Comic Books: Hair Force

 Koriand’r of the planet Tamaran is Starfire of the Teen Titans. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, Starfire is a golden skinned alien warrior princess who can shoot energy bolts from her fingertips and can fly. 

From the beginning, George Perez would depict Starfire in flight with her long flowing tresses forming a sort of contrail behind her, a visual reference to indicate motion and speed. 

When Starfire is flying, she's not actually leaving a trail of hair in her wake, right?

That would be stupid, of course.

Except....

 

In the recent DC Generations event, it seems that she does.

It's a plot point as Starfire uses her hair trail to lure some pursuing villains into an ambush.  

I did some cursory research on this and MSG Gamer.com gives the following specs about Starfire's ability to fly.  

Starfire’s genetic makeup allows her to naturally fly at Amazing airspeeds. When she does, her long hair creates a trail behind her, that dissipates soon after her passing.

C'mon! That cannot be true!  

I'm not the only one to think this is absurd. 

Mike Sterling wrote, "The idea that when Starfire flies, that’s literally a giant stream of hair flowing behind her, and not artistic license to show how fast she’s flying or anything, is bonkers." 

There's actually some sources that suggest Starfire's hair is actually on fire? 

I found this online: "Did you know that in the comics, Starfire’s hair is sometimes made of flames? In some versions of Starfire, her hair can be quite fiery, literally." 

Oh hell no! Really? 

Look, Firestorm's head is on fire! Starfire's hair is NOT on fire, OK? 

I always assumed that the white slits in Batman's mask where the eyes go was just artistic license, that it just looked cooler than actually drawing eyes. 

Then Steve Englehart has Silver St. Cloud refer to looking into those pale white slits and my mind was blown. 

People in the comics actually see white slits in Batman's mask? 

I think the current assumption is that Batman does use some kind of lenses in his cowl to protect and hide his eyes.  

That actually makes some kind of sense.

Starfire leaving an actual trail of hair behind when she flies does not.