The Dragon King" who had detected a powerful energy source - the belt Courtney wore - and sent his minions to capture it. Yankee Poodle... that is, Courtney, found that she was able to do some amazing things while fighting the ninjas - things straight out of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Pat also did some amazing things during the fight - he had created a suit of powered armor that he called S.T.R.I.P.E. The pair found that they were a decent team during a crisis, so reluctantly they decided to form a team to defeat the Dragon King and defend Blue Valley.

They had a number of adventures together and apart - they fought Solomon Grundy with the Marvel Family, she helped thwart an alien invasion with Young Justice, fighting the Nebula Man alongside the Seven Soldiers of Victory, a final confrontation between the Shining Knight and the Dragon King (who had killed Shining Knight's love - Firebrand) and more. It was about this time when Courtney learned that her father was a small-time hood, working as muscle for the Royal Flush Gang.

The adventures with the Seven Soldier of Victory brought Courtney to the attention of the Justice Society, which was attempting to get off the ground again - they offered her membership, which she happily accepted. Also at this time, Jack Knight (Starman) decided to retire as a hero and so he chose to offer Courtney the mantle of his family and the Cosmic Rod. Thus, Stargirl was born and Courtney Whitmore (all of sixteen) became the heir to the legacies of two heroes. More adventures ensued, but eventually the Justice Society disbanded again. Courtney learned so much from her time with the team and its members - most importantly of all that it is important for a successful team to be a family and not just a workplace.

So, here she is now - just graduated high school and newly turned eighteen. She's not a kid anymore, but Stargirl or Starwoman or something else... she will make Sylvester Pemberton and Ted Knight proud as they smile down at her from hero heaven.

Personality
Courtney Whitmore is a teenage girl who has been thrust into a role she never expected: heroine. This has changed her a great deal even in the realitively short time she has been doing this. She began as an especially selfish little brat who fully intended to spend all of her energy becoming the queen of her high school popularity heirarchy. Instead she has been thrust into a role in which she finds that people look up to her, take cues from her, find meaning in everything she may say. That changes a person. She now strives to be brave, honest, friendly and to always do right as much as she can (especially in costume). The selfish girl has learned to be selfless, to sacrifice for others. That's really what it means to be a hero.

Logs

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