Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero

Whistle written by E. Lockhart and illustrated by Manuel Preitano, made headlines as it introduced DC’s first new Jewish superhero in decades. She lives in Gotham City, and the youthful comic has much in common with Batgirl. With riotous curly hair, Willow Zimmerman is seen holding up a poster for school funding on the first page, emphasizing her political drive, in the finest Jewish tradition. Within a few pages she’s collecting signatures, dragging a new friend to Rosen Brothers Deli, and hugging him when she hears he’s been orphaned.

Willow also describes Gotham’s old Jewish neighborhood, which once had 500 synagogues. As it happens, her mother’s a professor of Jewish culture and history. Inserting an old Jewish quarter in Gotham City feels much like the retro World War II comics written decades later and the eventual outing of characters like the Thing and Magneto as Jewish—later salutes to the Jewish creators and attempts to add more multiculturalism, but welcome and fitting nonetheless.

Willow also works at an animal shelter and helps her mom who’s struggling with a brain tumor. She soon finds herself tangling with Gotham’s well-known villains. It’s nice to see a teen facing real-life problems so awful she considers criminality, instead of staying squeaky clean like golden age characters. And when she’s troubled, she goes to synagogue. As such, Willow feels real, relatable and teenaged, dealing with modern problems and fads much like the beloved Ms. Marvel. Though only this solo graphic novel has arrived, the character has much potential.

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