DC Comics: Batwoman Comes Out!

In doing a bit of research for my newest NBY cartoon, I ran across this little tidbit on the DC Comics web site...

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DC Comics is resurrecting the classic comic book character Batwoman as a lesbian

June 1, 2006

Years after she first emerged from the Batcave, Batwoman is coming out of the closet. DC Comics is resurrecting the classic comic book character as a lesbian, unveiling the new Batwoman in July as part of an ongoing weekly series that began this year.

The 5-foot-10 superhero comes with flowing red hair, knee-high red boots with spiked heels, and a form-fitting black outfit.

"We decided to give her a different point of view," explained Dan DiDio, vice president and executive editor at DC. "We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family. That's one of the reasons we went in this direction."

Read the full article here.

Also check out a video clip of Executive Editor Dan Didio discussing Batwoman in the "Entertainment Video" on the same page.

Batwoman and the original Batgirl (not Barbara Gordon) were first introduced as romantic foils for Batman and Robin because of all the talk that the Dynamic Duo were a little too close.

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been far more gay-friendly than Marvel, which has always shied away from openly gay characters, and when it actually had some, handled them so badly, it made gay characters seem like a bad idea, when actually the problem was with the incompetence of those running it.

DC's notable GLB characters:

Apollo & Midnighter
Batwoman
John Constantine
Hero
Starman (Mikaal)
Icemaiden
Pied Piper
Obsidian
Josiah Power
Off-Ramp
Tasmanian Devil
Lightning Lass & Shrinking Violet "Ayla & Vi"
Maggie Sawyer
Renee Montoya
Comet/Andy
Philippus the Amazon

And an honorable mention for the milestone of Terry Berg, the gay-bashing story (Green Lantern) that attracted much media attention


Marvel's only notable GLB characters:

Northstar (and he's dead now)
Mystique
Rawhide Kid
Ultimate Colossus (can't even give them a regular universe version)
Karma
Moondragon

And a partially honorable mention for X-Force's Bloke, who was the first character to have a visible gay kiss on-panel in a Marvel comic, except that the character had to die in the same issue where he got to kiss.


And it thus becomes clear, the difference between DC & Marvel... and what messages both companies believe in sending for their respective queers...

In short, Marvel is the Republican Party of comics, and DC is the Democratic Party.