Skylark aka Lady Lark

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Powers & Abilities

Linda Lewis used to be a famous singer. As Skylark, alias Lady Lark, her vocal cords were able to create powerful sonic cries. She could also vastly increase her voice level far beyond that of ordinary women.

As a member of the Squadron Supreme she was taught unarmed combat and piloting. When she later began using Blue Eagle’s old wings, she mastered flying also.

History

Unless you’ve already read the ’Squadron Supreme‘ trade paperback (collecting the 12 part maxiseries) I strongly recommend you to read this unusual story about superheroes. For a more detailed history about the place called Marvel’s Earth-S, see the other Squadron Supreme write-ups.

The Squadron has also appeared in, for example, Avengers, vol 3, no 5-6, and in the one-shot Squadron Supreme: New World Order.

The Voice

In short: Linda Lewis used to be a popular vocalist, but that career ended when she was the victim of an accident that severed her vocal cords. An experimental technique to replace them performed by the villainous Dr. Anton Decibel endowed her with superhuman vocal powers.

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Calling herself Lady Lark, she reluctantly became a superhero. She joined the Squadron Supreme, becoming its’ fourth recruit. In the Squadron she met the Golden Archer and they became a couple.

At one point, the alien Overmind conquered, with the help of the US Army and a mind-controlled Squadron Supreme, the entire Earth. The Overmind was later defeated by the Squadroners when they broke free from his control. As a rescue program to save the war-torn and destroyed Earth, the Squadroners adopted the fascistic agenda called the Utopia Program.

During the Utopia Program the Squadron’s old enemies called the Institute of Evil got caught. They were ’reprogrammed‘ (basically brainwashed) to become good and productive citizens instead. One Squadron member, the genius dwarf named Tom Thumb, had invented a brain-washing machine called the Behaviour Modification Machine, to reform criminals into productive, law-obedient citizens.

Through the correct techniques the victim of this machine could be programmed by any orders (Motivation or IAs in MEGS).

Behaviour modification

The former Squadron member Nighthawk, who also was the president of the USA, opposed the Utopia Program. He left the group to fight against the Squadron instead. Nighthawk found other superpowered beings on the Earth who joined him in the group called the Redeemers, whose only goal was to defeat the Squadron in order to end the Utopia Program.

At this point, Golden Archer proposed to Lady Lark who turned down his proposal and she decided to leave him instead. Archer, desperate, sneaked out one night, drugged Lady Lark, and used the Behaviour Modification Machine on her so that she would love him with her whole body, mind and spirit.

Another Squadron member, Blue Eagle, had become a good friend, and perhaps more, of Lady Lark. He thus saw the change in her. He accused the Golden Archer of having used the Machine on Lady Lark in order to make her love him, and the Squadroner’s called Archer to the defense.

Archer, ashamed and guilty, admitted to his sinful act. He had to leave the Squadron, and later joined their opponents the Redeemers. Lady Lark, whose brainwashing couldn’t be undone, also left the Squadron to try to track down the Archer.

Taking flight

After the disastrous battle between the Redeemers and the Squadron Supreme, which left many members of both teams dead, Lark eventually rejoined the new Squadron that was formed from the remains of both those groups.

Eventually, a machine made by the Squadron’s old foe Master Menace was used to liberate Lady Lark of her severe brainwashing. She donned her friend Blue Eagle’s flying wings in order to honor his memory. She also changed her old costume and renamed herself into Skylark.

Skylark has since served as a faithful member of the team and was, like her teammates, exiled on the ordinary Marvel Earth for a while. They eventually, after a long time, were able to return home again.

Description

Skylark is a short woman with a nice figure. She wears a short-cut red hair and black eye make-up. Her costume resembles brown feathers and is shaped like a swimsuit, with shoulder pads, leaving her arms and legs free. She wears long gloves and boots made of the same material also.

Around her waist she wears a white belt made of rectangles and triangles. Spreading out from her back is a pair of large light brown feathery wings. The whole impression is pretty bird-like.

Personality

Lady Lark, as the singer Linda Lewis, enjoyed being famous. She wanted the life of a star with everything included. She reluctantly became a superhero and she would give up that career any day to become that singer again.

Unfortunately that was an impossibility due to the powers given her (and the loss of her singing voice) by Dr. Decibel. She hated Dr. Decibel for that, and although he was her ally for a while, she did ignore him best she could. Despite the appeal these dreams held for her she usually kept a rather soft and mild personality. She only occasionally broke from that pattern (like breaking out into long-winded speeches).

While she, for a time, was happy being the girlfriend of fellow Squadroner the Black Archer, she began drifting away from him and finding new attraction with Archer’s rival the Blue Eagle. After the Archer brainwashed her, she thought about him nearly constantly and to a fanatical degree. She was also never to love anyone again.

When this criminal act was revealed and the Archer had to leave the Squadron, later to join the Redeemers, she didn’t know what to do; her great love was gone and she saw no reason to stay with the Squadron. While undercover for a while, she later rejoined the Squadron after the Utopia Program.

Skylark

She now wears the mechanical wings of the deceased Blue Eagle to honor his memory. She’s began identifying with her superhero identity much more than previously and she’s even cut her hair into something resembling a bird’s ’hair‘.

Her heroic identity now seems to be something safe for her to cling to and allows her to cope with the troubles of being exiled from her home dimension and the memories of her past.

Her best friend on the team, as it always was, and who she confines in, is Arcanna, who’s now calling herself Moonglow. Like the rest of the Squadroner’s she was troubled by that exile, but she’s grown with the role. Like many of the Squadroners, she’s also a good teamplayer.

Quotes

“The Scarlet Witch I met couldn’t do anything like that, whoever you are ! But whatever it was you did, I’m betting I can stop it by taking you out with a sonic song !”

DC Universe History

Either use the entire Squadron Supreme or the old JLA of which it is a copy. The Squadron Supreme are world leaders and do not fit very well in the DCU. Skylark, as Lady Lark, originally, of course, was a copy of the Black Canary.

Currently, she’s doing the song-bird route and thus is a different mixture of the Black Canary and the Hawkman (well, Hawkwoman really). Optionally they could of course be used as the premier superteam of another dimension or as they are in a campaign set on Earth-S.

By Peter S Piispanen aka The Angel.

Helper(s): DCA stats by Pawsplay.

Source of Character: Squadron Supreme comics, Marvel Universe.