Re: 1602, like Victor, for a couple of pages in this issue, I was thinking Virginia Dare could be Gwen Stacy, but that was just the interaction w/Peter Parquagh. Besides the hair color, there's nothing Gwen-ish about her. The final panel convinced me she's Snowbird, despite the "nothing after 1969" bit.

She's either Snowbird, or someone completely new. She can't be Storm. It makes no sense for her to be Storm.

She'd better not be Storm.

Is it possible that Snowbird could be one of those Alpha Flight heroes that was inspired by a much earlier Canadian comic book character (as Vindicator owed much of his appearance to Captain Canuck), and thus got grandfathered in past the 1969 limit? In looking up Marvel's version of Nelvanna, I actually found reference to a 1940s Canadian comic book heroine by the same name.

Matt, I found this, which is a history of Snowbird, and there's no mention of that at all. After reading the history of the character, now I don't think Virginia is Snowbird, since Snowbird is so tied to Canada.

What about the annotation's suggestion that Virginia is The Owl? I have never even heard of that character, so I can't say whether that theory holds more water than the one we're discussing here.

I feel there is a "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" joke lurking about here...

Or maybe a "Meet Virginia" joke. I mean, the shape of her body IS unusual.

I'm betting that Virginia is not analogous to any known Marvel character. After all, she's based on a real person, and is the only historical figure portrayed in 1602 who has superpowers (so far, anyhow). Plus, in the real 1602, Virginia Dare most likely died as an infant when the Roanoake colony disappeared.

News Flash: I just got an E-mail from Amazon. Firefly DVD ready for pre-order to be released 12/9 - $35. Yayyyyyy!!!

edited to change my common typo form to from

Me too! I pre ordered Firefly as well, Due to arrive Dec 15th. Probably will arrive earlier.

Yay!!!

Here's Neil Gaiman on Virginia Dare, from his blog:

I did a web-search for Virginia Dare. It says she was a real person and that there is a story that she turned herslef into a white deer. Did you know this? There's a page about her story at [link] amd more on the legend at [link]

Yes, I knew it. Truth to tell, I sort of automatically assumed that most Americans probably were familiar with the story of Virginia Dare and the White Doe, because I first read about it when I was a little kid in England, and, well, you people live here.

(And I just googled, and this -- [link] -- was the first thing that came up, which seems a good retelling of the version I'd heard.)

So, yes, she was a real person, who was, in many stories, killed in the form of a white doe, by a silver arrow. She, and Elizabeth, and James of Scotland, are pretty much it for my real historical people (although there are innkeepers, soldiers, papal assassins, and executioners who just walked on when I needed them and aren't meant to be analogues of anyone really.)