So after reading your post about Knockout this morning, it got me thinking: Had Kay not been killed and had been a regular in the Secret Six monthly from the beginning, what character do you think you would have left out? Do you think you still would have

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That is astute.

It's true that if Knockout had lived, Jeannette would probably not have been invented. This is the interesting thing about unwelcome editorial decisions, sometimes they force the writers to do creative things, and those things mitigate whatever destructive things have been thrust upon them.

It was the same thing with the destruction of the clock tower in Birds of Prey. That was thrust on us for a very uninteresting crossover, and it suddenly left us without a base.

Which led to the Aerie One, which needed a pilot. Which led to Lady Blackhawk joining the team, which turned out to be wonderful.

Shared universe fiction, it's a bag full of frustration and wonder.