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I Am Not Starfire focuses on the fraught relationship between Starfire and her daughter Mandy, but never inserts Mandy’s father into the story.
The out-of-continuity young adult graphic novel I Am Not Starfire (by Mariko Tamaki, Yoshi Yoshitani, and Aditya Bidikar) focused on moody teenager Mandy Anders and the contentious relationship she has with her mother, Starfire. Much of the tension in this relationship came from the fact that Starfire, an alien and a single mother, had trouble understanding her half-human daughter who had only ever known the planet Earth. Though this mother-daughter relationship was a major focus of the novel, Mandy’s father never factored into the story.
Mandy explained in the narration that Starfire never told her who her father was, although she suspects she already knows who it is. As a superhero and member of the Titans, Starfire is a major celebrity, and Mandy is somewhat famous because of her proximity to her. Because of this, plenty of Starfire’s fans asked Mandy who her father was, some speculating it to be fellow Titans member Nightwing. However, neither Mandy nor these fans ever discovered who Mandy’s father is. The readers were also left in the dark. Though some readers may be disappointed by this storytelling decision, it’s actually part of what makes this story so strong.
I Am Not Starfire is a coming-of-age story, with elements of both the romance and superhero genres. But the heart of the story is the mother-daughter relationship between Starfire and Mandy. Though the two love each other dearly, their totally opposite perspectives and life experiences make it difficult for them to understand and relate to each other. Over the course of the story, they must work to exercise empathy for each other and mend their relationship. Mandy realizes just how much her mother has always loved and protected her, while Starfire finally sees the struggles and pressures that her daughter has been hiding from her.
Because this mother-daughter relationship is so strong, it would be a mistake to include Mandy’s father in the story. What makes this story so compelling is that Starfire and Mandy only have each other. It’s true that Starfire is a member of the Titans, and the Titans are such close friends that the other members such as Raven and Nightwing are practically like Mandy’s aunts and uncles. But Mandy is the only living family Starfire has. Technically, Starfire still has her evil sister Blackfire, but given that Blackfire tried to kill them, she hardly counts as family. Starfire and Mandy are on their own. This makes it particularly crucial that the two of them learn to understand each other. If Mandy’s father was still in the picture, his presence would diffuse some of that tension, and weaken the story.
Furthermore, if the identity of Mandy’s dad were revealed, it would distract from the main plot and themes of the story. There was already a lot going on in this graphic novel: Mandy’s uncertainty about her future, her crush on her classmate Claire, her feelings of low self-esteem due to not having superpowers, and how this all ties into her complicated relationship with her mother. Mandy’s father’s identity is hardly crucial information; it’s not something Mandy is dying to know, although other characters keep asking her about it. If this secret were revealed, it would pull focus from the main points of the story to highlight something that actually doesn’t matter all that much. With this in mind, it seems like a wise decision for the graphic novel to omit this information altogether.
The choices to make Mandy’s father’s identity a non-issue helped redefine what a family can look like. Though Mandy and Starfire have a lot of issues with each other, Mandy never expressed resentment over her father being absent from the family or over Starfire choosing not to tell Mandy his identity. Mandy’s family is not incomplete just because her father isn’t in the picture. Mandy and Starfire have each other, and that’s all they really need.
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