DC Comics’ The Terrifics artist Evan “Doc” Shaner posted on Twitter Thursday, explaining his reasoning behind making the titular team’s Element Dog a pit bull terrier.
A dog with the powers of Terrifics member Metamorpho made his debut in this week’s The Terrifics #5, which had some fans wondering why the book’s artist chose the pit bull breed to represent Element Dog.
“I went with a pitbull because my brother had a pitbull and would talk about them needing some more positive representation,” Shaner tweeted.
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This was in reference to the ongoing controversy of whether it’s OK to own a pit bull terrier, stemmed from a fear of biting and other injuries. In a piece for The Huffington Post, contributor Kathleen Gemmell talked at length about the controversy, ultimately with a conclusion that “all breeds can and do attack as they are the domestication of select breeding of the wolf.”
But also, Shaner said he just thought about what Rex (Metamorpho) would look like if he was actually a dog.
“Also just seemed like a good ‘If Rex were a dog what kind of dog would he be?’ answer,” he tweeted.
Fans replied to his tweet with thank you messages and photos of their own pit bull terriers sporting everything from Superman’s iconic suit to some yellow sunglasses.