Goldenglove
(Yolanda)
Context
Goldenglove (Yolanda Costello) is a minor character from Kurt Busiek’s great Astro City super-heroic saga. She first appeared in a 1998 story.
This profile has small S P O I L E R S about her early appearances. And IIRC she has appeared in further stories since this profile was written.
Background
- Real Name: Yolanda Costello.
- Marital Status: Single (minor).
- Known Relatives: Irene Costello (mother), Maxie Costello (aka Goldenglove I, father, deceased).
- Group Affiliation: None.
- Base Of Operations: Astro City’s Kiefer Square.
- Height: 5’2” Weight: 100 lbs.
- Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown
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Powers & Abilities
Yolanda has a strong drive. She also seems to have a talent for technology, and an above-average intelligence.
She has some background knowledge about street crime, but nothing really useful.
As Goldenglove, she wields a pair of alien, technologically advanced gloves that confer super-strength. She discovered that the gloves also allowed for :
- Flight.
- Noise-dampening.
- Energy beams.
- Smokescreens.
- A personal force field.
- And perhaps other functions. Apparently, they were intended for reconnaissance and exploration.
She’s pretty good with those, and even as a kid could hold her own in a superhuman fight.
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History
Yolanda Costello is the daughter of Goldenglove. He was a boxing-themed super-villain who debuted during the late 1960s.
The Costellos are from the Kiefer Square neighbourhood in Astro City. This is a depressed area with no future to offer to its residents. As a result, it is called home by an impressive number of C-list and D-list super-villains.
Goldenglove’s thing was a pair of alien gloves that he found, which gave him super-strength. Apparently, his plans also often involved giant super-vehicles.
Like most Kiefer Square villains, Goldenglove talked and dreamed big. And he was convinced that he would get a big score that would make him and his wife mega-rich.
But like with almost all Kiefer Square criminals, that never materialised. Like the others, he lacked the skills to manage his money, his criminal activities and his life in general.
In 1999, Maxie Costello fell prey to a serial killer stalking the minor villains of Kiefer Square. The killer appears to have been El Conquistador (Esteban Suarez Hidalgo).
Costello’s teenage daughter found the alien gloves, and experimented with them. Being brighter than her father, she soon discovered that they had other functions than bestowing super-strength while worn.
Bad seed
Despite her youth, Yolanda had some idea of what her father had done wrong. While she wanted to be a supervillain too, the new Goldenglove would operate under the radar. She would just steal things to actually make and keep money. However, being 15, she didn’t have the knowledge and contacts to find targets and resell the loot.
She approached the veteran ex-supervillain Steeljack (Carl Donewicz) for advice. Yolanda threw a tantrum when told that crime never worked out for people from the Square. Steeljack threw the fight to limit the collateral damage.
Though she now thought that he was a complete loser, Goldenglove helped Steeljack when he mobilised the Square’s lifers to ambush the Chessmen.
Yolanda approached the Square’s fixer to get a target. She was directed toward a brownstone in South Kanewood to pilfer an art collection while the owner was away. Learning this, Mrs. Costello panicked. She gave Steeljack what little money she had to protect her rogue daughter.
Though Steeljack again failed to convince Yolanda, he saved her from a killer robot. Apparently not realising this, Yolanda flew away and left Steeljack behind as the brownstone collapsed and the police came in.
Tarnished Angel
Steeljack was accused of the robbery. The police did not believe that he was actually attempting to stop the theft. However, he escaped from prison to defeat a murderous conspiracy and save the Kiefer Square lifers.
The Honor Guard told the Astro City PD that Donewicz was on the up-and-up. Furthermore, an ACPD detective named Ruiz realised that he owed Steeljack.
Detective Ruiz had been investigating the South Kanewood robbery. Now that he knew that Donewicz wasn’t lying, he quickly located Yolanda Costello. As it turned out, Ruiz was secretly a former super-hero. He used to be Bravo, the sidekick of El Hombre back in the days.
He had also founded the Irregulars. This was a team of ostracised youths and freaks fighting to prove their worth as heroes.
Being far more persuasive than Donewicz, Ruiz convinced Costello to enroll in vocational school. He explained her how she could eventually study engineering. He also had her train along with the Irregulars, though the Square-bred Costello couldn’t imagine being a super-heroine.
Description
Yolanda just has old hand-me-down clothing. Though the story takes place in 1999, her sartorial style is thus more reminiscent of 1985. Her hair obviously was cut by her mum, who’s no hairdresser.
Her “costume” as Goldenglove was also old clothing – silvery gym tights, a 1980s hot pink tunic, girly combat boots and a dorky helmet with a pink visor that may have been a memento of her father.
Her skin was coloured in the same tone as the Latinx characters in the story.
Personality
During her 1999 appearance Yolanda is 15. She is a little street tough with an attitude. Given the rules for survival in Kiefer Square, it is likely that she ran with a girls’ gang, for protection. She’s brash, rude and preoccupied with never backing down and never looking weak.
Though she’s young, Costello has some understanding of the world. Thus, she realises that her chances of ever being free and affluent are near-zero. However, she also knows that being a super-villain is a bum deal for her kind (in good part due to overheard explanations from Steeljack).
Thus, Costello knows that she has to be smarter than the rest. Hence her strategy of being a cat burglar… which probably wouldn’t have worked.
Other traits
Yolanda knows that she’s smart – though she’s overestimating her intelligence, at least as long as it’s hampered by mercurial teenage emotions. Thus, knowing that she doesn’t have a fighting chance due to where she was born makes her furious.
She’s determined to leave poverty behind and be free. She feels that she has amply paid her dues by growing up in a proletarian slum.
Whether Ruiz’s attempts to give Yolanda what she lacks worked remains unrevealed as of this writing.
Quotes
“I want to be the *new* Goldenglove. But I don’t want to be hired muscle or get into big public fights like my dad did. I’m gonna be a cat burglar.”
(Yelling in anger) “Don’t *hand* me that ! I earned a chance ! I earned my shot ! Every stinkin’ day of my life ! I *deserve* this — and you’re not gonna keep it *away* from this ! I’m not rottin’ in this pit all my life ! I’m *not* !”
“I’m different ! I’m special ! I got what it takes ! No more macaroni ! No more sweaty boys’ hands ! No more hand-me-downs ! No more any of it ! Just money — and freedom !”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Goldenglove
| Dex: 03 | Str: 01 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 04 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Student |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Resources {or Wealth}: 001 |
| Init: 009 | HP: 010 |
Skills:
Evasion (Aerial only): 05, Gadgetry (Identify Gadgets): 03, Weaponry (Power gloves): 06
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Evasion only if flight is achieved through her power gloves.
- Weaponry (Power gloves) both for melee and ranged attacks.
Advantages:
Familiarity (High technology operation).
Connections:
Street (Low), Detective Ruiz (Low).
Drawbacks:
Age (Young), Minor Rage, Misc: Yolanda is from a poverty trap neighbourhood.
Equipment:
GOLDEN GLOVES [/STR/ 10 BODY 12, Energy blast: 09, Flight: 06, Fog: 06, Force Field (Self only): 06, Thief (Stealth): 07, Limitation: Thief (Stealth) is Audial Only].
Source of Character: Kurt Busiek’s Astro City universe.
Helper(s): Darci.
Writeup completed on the 22nd of May, 2014.