FB:

Shanna Cochran

First appearance: Faans #1 (comic book), March 17, 1999

Final appearance(?):

So as it turned out, this would not be Shanna’s final appearance. She showed up here and there in Webtoon’s Traveler, and she’s likely to appear in a series I’m pitching now, if it gets picked up. Hey, I like reusing alternate-universe versions of certain characters, so sue me! We glimpsed a version of Frigg’s sisterhood in one Traveler installment, too, and other Guilded Age characters may be similarly “alternated” at some point in the future. So, you know, just be sure to read everything else I write forever, just in case.

Kidding! This is still a goodbye to this Shanna, as well as to Lia and Daniel, and like every series I do, Guilded Age is meant to stand on its own. And I could think of no better conclusion to this Shanna’s arc than to charge off to Washington and tackle those in the halls of power who would try to bully reporters into silence. She still needs the fight.

Her companions are in a different place. With the enemy defeated and Kaye avenged, most of what they need now can be found in each other. So they’re pairing off and pursuing new lives together. That’s a parallel to how things will shake out in Arkerra…in the next chapter, our heroes will find new lives, some of which will be full of danger (Bandit) or uncertainty (Best and Sundar) and some of which won’t. As our last line implies, there’s more than one kind of “adventure” that life can be.

So it’s time to part ways, however reluctantly. Shanna drops a little nerd-baiting snark to try to escape the sentiment of this moment. But she’s not fooling anybody. And the “unemotional” Xan is least fooled of all.