"Dilution of a Character"

 I recently read the transcript of an interview with Chuck Dixon. For those who don't know, in the '90s, Dixon was basically the Batman writer. He wrote the ongoing Batman and Detective Comics and a bunch of Batman miniseries. He wrote the Robin miniseries and the Robin ongoing. He co-created and wrote Birds of Prey. I wasn't a Batman reader and I knew his name at the time.

But that's not the reason I'm writing this.

When asked about his criticism of Mile Morales, Dixon said, "[I]t’s a dilution of a character. You’re diluting, you’re confusing your audience by creating these different entities with the same name."

And I wish that the interviewers had then asked him about Connor Hawke.

Connor Hawke was created to replace Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. Dixon didn't create Connor Hawke, but he did write the comics where Hawke took over as Green Arrow and then wrote Hawke's adventure for about three years.

How did Dixon feel about Hawke? Was he a "dilution of a character"? If so, why write him for three years and then come back to him several years later after Queen returned as Green Arrow?

(Hell, they could have asked if Tim Drake, the Robin Dixon wrote, the third Robin, was a dilution.)

Maybe he's cool with it because Green Arrow is just a guy with a bow and arrows. Dixon said, "I was gonna say that Iron Man and Green Lantern, I was gonna specifically mention Jon Stewart, they lend themselves because anybody can be in the Iron Man suit, anybody can adopt the ring."

I can't find any evidence of it, but I guess Dixon was perfectly cool with the creation of Riri Williams, Ironheart. Right? Right!? Because "anybody can be in the Iron Man suit."

sigh