Derek Kettela is a Canadian beauty and fashion photographer.
Biography
Derek Kettela was born in Toronto, Canada. Derek is an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, which led him to photography of action sports. While living in Vancouver from 1997 to 2002 he worked as a senior contributing photographer for Transworld Snowboarding magazine, traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Chile, and Europe in the process.
In 2003, Derek reloctated to New York City and changed his focus to fashion photography.
Derek has photographed for publications such as Fashion Magazine, Annabelle, Marie Claire, Black Magazine, Elle Girl, Glamour Italia, Glamour UK , Wonderland, Own Magazine, Preen, Chinese Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, and Japanese GQ.
Biography
Derek Kettela was born in Toronto, Canada. Derek is an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, which led him to photography of action sports. While living in Vancouver from 1997 to 2002 he worked as a senior contributing photographer for Transworld Snowboarding magazine, traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Chile, and Europe in the process.
In 2003, Derek reloctated to New York City and changed his focus to fashion photography.
Derek has photographed for publications such as Fashion Magazine, Annabelle, Marie Claire, Black Magazine, Elle Girl, Glamour Italia, Glamour UK , Wonderland, Own Magazine, Preen, Chinese Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, and Japanese GQ.
The following example protocol is meant to illustrate a typical preparation in a lab for use with flow cytometry, complete with example-specific information.
*Bold text indicates the objectives of and the general idea behind each step.
*Plain text indicates a sample, detailed procedure by which this is accomplished, as well as ancillary information (ie. hints).
This is meant to be a complete, fully workable, step-by-step illustration of the process, one that can actually be used in the lab by a scientist new to the procedure. The particulars may vary depending on your objectives.
Typical duration of complete procedure:
*For 2 tissue samples: 5-6 hours
*For 4 tissue samples: 6-7 hours
*For 6 tissue samples: 7-8 hours
Materials and Instruments
*Generic lab equipment
**Pipettes w/ tips (ie. 20 PP, 200 PP, 1000 PP)
**Test tubes (ie. 1.5 ml, 15 ml) with rack
**Ice bucket (or refrigerator) (Ice or dry ice)
*Solutions/reagents
**Staining buffer
**RBC lysis buffer
**PBS
**Trypan Blue (or other cell viability dye)
**Anti-CD16/32 antibody
**Primary antibodies (ie. B220, CD3e, CD4, CD8, CD11c, CD28, IgM, IgD, Gr1)
*Instruments
**Centrifuge
**Vacuum aspirator
**Flow cytometer (+sheath fluid/bacteriostat)
**Microscope
*Hemocytometer
*Frosted microscope slides
*Petri dish
Preparation
#Harvest selected mouse tissue.
#*Until used, tissue should be kept on ice (kept cold). For example, wrap tissue in aluminum foil and put on dry ice.
#*You may want to save 1/3 of tissue for freezing at -80 C and 1/3 for fixing in 10% formalin (for other lab purposes).
#Tease tissue apart using frosted slides, then put in 15 ml tubes.
#*In a petri dish, add 1-2 ml staining buffer + selected specimen.
#*Using the frosted side of the microscope slides, rigorously rub the specimen. The "front side" of a frosted slide is the side that's actually frosted, and the side you want to use.
#*The tissue will disintegrate into its component cells and the liquid will turn reddish, resembling blood. The remains of the tissue - a spongy matrix - might remain. Try to thoroughly separate out the clumped cells.
#*You won't be able to fully separate all the cells; neither do you need to. The process should only take a few seconds of careful rubbing.
#*Return this teased tissue back to the petri dish, mix, then pour the contents (the cell suspension) into a 15 ml tube. Then place on ice, and start to work on the next one.
#Wait a few minutes for the cell suspension to settle.
#*If you're teasing five or more tissue samples, the first ones will have settled by the time you're done teasing the tissue.
#*You will know when it's settled - a pellet (a solid chunk) will appear at the bottom.
#Create single cell suspension.
#*What you want is the cell suspension (the supernatant), not the pellet. Use a pipette to transfer as much as you can of the cell suspension of each sample into a second set of 15 ml tubes, without disturbing the pellet.
#*What you now have in the second set of tubes is the cell suspension, plus some serum which you don't want.
#*Centrifuge the second set of tubes at 400 G for 5 min at 4 C.
#*Now the supernatant is serum and the pellet is the single cell suspension. Discard the supernatant using a vacuum aspirator. It doesn't need to be perfect.
#If working with spleen, lyse red blood cells.
#*If not working with spleen, skip this section.
#*Add 2 ml RBC lysis buffer to each of the second set of tubes and resuspend the pellet.
#*You can resuspend by A) pipetting up and down or B) flicking at it with your fingers. Do NOT vortex it or the cells will break.
#*Wait 4 minutes. During this time the lysis buffer is doing its work (lysing red blood cells).
#*Stop the reaction by adding excess PBS (fill each tube with about 12 ml of PBS, so that it's nearly full). The reason this works is because the lysis buffer works by osmosis, and its concentration is diluted by adding PBS.
#*If there are visible chunks of cells in the tube, wait for them to collect at the bottom of the tube, then extract supernatant and put it in a new set of tubes, then centrifuge them.
#Determine cell number.
#*Resuspend the cells by adding 1 ml staining buffer.
#*In a third set of test tubes, add 190 μl staining buffer (or PBS) + 10 μl of cell suspension + 2 μl Trypan Blue. This results in a 1:20 dilution.
#*You can instead use other dilutions to make counting easier or to achieve a better accuracy cell count, but you must then alter other numbers in this protocol.
#*Mix well, then pipette 10 μl of solution into hemocytometer slot. The solution should suddenly go all over the metal plate.
#*View under microscope to determine cell density. (The 1 mm (5x5) square corresponds to 100 nl. Since this is already 1:20 diluted, count the number of cells in this square and multiply by 2x10 , not 10 , to get cells /ml. So if you count 200 cells, the true density is 2x2x10 /ml.)
#Equalize cell concentrations.
#*Add staining buffer (or PBS) to bring cell concentration to 2x10 /ml.
#*For example, if you had counted 200 cells in the grid in the previous step, this is what you want so do nothing.
#*For example, if you had counted 100 cells in the grid in the previous step, the density is 10 /ml, so you would then centrifuge, discard supernatant, then add half as much staining buffer (or PBS) as you had prior.
#*For example, if you had counted 400 cells in the grid in the previous step, the density is 40 /ml, so you would then double the amount of staining buffer.
#*If you had counted different cell numbers, your tubes would have differing volumes by the end of this step, but they should appear to have the same color (since they are now of the same cell concentrations).
#Block with anti-CD16/32.
#*Here X number of samples (number of tissues you're running your experiment on) and Y number of antibody sets (reactions per sample) (number of sets of antibodies being run of each of your tissue samples).
#*For each sample in the current set of tubes, transfer Y*50 μl of cell suspension into a new tube (4th set).
#*Add Y*0.5 μl of anti-CD16/32 (the blocking antibody) to each tube.
#*Incubate for 5-10 min on ice. Now the antibody is attaching to the cells.
#*Wash the 4th test tube set. (Add 1 ml staining buffer, resuspend, centrifuge (400 G, 5 min, 4 °C), discard supernatant.)
#*Remember, resuspend by either pipetting up and down or flicking with fingers, NOT vortexing.
#*Resuspend the solution in Y*50 μl staining buffer, then keep on ice.
#Add antibodies.
#*The antibodies are fluorescent. From this point hence, try to keep tubes covered and on ice.
#*Prepare X*Y of 1.5 ml test tubes labeled according to antibody and sample.
#*Add 50 μl Staining Buffer to each 1.5 ml test tube.
#*For each small test tube in a row, add 1 μl of its kind of (primary) antibody to it.
#*For each small test tube in a column, add 50 μl of the new cell solution.
#*Now the primary antibody will begin binding.
#Incubate for 20+ min, wash x2, and resuspend.
#*Incubate on ice for 20+ min while protected from light by aluminum foil.
#*Wash twice. ((Add 1 ml staining buffer, resuspend, centrifuge (400 G, 5 min, 4 °C), discard supernatant) x2.)
#*Finally, resuspend cells in 400 μl staining buffer.
#Analyze with flow cytometer.
#*The entire protocol and flow cytometry analysis must be done ASAP and on the same day that tissue was harvested. Results deteriorate quickly with time, even when cells are frozen or fixed with formalin.
#*Don't vortex for the same reason as before. Use other means of mixing the contents of each 1.5 ml tube right before analysis.
#*When you're graphing the results, consult information on what the x and y axes should be. Don't forget to gate regions on your charts where appropriate.
#*Transfer data from the program that comes with the flow cytometer to Word/Excel or any other processor you use.
*Bold text indicates the objectives of and the general idea behind each step.
*Plain text indicates a sample, detailed procedure by which this is accomplished, as well as ancillary information (ie. hints).
This is meant to be a complete, fully workable, step-by-step illustration of the process, one that can actually be used in the lab by a scientist new to the procedure. The particulars may vary depending on your objectives.
Typical duration of complete procedure:
*For 2 tissue samples: 5-6 hours
*For 4 tissue samples: 6-7 hours
*For 6 tissue samples: 7-8 hours
Materials and Instruments
*Generic lab equipment
**Pipettes w/ tips (ie. 20 PP, 200 PP, 1000 PP)
**Test tubes (ie. 1.5 ml, 15 ml) with rack
**Ice bucket (or refrigerator) (Ice or dry ice)
*Solutions/reagents
**Staining buffer
**RBC lysis buffer
**PBS
**Trypan Blue (or other cell viability dye)
**Anti-CD16/32 antibody
**Primary antibodies (ie. B220, CD3e, CD4, CD8, CD11c, CD28, IgM, IgD, Gr1)
*Instruments
**Centrifuge
**Vacuum aspirator
**Flow cytometer (+sheath fluid/bacteriostat)
**Microscope
*Hemocytometer
*Frosted microscope slides
*Petri dish
Preparation
#Harvest selected mouse tissue.
#*Until used, tissue should be kept on ice (kept cold). For example, wrap tissue in aluminum foil and put on dry ice.
#*You may want to save 1/3 of tissue for freezing at -80 C and 1/3 for fixing in 10% formalin (for other lab purposes).
#Tease tissue apart using frosted slides, then put in 15 ml tubes.
#*In a petri dish, add 1-2 ml staining buffer + selected specimen.
#*Using the frosted side of the microscope slides, rigorously rub the specimen. The "front side" of a frosted slide is the side that's actually frosted, and the side you want to use.
#*The tissue will disintegrate into its component cells and the liquid will turn reddish, resembling blood. The remains of the tissue - a spongy matrix - might remain. Try to thoroughly separate out the clumped cells.
#*You won't be able to fully separate all the cells; neither do you need to. The process should only take a few seconds of careful rubbing.
#*Return this teased tissue back to the petri dish, mix, then pour the contents (the cell suspension) into a 15 ml tube. Then place on ice, and start to work on the next one.
#Wait a few minutes for the cell suspension to settle.
#*If you're teasing five or more tissue samples, the first ones will have settled by the time you're done teasing the tissue.
#*You will know when it's settled - a pellet (a solid chunk) will appear at the bottom.
#Create single cell suspension.
#*What you want is the cell suspension (the supernatant), not the pellet. Use a pipette to transfer as much as you can of the cell suspension of each sample into a second set of 15 ml tubes, without disturbing the pellet.
#*What you now have in the second set of tubes is the cell suspension, plus some serum which you don't want.
#*Centrifuge the second set of tubes at 400 G for 5 min at 4 C.
#*Now the supernatant is serum and the pellet is the single cell suspension. Discard the supernatant using a vacuum aspirator. It doesn't need to be perfect.
#If working with spleen, lyse red blood cells.
#*If not working with spleen, skip this section.
#*Add 2 ml RBC lysis buffer to each of the second set of tubes and resuspend the pellet.
#*You can resuspend by A) pipetting up and down or B) flicking at it with your fingers. Do NOT vortex it or the cells will break.
#*Wait 4 minutes. During this time the lysis buffer is doing its work (lysing red blood cells).
#*Stop the reaction by adding excess PBS (fill each tube with about 12 ml of PBS, so that it's nearly full). The reason this works is because the lysis buffer works by osmosis, and its concentration is diluted by adding PBS.
#*If there are visible chunks of cells in the tube, wait for them to collect at the bottom of the tube, then extract supernatant and put it in a new set of tubes, then centrifuge them.
#Determine cell number.
#*Resuspend the cells by adding 1 ml staining buffer.
#*In a third set of test tubes, add 190 μl staining buffer (or PBS) + 10 μl of cell suspension + 2 μl Trypan Blue. This results in a 1:20 dilution.
#*You can instead use other dilutions to make counting easier or to achieve a better accuracy cell count, but you must then alter other numbers in this protocol.
#*Mix well, then pipette 10 μl of solution into hemocytometer slot. The solution should suddenly go all over the metal plate.
#*View under microscope to determine cell density. (The 1 mm (5x5) square corresponds to 100 nl. Since this is already 1:20 diluted, count the number of cells in this square and multiply by 2x10 , not 10 , to get cells /ml. So if you count 200 cells, the true density is 2x2x10 /ml.)
#Equalize cell concentrations.
#*Add staining buffer (or PBS) to bring cell concentration to 2x10 /ml.
#*For example, if you had counted 200 cells in the grid in the previous step, this is what you want so do nothing.
#*For example, if you had counted 100 cells in the grid in the previous step, the density is 10 /ml, so you would then centrifuge, discard supernatant, then add half as much staining buffer (or PBS) as you had prior.
#*For example, if you had counted 400 cells in the grid in the previous step, the density is 40 /ml, so you would then double the amount of staining buffer.
#*If you had counted different cell numbers, your tubes would have differing volumes by the end of this step, but they should appear to have the same color (since they are now of the same cell concentrations).
#Block with anti-CD16/32.
#*Here X number of samples (number of tissues you're running your experiment on) and Y number of antibody sets (reactions per sample) (number of sets of antibodies being run of each of your tissue samples).
#*For each sample in the current set of tubes, transfer Y*50 μl of cell suspension into a new tube (4th set).
#*Add Y*0.5 μl of anti-CD16/32 (the blocking antibody) to each tube.
#*Incubate for 5-10 min on ice. Now the antibody is attaching to the cells.
#*Wash the 4th test tube set. (Add 1 ml staining buffer, resuspend, centrifuge (400 G, 5 min, 4 °C), discard supernatant.)
#*Remember, resuspend by either pipetting up and down or flicking with fingers, NOT vortexing.
#*Resuspend the solution in Y*50 μl staining buffer, then keep on ice.
#Add antibodies.
#*The antibodies are fluorescent. From this point hence, try to keep tubes covered and on ice.
#*Prepare X*Y of 1.5 ml test tubes labeled according to antibody and sample.
#*Add 50 μl Staining Buffer to each 1.5 ml test tube.
#*For each small test tube in a row, add 1 μl of its kind of (primary) antibody to it.
#*For each small test tube in a column, add 50 μl of the new cell solution.
#*Now the primary antibody will begin binding.
#Incubate for 20+ min, wash x2, and resuspend.
#*Incubate on ice for 20+ min while protected from light by aluminum foil.
#*Wash twice. ((Add 1 ml staining buffer, resuspend, centrifuge (400 G, 5 min, 4 °C), discard supernatant) x2.)
#*Finally, resuspend cells in 400 μl staining buffer.
#Analyze with flow cytometer.
#*The entire protocol and flow cytometry analysis must be done ASAP and on the same day that tissue was harvested. Results deteriorate quickly with time, even when cells are frozen or fixed with formalin.
#*Don't vortex for the same reason as before. Use other means of mixing the contents of each 1.5 ml tube right before analysis.
#*When you're graphing the results, consult information on what the x and y axes should be. Don't forget to gate regions on your charts where appropriate.
#*Transfer data from the program that comes with the flow cytometer to Word/Excel or any other processor you use.
Over time the DC Universe has become home to a large number of distinctive fictional martial artists. These characters range from professional martial artists to vigilantes and career criminals. Some were originally intended to be martial artists, such as Richard Dragon, Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva whereas others were given their martial arts skills at a later date (as with Oliver Queen), or had their martial arts training added via retroactive continuity.
History
During the Golden Age of Comics several of the more notable martial artists in the DC Universe were created, although at the time they were likely not intended to be students of Asian martial arts, but of Western arts such as boxing or wrestling. Batman and Robin were DC's first superhero characters to practice Asian martial arts; Batman is first shown using a "jiu-jitsu trick" in Detective Comics #36, and Robin learns jiu-jitsu and boxing from Batman in his first appearance.
Characters created in the 1960s included Judomaster (originally a Charlton Comics hero later incorporated into the DC Universe), and Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The 1970s introduced many of the best known characters with a strict martial arts background, including Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger and others. The 1980s saw the introduction of a new Robin, Tim Drake, Deathstroke, Katana, Cheshire and others. In the 1990s many more martial artists were created, including such well-known characters as Bane, , and .
The DC Universe's martial artists (ordered by instructor)
"Schools" are labeled by their oldest known instructor. All students of that instructor are numbered, and every individual taught by a student is lettered.
Where a character has multiple instructors listed, an attempt has been made to indicate how many other instructors that character has listed.
Master Kirigi
:1. Batman (1st of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
::C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 3 instructors listed)
::D. Stephanie Brown (Robin IV)
::E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
:2. Bronze Tiger (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::A. Cassandra Cain (2nd of 5 instructors listed)
::B. Gypsy
:3. Various members of the League of Assassins
::A. The Question
::B. Huntress
::C. Batman (3rd of 3 instructors listed)
::D. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl II, Oracle)
::E. Renee Montoya (Question II)
:2. Bronze Tiger (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
In 1974 Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry wrote the novel Dragon's Fists, introducing the O-Sensei, and his two students Richard Dragon and Ben Turner. O'Neil later incorporated them into the DC Comics Universe.
In 1895, The O-Sensei, a Japanese Army Captain stationed in Manchuria, takes on an honor debt to devote his life to studying the martial arts. He becomes a "master in many ways", and later teaches the troubled Ben Turner (the Bronze Tiger) and the thief Richard Dragon, helping them find inner peace while turning them into skilled martial artists. Later stories introduce the O'Sensei's god-daughter Lady Shiva, another of his students. Dragon, Turner, and Shiva are considered the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe.
Dragon and Turner become members of a government agency for a time. Dragon eventually retires, and takes up teaching others as a way of pursuing the next stage in his life. His students include both Questions, The Huntress, and Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl.
Turner, on the other hand, is brainwashed by League of Assassins into becoming The Bronze Tiger. During his time with the League he helps to train Cassandra Cain, the future Batgirl. Turner eventually breaks free of his brainwashing. Shiva's thirst for improving her martial arts skills led to her seeking employment as a mercenary and assassin.
David Cain
:1. Batman (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Dick Grayson (Robin I)
::B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
::C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::D. Stephanie Brown (Robin IV, Spoiler)
::E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
:2. Cassandra Cain (4th of 5 instructors listed)
:3. Lady Shiva (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
:4. The Mad Dog
David Cain is one of the world's premier assassins. He is one of the people who trained the young Bruce Wayne in the skills that he would use as Batman. A lonely but thoughtful man, and a member of League of Assassins, Cain came up with the idea of creating a perfect martial artist. Al Ghul, wishing to have a perfect and completely loyal bodyguard, assisted Cain, giving the assassin a number of infants to raise. When the early "experiments" proved unusable, Cain decided that the answer to his problem lay in genetics.
He murders Caroyln Wu-San, one of two exceptionally skilled martial artist sisters he had seen in a tournament. The surviving sister, Sandra Wu-San tracks Cain down for revenge; however, without Caroyln holding her back, Sandra begins to reach new heights of skill. When The League of Assassins defeats her, she agrees to become the mother of Cain's child in return for freedom and training. Sandra renames herself Lady Shiva, and leaves after her daughter is born, traveling the world and honing her skills by any means possible. Shiva and Cain's daughter, Cassandra, is trained from birth to be an unparalleled fighter. She rejects the destiny as a killer that her father had decided for her, and becomes Batgirl. As Batgirl she receives further training from Batman and Lady Shiva.
Natas
:1. Deathstroke
::A. Rose Wilson
:2.
At an unknown point in his past, is taught assassin techniques by the man known as Natas. Years later, in preparation for combating Deathstroke, hires Natas to teach him everything Deathstroke had been taught. Although honoring the terms of the agreement, Natas betrays Queen to Deathstroke as a "final test".
Sensei Otomo
:1. Black Canary
:2. Lady Shiva (3rd of 3 instructors listed]]
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
The Armless Master
:1. Catwoman
:2. Hellhound
The Master of the Iron Hand
:1. Tim Drake (Robin III) (3rd of 3 instructors listed)
:2. Dava
======
:1. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
:2.
Chuck Dixon's Bronze Tiger
:1. Chuck Dixon's Richard Dragon
::A. Nightwing
::B. Batman
::C. Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke)
In 2004, Richard Dragon was revived by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel as well as the character revamped, but only to be cancelled after twelve issues. In this short series Richard Dragon's life as a thief are replaced to be that of a bullied school-kid who is eventually taught martial arts by an older Bronze Tiger, rather than O-Sensei. This version of Dragon then went on to train many talented but nameless students most notably, it appears, Batman who then refers his own student, Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing). Nightwing even alludes to this training when he encounters Dragon in Blüdhaven. The second Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) is another student pictured receiving tutelage from Dragon in this storyline. This version of Richard is difficult to reconcile with other characters' canon, especially The Question. The comic book 52 prominently features the version of the Question trained by the earlier version of Richard Dragon, and lists several appearances of the earlier Richard Dragon as "Required Reading".
Wildcat
Ted Grant is an undefeated heavyweight champ in boxing, and the greatest boxer who ever lived. Ted has taught his skill to many prominent super-heroes.
:1 Batman
:2 Black Canary
:3 Catwoman
:4 Superman
Others
*Anarky
*Arsenal
*Azrael
*Andrea Beaumont
*Asano Nitobe (Last living master of true Ninjutsu)
:1. Paul Kirk ()
:2. Kirk DePaul ()
:3. Soseh Mykros ()
:4. Freeway (metahuman criminal)
*Black Orchid
*Catman
*Cheshire
*Constantine Drakon
*Doctor Mid-Nite
*
*
*I Ching
:1. Batman
:2. Wonder Woman
*Judomaster
:1. Tiger
::A. Nightshade
*Kana, the Shadow Warrior (WWII hero)
*Karate Kid
*Katana
*King Snake
*Manhunter
*Marco
*Merlyn
:1. Cassandra Cain (5th of 5 instructors listed)
*
*Nightblade (member of the Blood Pack)
*Onyx
*Orpheus
*"Pajamas" (member of the 100)
*Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
*Prometheus
*The Question
*Ravan
*Savant
*Savitar
*Sensei
*Shado
*Shatterfist
*Shrike
*Striker Z
*Terry Sloane
*Tigress
*White Lotus (member of the Supermen of America)
List of Minor Martial Artists in the DC Universe
Sensei Otomo
Sensei Otomo first appears in the "Of Like Minds" storyline in Birds of Prey, as Japanese martial artist who has a dojo in Hong Kong where a young Black Canary was a student. The sensei is very affectionate to his young pupil, and gives her the nickname "Siu Jerk Jai" or "Little Bird." Canary feels that the affection is preventing him from giving her the full benefit of his wisdom, and so she reluctantly leaves the dojo. Canary later visits Otomo on his deathbed. Lady Shiva, who had also trained with Otomo (although at a different time from Canary) also pays her old master a final visit, claiming that it was simply because when she learns that one of the world's greatest martial artists is dead or dying she prefers to verify it herself. Having thanked Canary for doing justice to his teachings, and thanking Shiva for not killing him on several occasions, Otomo then asked that Shiva never kill Canary, and asks that Canary never attempt to bring Shiva to justice, to which the two agree. Sensei Otomo is not given the chance to die peacefully, however, and is murdered by Cheshire as part of a complicated scheme for revenge against Black Canary.
:Renee Montoya
:Brother Flay
:Sister Shard
History
During the Golden Age of Comics several of the more notable martial artists in the DC Universe were created, although at the time they were likely not intended to be students of Asian martial arts, but of Western arts such as boxing or wrestling. Batman and Robin were DC's first superhero characters to practice Asian martial arts; Batman is first shown using a "jiu-jitsu trick" in Detective Comics #36, and Robin learns jiu-jitsu and boxing from Batman in his first appearance.
Characters created in the 1960s included Judomaster (originally a Charlton Comics hero later incorporated into the DC Universe), and Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The 1970s introduced many of the best known characters with a strict martial arts background, including Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger and others. The 1980s saw the introduction of a new Robin, Tim Drake, Deathstroke, Katana, Cheshire and others. In the 1990s many more martial artists were created, including such well-known characters as Bane, , and .
The DC Universe's martial artists (ordered by instructor)
"Schools" are labeled by their oldest known instructor. All students of that instructor are numbered, and every individual taught by a student is lettered.
Where a character has multiple instructors listed, an attempt has been made to indicate how many other instructors that character has listed.
Master Kirigi
:1. Batman (1st of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
::C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 3 instructors listed)
::D. Stephanie Brown (Robin IV)
::E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
:2. Bronze Tiger (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::A. Cassandra Cain (2nd of 5 instructors listed)
::B. Gypsy
:3. Various members of the League of Assassins
::A. The Question
::B. Huntress
::C. Batman (3rd of 3 instructors listed)
::D. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl II, Oracle)
::E. Renee Montoya (Question II)
:2. Bronze Tiger (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
In 1974 Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry wrote the novel Dragon's Fists, introducing the O-Sensei, and his two students Richard Dragon and Ben Turner. O'Neil later incorporated them into the DC Comics Universe.
In 1895, The O-Sensei, a Japanese Army Captain stationed in Manchuria, takes on an honor debt to devote his life to studying the martial arts. He becomes a "master in many ways", and later teaches the troubled Ben Turner (the Bronze Tiger) and the thief Richard Dragon, helping them find inner peace while turning them into skilled martial artists. Later stories introduce the O'Sensei's god-daughter Lady Shiva, another of his students. Dragon, Turner, and Shiva are considered the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe.
Dragon and Turner become members of a government agency for a time. Dragon eventually retires, and takes up teaching others as a way of pursuing the next stage in his life. His students include both Questions, The Huntress, and Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl.
Turner, on the other hand, is brainwashed by League of Assassins into becoming The Bronze Tiger. During his time with the League he helps to train Cassandra Cain, the future Batgirl. Turner eventually breaks free of his brainwashing. Shiva's thirst for improving her martial arts skills led to her seeking employment as a mercenary and assassin.
David Cain
:1. Batman (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Dick Grayson (Robin I)
::B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
::C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
::D. Stephanie Brown (Robin IV, Spoiler)
::E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
:2. Cassandra Cain (4th of 5 instructors listed)
:3. Lady Shiva (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
:4. The Mad Dog
David Cain is one of the world's premier assassins. He is one of the people who trained the young Bruce Wayne in the skills that he would use as Batman. A lonely but thoughtful man, and a member of League of Assassins, Cain came up with the idea of creating a perfect martial artist. Al Ghul, wishing to have a perfect and completely loyal bodyguard, assisted Cain, giving the assassin a number of infants to raise. When the early "experiments" proved unusable, Cain decided that the answer to his problem lay in genetics.
He murders Caroyln Wu-San, one of two exceptionally skilled martial artist sisters he had seen in a tournament. The surviving sister, Sandra Wu-San tracks Cain down for revenge; however, without Caroyln holding her back, Sandra begins to reach new heights of skill. When The League of Assassins defeats her, she agrees to become the mother of Cain's child in return for freedom and training. Sandra renames herself Lady Shiva, and leaves after her daughter is born, traveling the world and honing her skills by any means possible. Shiva and Cain's daughter, Cassandra, is trained from birth to be an unparalleled fighter. She rejects the destiny as a killer that her father had decided for her, and becomes Batgirl. As Batgirl she receives further training from Batman and Lady Shiva.
Natas
:1. Deathstroke
::A. Rose Wilson
:2.
At an unknown point in his past, is taught assassin techniques by the man known as Natas. Years later, in preparation for combating Deathstroke, hires Natas to teach him everything Deathstroke had been taught. Although honoring the terms of the agreement, Natas betrays Queen to Deathstroke as a "final test".
Sensei Otomo
:1. Black Canary
:2. Lady Shiva (3rd of 3 instructors listed]]
::A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
::B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
The Armless Master
:1. Catwoman
:2. Hellhound
The Master of the Iron Hand
:1. Tim Drake (Robin III) (3rd of 3 instructors listed)
:2. Dava
======
:1. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
:2.
Chuck Dixon's Bronze Tiger
:1. Chuck Dixon's Richard Dragon
::A. Nightwing
::B. Batman
::C. Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke)
In 2004, Richard Dragon was revived by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel as well as the character revamped, but only to be cancelled after twelve issues. In this short series Richard Dragon's life as a thief are replaced to be that of a bullied school-kid who is eventually taught martial arts by an older Bronze Tiger, rather than O-Sensei. This version of Dragon then went on to train many talented but nameless students most notably, it appears, Batman who then refers his own student, Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing). Nightwing even alludes to this training when he encounters Dragon in Blüdhaven. The second Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) is another student pictured receiving tutelage from Dragon in this storyline. This version of Richard is difficult to reconcile with other characters' canon, especially The Question. The comic book 52 prominently features the version of the Question trained by the earlier version of Richard Dragon, and lists several appearances of the earlier Richard Dragon as "Required Reading".
Wildcat
Ted Grant is an undefeated heavyweight champ in boxing, and the greatest boxer who ever lived. Ted has taught his skill to many prominent super-heroes.
:1 Batman
:2 Black Canary
:3 Catwoman
:4 Superman
Others
*Anarky
*Arsenal
*Azrael
*Andrea Beaumont
*Asano Nitobe (Last living master of true Ninjutsu)
:1. Paul Kirk ()
:2. Kirk DePaul ()
:3. Soseh Mykros ()
:4. Freeway (metahuman criminal)
*Black Orchid
*Catman
*Cheshire
*Constantine Drakon
*Doctor Mid-Nite
*
*
*I Ching
:1. Batman
:2. Wonder Woman
*Judomaster
:1. Tiger
::A. Nightshade
*Kana, the Shadow Warrior (WWII hero)
*Karate Kid
*Katana
*King Snake
*Manhunter
*Marco
*Merlyn
:1. Cassandra Cain (5th of 5 instructors listed)
*
*Nightblade (member of the Blood Pack)
*Onyx
*Orpheus
*"Pajamas" (member of the 100)
*Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
*Prometheus
*The Question
*Ravan
*Savant
*Savitar
*Sensei
*Shado
*Shatterfist
*Shrike
*Striker Z
*Terry Sloane
*Tigress
*White Lotus (member of the Supermen of America)
List of Minor Martial Artists in the DC Universe
Sensei Otomo
Sensei Otomo first appears in the "Of Like Minds" storyline in Birds of Prey, as Japanese martial artist who has a dojo in Hong Kong where a young Black Canary was a student. The sensei is very affectionate to his young pupil, and gives her the nickname "Siu Jerk Jai" or "Little Bird." Canary feels that the affection is preventing him from giving her the full benefit of his wisdom, and so she reluctantly leaves the dojo. Canary later visits Otomo on his deathbed. Lady Shiva, who had also trained with Otomo (although at a different time from Canary) also pays her old master a final visit, claiming that it was simply because when she learns that one of the world's greatest martial artists is dead or dying she prefers to verify it herself. Having thanked Canary for doing justice to his teachings, and thanking Shiva for not killing him on several occasions, Otomo then asked that Shiva never kill Canary, and asks that Canary never attempt to bring Shiva to justice, to which the two agree. Sensei Otomo is not given the chance to die peacefully, however, and is murdered by Cheshire as part of a complicated scheme for revenge against Black Canary.
:Renee Montoya
:Brother Flay
:Sister Shard
Robert Walker ("Bob") Whitaker is an American author and speaker.
Among the books Whitaker has published, the latest is Why Johnny Can't Think, a satire and commentary of the American educational establishment, which Whitaker claims engages more in indoctrination than developing independent thought. Whitaker taught in his earlier years, and travels widely to speak up in what he sees as a struggle against the destruction of America by "political correctness," saying it is not "like a religion", but rather that it is a religion.
Bob Whitaker has been featured as a guest on The Political Cesspool, a white supremacist radio show.
Among the books Whitaker has published, the latest is Why Johnny Can't Think, a satire and commentary of the American educational establishment, which Whitaker claims engages more in indoctrination than developing independent thought. Whitaker taught in his earlier years, and travels widely to speak up in what he sees as a struggle against the destruction of America by "political correctness," saying it is not "like a religion", but rather that it is a religion.
Bob Whitaker has been featured as a guest on The Political Cesspool, a white supremacist radio show.