Today's headline comes from ignorant people everywhere.
About 3 years ago.
In 2006, DC comics updated Cassandra Kane's history, and made her into a strong Jewish woman, who also happened to be a lesbian. It was all over the news even. I actually first heard about it on CNN, since I didn't read DC comics back then.
Times have changed though (somewhat), and all of the hubbub around the character has died down. The people that didn't accept the idea before, accept it now, or they stopped reading her books. Which is a shame, because one of my new favorite DC books is Detective Comics.
Detective Comics isn't actually new per se, it started publication in 1937, and is best known for the comic that Batman first appeared in. It's also where DC Comics gets its name. In recent years, Detective Comics was the starring vehicle for Batman and all of his stuff, but Bruce Wayne was recently "killed" in a story-arc that no one understood, and ultimately didn't care about called "Final Crisis".
SO...(and I know this is geeky and boring, but please bear with me. I'm almost done)...Cassandra Kane AKA Batwoman has taken over the book as the main protagonist.
And it's AWESOME.
Greg Rucka, known for his gritty crime comics, does a great job of keeping Cassandra's sexual orientation relevant, but not the main focus of the book. J.H. Williams III does the art, which is literally jaw-dropping.
I recently came across an article about some of the hidden messages in his art concerning sexuality that I found interesting here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Batwoman is GAY?! AND JEWISH?!
Posted by David at 8:51 AM
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2 comments:
When Batwoman was originally announced I had zero interest in the character.
In fact I had less than zero since I saw her as just "a female version of Batman that they made a lesbian so they'd get more teenage boys to buy the book".
Her initial appearances in 52 did nothing to change my attitude since they portrayed her exactly as a lesbian version of Bruce Wayne.
I honestly only decided to check out Detective because of the great art. Rucca however is doing a great job with the character and even seems to have retconned the character from a socialite to an army brat. The issue of her sexuality doesn't feel forced and is just one aspect to the character instead of it being central to her depiction as I felt it was in 52.
I wholeheartedly agree! Detective is AMAZING right now. I also love the fact that her sexuality is almost an afterthought. She's there, she's gay, let's move on. And the art is astounding.
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