Yankee Poodle

Yankee Poodle (real name Rova Barkitt) is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, an anthropomorphic poodle. Yankee Poodle is a superhero who lives on the otherdimensional world of Earth-C (now Earth-26), an alternate Earth populated by sentient animals. Her first appearance is in a special insert in The New Teen Titans #16 (February 1982).

Rova's name is a play on the name of gossip columnist Rona Barrett, while "Yankee Poodle" is a takeoff on the song "Yankee Doodle."

Fictional character biography

While interviewing movie actor Byrd Rentals in his Follywood home, Rova was struck by a meteor fragment (which was launched toward Earth by the villain Starro the Conqueror); the result gave her the superpowers of "animal magnetism", as she described them. Joining with Byrd (who was also transformed by a separate meteor fragment), the two teamed up with other superpowered animals affected by the meteor; together, the group defeated Starro (with the aid of Superman), and decided to form the superhero team called the Zoo Crew.^[1]

Rova tended to reflect the values of her Follywood roots, and thus had a great fondness of things such as the group's public image, or her own (both in and out of costume). She also occasionally got into spats with the group's other female member, Alley-Kat-Abra.

In Teen Titans #30-31 (December 2005-January 2006), Yankee Poodle and the rest of the Zoo Crew were featured in a short multi-part story purporting to be a Zoo Crew comic published in the mainstream DC Universe. This story followed the adventures of the Zoo Crew teammates in a grimmer, darker version of Earth-C, parodying the recent trend toward "grim and gritty" superhero comics. In this story, Yankee Poodle is shown having exposed the secret identities of several of the Zoo Crew members, and is mostly working as a solo heroine.

Countdown

In the Countdown tie-in miniseries Captain Carrot and the Final Ark (October-December 2007), the team reunites in the midst of growing strife between the land and the sea creatures of the newly re-classified Earth-26, strife that is sparked by Starro. The Zoo Crew eventually encounter Starro, who hypnotizes them into believing they have lost their powers. Only Pig Iron (who isn't present at the time) and American Eagle (who has no super powers) are unaffected. Starro then floods the Earth, rendering it uninhabitable. The Zoo Crew attempt to rescue part of the Earth's populace using an ocean liner loaded with refugees, which is transported off the planet by the Just'a Lotta Animals. The ship is then accidentally sent to New Earth. The Justice League encounters the ship and lands it safely, though all the passengers, including Yankee Poodle and the rest of the Zoo Crew, are transformed into non-anthropomorphic animals.

Final Crisis

Eventually, Yankee Poodle's anthropomorphic form and power is restored by the renegade Monitor Nix Uotan, along with those of her Zoo Crew teammates, and they participate in the climactic battle in Final Crisis.

Powers and abilities

Yankee Poodle possessed powers of "animal magnetism", consisting of the ability to (as described in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #7) shoot semi-solidified electromagnetic blue-colored "stars" with her right hand to repel objects, and generate red-and-white "stripes" with her left hand in order to attract objects. By using both hands at once, Yankee Poodle could generate highly destructive "magno-blasts." She could also use her powers to travel, by forming a ramp of stripes while propelling herself along it by shooting stars behind her.

In other media

Television

Yankee Poodle and some other Zoo Crew members briefly appeared on television in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special in 2012.

See also

• John Dandy, a DC character introduced in the 1990s that goes by the superhero alias "Yankee Doodle Dandy," in a similar play on the song "Yankee Doodle."

References