Ok, so I’m only using “Hollow” as her codename because I genuinely think it’s cooler than “Penance.” It has nothing to do with any kind of support for what Marvel has done to Speedball. Robbie is Speedball, Red Claw Girl is Hollow, and NOBODY is Penance- haha.
A tricky one, that Red Claw Girl, because like so many characters of her time, she had great potential but was pretty much ruined due to the constant changing of hands. Original Penance, this mute girl with the savage killer instinct, (um, Laura Kinney anyone?) was cool. And I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say we were all on the edge of our seats waiting to learn this intriguing character’s origin. All we knew was her birthplace (Yugoslavia) and that she was Emplate’s bondage slave or whatever.
So can I speak for everyone again, for when the origin was finally revealed, not only were we confused as hell but pretty let down also? Making her “the real M” just negated any real origin story and totally erased a great viable character.
My theory? Well, Lobdell said she was Yugoslavian– and after he left, no one wanted to research what was happening in that part of the world and write a backstory involving her living in a war torn foreign country. So they just made her M.
The salvage, it seems, is that Penance still has a consciousness, who we now call Hollow. So… the Penance/ Hollow entity was a person all the time and her personality was just… usurped when Emplate put Monet in her body…? This origin would confuse even Psylocke.
In any case, I love this drawing. It’s one of my faves so far, if I do say so myself!
