LogFAQs > #967384347

Susie is a girl who, given the option of actual family and Roz'etta, chose her. Prior to Susie, people don't choose Roz'etta when given other options. Oracle compared Roz'etta to J'onn the moment her Saturnian powers awoken, expecting her to be a big green Martian instead of a big red Saturnian. Roz'etta constantly needed to prove herself to Oracle through the years, and even that wasn't enough to learn of Jemm's fate through her. Roz'etta's first lover chose to sacrifice their love instead of find a way to stay together and forgot their past entirely. Her second lover chose the stars and Darkseid. But Susie simply chose Roz'etta.

I've gone over how Roz'etta sought out people to help her. She started with her dearest friend in Z'onn Z'orr, Jesse Custer. She knew Jesse Custer could be trusted, that Jesse Custer would be a good influence. From reading Roz'etta's mind, Susie knew of Death, but she needed guidance to know what Death meant, how to reconcile Death with the act of dying. How to understand the end Darkseid is seeking to bring about is not the one Death does, that the things Darkseid teaches are not necessarily right. Jesse's managed to form a strong connection with Susie, one built on respect. Catman first, and now Tommy Jagger, provide Susie with the sort of training needed to handle her own violent tendencies. Roz'etta has sought out some of the mothers of Z'onn Z'orr for advice for herself on how to be a mother. She didn't feel ready for the responsibility, but someone needed to. Susie needed a mother, and she needed someone who cared.

It is that second part that hurts Susie so much. Susie did not just pick Roz'etta because she was given the choice to. She picked Roz'etta because when she read the alien's mind with the helmet on, she saw that Roz'etta cared about Susie's well-being. Roz'etta genuinely cared, and in a way Susie had chosen to accept her as her mother before they ever met face to face. But what of Sisty and Dinky? It turns out that what truly caused the disaster of Calvin City was Susie reading their minds with the benefit of the helmet. She was already an emotionally struggling child, but with the helmet she saw that Sisty and Dinky, two people she believed loved her, did not. Sisty and Dinky feared her more than anything. This broke Susie, made her try to make a world for herself, a world where she could be loved, and then a red woman with concern in her big heart entered Calvin City.

For so long, Susie had a catchphrase about this subject. Love equals lies. For a while this seemed like it was purely a lingering effect of Darkseid's influence, the Equation that the helmeted Susie could understand, but her lack of emotional attachment prevented from taking hold. Yet with this information, it seemed as though it is more as though the Equation put to words what Susie couldn't. This was what Roz'etta most had to fight against early on with Susie, the girl's regular fear that she was being dumped on someone else, that what she had seen in Roz'etta's head was also a lie or worse, that knowing the girl had destroyed the love that had once existed. So Roz'etta kept Susie close, apologized to her friends for Susie's poor social skills, but rarely left the girl to her own devices. Where Roz'etta went (other than mission), so did Susie. Or, as she often calls herself, Su'zie. For every awkward moment, there is a heartwarming one like this one, where Su'zie fully embraces being Saturnian, she may not be one of blood, but she is one in heart. All of Roz'etta's efforts though, have born some fruit. While Su'zie still says love equals lies, she does add one very important word to it. Love equals lies...sometimes. One singular word that can make all the difference.

Through this, we have barely touched on how Susie is. She's emotionally muted, so when she does show emotions, they're powerful. When she's angry, she yells loudly, and makes aggressive plots. When she's scared, it's the sort of fear that consumes her, whether it's of her mother abandoning her, or fear drawn out by a potential Yellow Lantern.

But most special of all is when she's happy. When Susie Thompkins is happy, it is so satisfying. It's enjoyable to see this child acting like a child. Yet what can bring out joy from her? John Constantine tried with card tricks, and failed miserably to the amusement of anyone watching. Sandra Knight tried with candy, and Susie's acknowledgement of the inevitability of candy melting away brought about more awkward silence than anything. Games, failure. Roz'etta's friends? The closest was Jesse, but that is more drawing out excitement at learning, perhaps a trait picked up from Roz'etta, than true joy. Chocos, like her mother loves to eat? That seems to be more like a mutual favored taste than anything, although Roz'etta did find cases upon cases of Chocos in Calvin City, gathered up to be Susie's meals when she was the master there.

No, there is only one thing that truly brings a smile to Susie's face. That thing is...a cat. There are many things Susie Thompkins can be called. Monster, Psychopath. Crazy. Creepy. But the best word to describe her is 'cat lover'. Susie adores all the cats of Z'onn Z'orr, from T.C. to Starro to Prowley to when Kid Eternity summoned Grimalkin, a cat assassin. Susie loves cats. Even Hector, the spirit of a cat inside a crystal, captures little Susie's heart. When she joins Roz'etta in watching documentaries for her mother's lessons from Chimp, she points out every single time there's a cat on screen. 'It licked its paw!' is perhaps one of Susie's finest lines, and among the most repeated. But her favorite cat, the cat she loves most of all, is one only she knew about. After a lesson with Catman, Susie returned to her room, and waiting there on her bed was...a cat. A large and fluffy white cat. This cat, the best cat in the world, was nonother than Roz'etta, using her shapeshifting to give the best gift she could think of to her daughter. Most evenings, Susie falls asleep with her mother curled around her, Roz'etta doing what she can to bring Susie comfort as they dream.

And on that, it is time to talk about the other half of her education. Most of Susie and Catman's relationship is covered in his write-up, so what now must be said is what Catman's teachings have done for Susie. Through Catman Susie learned responsibility. She went from a child who only carried chocos in her overalls to a girl who also carried a knife and a gun on her. Those last two would seem terrifying in the hands of most children, but Susie is different. Susie has always been different, and that is why she started with Catman in the first place. Treating her like any other girl in every way will just turn her into the monster she believes she is. She needed to learn if she wanted to potentially become better. Sometimes I wonder if Susie's love of cats is due to Catman. Of course, that love for cats has extended past Catman abandoning his duty to teach her, and her once powerful loyalty to him has morphed into a desire to become better despite him, that Catman is weak, and Susie will not be weak. Taking over Susie's education has been Tommy Jagger, guard to Mento, and someone who simply will not allow Susie to walk around with a gun unless she knows how to use it to his exact standards. And, as with every character Susie expresses respect for, Susie and Jagger are absolutely adorable to picture.

Just look at this exchange, happening in the shooting range of Z'onn Z'orr:

From her far bay, you hear, "GET ON THE MOTHERFUCKING GROUND!"
"Don't bring mothers into this, Thompkins."
"Yes, sir," is the far, muffled response.

"GET ON THE GROUND, PEPPER!"
"No proper names," calls out Jagger.
"Yes, sir."