Who's This? A former monarch of Thanagar.
The facts: Though I think Hyathis has a rather marine look, her people are plants. She first appeared in Justice League of America #3 (February 1961), by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, as a rival of Kanjar Ro's (but just as bad). After a stopover to bother Adam Strange in Mystery in Space the next year, she disappears for almost two decades before returning primarily as a Hawkman foe, taking over Thanagar and so on. In Hawkworld, she is redesigned as Hawkwoman's politically ruthless grandmother (spelling her name Hyanthis, but you can't fool me). The original-look Hyathis would later appear in such disparate places as Superboy and the Ravers, Helmet of Fate: Zauriel and Creature Commandos (where she dies on-panel, if you want to believe it).
How you could have heard of her: If you listen to shows that are in my podcastosphere radius, you may have heard from Dr. Anj and his inexplicable love for this character. Seriously, though, an Amazonian-looking version of her was a recurring character in the Superman: Lois and Clark mini-series, circa 2015, and nothing since.
Example story: Showcase #103 (August 1978) "Adventures on Other Worlds" by Jack C. Harris, Allen Milgrom and Murphy Anderson
Hawkman returns to Thanagar after the "equalization plague" that made everyone the same, and his fellow Thanagarians cured. Their saviour? None else but Hyathis. Her price: To rule the planet.
I mean, it takes some gall to tell people they're free in one breath, and that they're enslaved in the next, but it happens all the time. So the Council "gladly" stepped down, she pardoned all the criminals (including Byth), sent Man-Hawks to vanish anyone who disagreed, and started an interstellar war (boy, this all sounds too familiar), nominally against Kanjar Ro, but Rann has been dragged into it as well. Thanagar apparently has a tradition of "following authority without question", so I don't think she had to put any extra juice in the curative rain.
It seems that, at this point, probably because she's not up against the super-powerful Justice League, she's not relying on any of her plant powers. She's just an evil queen sending her minions to do the dirty work, minions like Shadow-Thief and the Shadow-Squad!
In the meantime, Kanjar Ro has gotten his hands on Zeta Beam technology and plans to personally teleport into Hyathis' office and assassinate her. Hawkman and Adam Strange mean to warn her and stop him, lest he take over Thanagar with a single shot. Hawkwoman makes a good point: "That won't rid Thanagar of Hyathis!" But Hawkman is more practical: "No, but it will stop the war. Our people don't seem to mind Hyathis' rule!" Well, that's as maybe, Katar. Won't she just wage war on someone else?
So Hawkman is going to respect the will of the people - people who have chosen against their best interests - and what does he get for it?
Banishment for not taking a knee. It's only a matter of time before Thanagar becomes someone else's aggressor (probably Rann), and Katar, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Oh well.
As for Hyathis, this isn't the story that would endear her to me. She could be ANY character, really. And her bathing suit seems especially ill-suited to the role of warrior queen. Maybe one day, I'll see what others see in her, but that day is not today.
Who's Next? A laughing lycanthrope.
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