I could never get into Hawkman for the same reasons, and I never have understood the Hawkman/Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman/Sandman/Fury/Silver Scarab/Dr. Fate/Hawk/Dove family tree. Supposedly Geoff Johns’ next project is to “fix” Power Girl’s messed-up origin, but all I need to know about her is that she’s the really strong blonde with the red cape and giant boobs.
Oh, and I don’t get the Wonder Woman/Hippolyta timeline either (which probably ties into Donna Troy somewhere along the line), but I’ve never been interested in them to begin with.
Donna was retconned the first time because after the Crisis, Wonder Woman was re-introduced into continuity long after Donna. So Donna was given a new origin that didn’t tie her to Wonder Woman: she was raised by the Titans of myth. Fine and dandy. They should have just left it at that.
Then John Byrne came along (oh how I wish this were the Pit) and in his typical combination of arrogance and stupidity decided that a) He wanted a Wonder Woman in WWII, and b) He wanted Donna to be connected to WW again. So he came up with that asinine, byzantine garbage about Hypolyta time traveling, Donna being a “mystic twin” of Diana, etc.
So yes, Donna has gotten the crappy end of the stick continuity-wise, but no matter what her backstory is, her character is the same - and she’s one of my favorites. YMMV.
I’m boycotting Countdown to Infinite Crisis because they killed off Blue Beetle (sniffle :() but what’s happening over there–can anyone let me know?
Here’s DC’s official “Crisis Counseling” website, where they keep you up-to-date on everything going on that ties into Infinite Crisis:
http://www.dccomics.com/features/countdown/
Oh, Blue Beetle was my favorite superhero, but I actually liked Countdown because it was probably the best Beetle story ever. And even though they killed him, he went out like a true hero. (I wrote something really long about this back when it came out, if you care to search for the old Countdown-related threads.)
Thanks! snogs I’ll go do a search now 
I’d just like to reiterate my agreement with BBVL on that Beetle point - that story lifted Beetle right out of the second-stringer category where he’d languished and put him at the center of everything. It was a death worthy of Barry Allen or Kara Zor-El.
Licentious Ectomorph (that’s a mouthful), I’m sorry if I offended you. I actually read and enjoyed the first part of the Donna Troy comeback special and I’ve gathered a little bit about the character (“accidently” turned into a character independent of Wonder Women, original Titan, current amnesic demi-god). I just haven’t seen anything that would make her important enough for Brainic to want to off her in order to ensure victory in the coming Crisis. I guess the whole current demi-god thing could help though…
Supergirl? 
I just know Supergirl from the Animated Series, really. Never read PAD’s title or the Silver Age stuff. At least I know Power Girl from Justice League Europe. So I should have said “REALLY giant boobs.”
Aw, now I feel bad. I’m sorry I was snippy. I have a soft spot for Donna, is all.
Oh, for the two or three other people who give a crap about Blue Beetle, I have a bit of a “fan page” with my original art and action figure collections:
http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comics.html
(Be sure to click the link to the Blue Beetle page.)
[spoiler] The current Hawkgirl - nominally Kendra Saunders (Granddaughter of Shiera Hall’s brother), but, she found out, shortly before this, really Shiera’s soul occupying Kendra’s body, which was vacated when Kendra committed suicide some years before - was Zeta Beamed to Thanagar (Long before it got teleported into Rann’s orbit, of course) so she could ressurect Carter, so the two of them could save Thanagar from one of the Seven Devils.
The process of drawing Carter back mostly separated his soul and conciousness from that of Katar - although he still has some of Katar’s memories. So, he’s now, once again, Carter Hall, archaeologist, reincarnation of Khufu, father of Hector. [/spoiler]
Lou: As to the Hall family tree, it’s fairly straightforward, really…even considering the fact that Hector’s been born twice, to two different sets of parents. Although it IS complicated a little by the fact that the new body’s father was Hank Hall.
You’re making things look a lot more complicated than they need to be by including all of Hector’s various superheroic personae…I can’t figure out whether ‘Hawkwoman’ is more of the same (although I don’t know if Shiera ever used the name), or if you’re throwing Shayera in there… And you missed Dream on the listing of family members. >_>
And I’m with Lou and Gamera. I’m a huge fan of Beetle, but I very enjoyed the way he went out.
Definitely up there with Barry’s. (I’ve never understood why Kara’s was supposed to be so damned poignant, other than being permanent.)
I think Kara’s worked well for me because she was really, really pissed off. You almost never saw that from one of the Superman family. You got a real sense of just how uber the Kryptonians were, from that fight, moreso than anything that had gone before.