Jade Canary: Bird of Prey

Comics, like most western media, has had a diversity problem. With origins in the late 30s and early 40s, born of pulp fiction magazines, comics character creation relied heavily on stereotypes. Asian characters were treated particularly badly. We still have trouble today creating Asian characters who are not martial artists, or wise old Eastern mystics (also kung fu masters somehow).

However, a martial arts based character, depending on the martial art, probably should be Asian. Richard Dragon was one of those characters, with his own title, in the early 70s. In 1975, Lady Shiva made her first apearance in Richard Dragon #5, created by Dennis ONeil, and Ric Estrada.

Like most stereotypical Asian characters, Lady Shiva is a master martial artist, an assassin, has a mentor/teacher named O'Sensei, and has a daughter with a dude named King Snake, and has aliases that include names like the Paper Monkey, and the Jade Canary. Over time, the Lady Shiva character has been refined and evolved into a stronger, multi-dimensional character far removed from her uninspired stereotype origins.

Sandra Wu San started out as a Punisher-like character, tricked into avenging her sister's murder by hunting the protagonist, Richard Dragon. Eventually, Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva become supporting characters for the Question title. Shiva then makes appearances as an antagonist in Green Arrow. She is retconned as a member of the League of Assassins, which cements her into the Batman rogues gallery. She has since appeared in nearly all Batman titles, including Batman, Detective Comics, Birds of Prey, Robin, and Batgirl. Also, she is revealed to be the mother of Cassandra Cain, a Batgirl, making Lady Shiva an important recurring character for both Batman, and Batgirl. Like Catwoman, Lady Shiva has become more of an anti-hero than a straight-up villain. She has also been able to stand apart from the shadows of Richard Dragon and Ra's Al Ghul as a female character with depth.