Yankee Poodle

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caption=Yankee Poodle. From "Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew" #7 (September 1982). Art by Scott Shaw.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Yankee Poodle
real_name=Rova Barkitt
publisher=DC Comics
debut="New Teen Titans" #16 (February 1982)
creators=Roy Thomas
Scott Shaw
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=The Zoo Crew
aliases=
powers=Can shoot semisolidified electromagnetic "stars" from her right hand to repel objects, and generate "stripes" with her left hand to attract objects.|

Yankee Poodle (real name Rova Barkitt) is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, an anthropomorphic poodle. Yankee Poodle is a superhero who lived on the otherdimensional world of Earth-C (now Earth-26), an alternate Earth populated by sentient animals. Her first appearance was 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."

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.

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 to Final Crisis" tie-in "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 reclassified Earth-26 sparked in part by Starro.

They then encounter him and he hypnotizes them into believing they have lost their powers. Only Pig-Iron (who wasn't present at the time) and American Eagle (who has no super powers) are unaffected. Starro then floods the Earth, rendering it uninhabitable. The Crew then has an ocean liner loaded with refugees 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 the Crew are transformed into non-anthropomorphic animals.

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.

Bibliography

*"New Teen Titans" #16 (February 1982)
*"Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew" #1-20 (March 1982-November 1983)
*"The Oz-Wonderland War" #1-3 (January-March 1986)
*"Teen Titans" #30-31 (December 2005-January 2006)
*"Captain Carrot and the Final Ark" #1-3 (October-December 2007)