Batwoman Is Back as a Lesbian

[CelestialStick]

Updated:2006-05-31 18:48:53
Batwoman Is Back as a Lesbian
By LARRY McSHANE
AP
AP/DC Comics
"We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family," explained a VP at DC Comics on Batwoman's new direction.

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NEW YORK (May 31) - 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."

The original Batwoman was started in 1956, and killed off in 1979. The new character will share the same name as her original alter ego, Kathy Kane. And the new Batwoman arrives with ties to others in the Gotham City world.

"She's a socialite from Gotham high society," DiDio said. "She has some past connection with Bruce Wayne. And she's also had a past love affair with one of our lead characters, Renee Montoya."

Montoya, in the "52" comic book series, is a former police detective. Wayne, of course, is Batman's true identity - but he has disappeared, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, leaving Gotham a more dangerous place.

The "52" series is a collaboration of four acclaimed writers, with one episode per week for one year. The comics will introduce other diverse characters as the story plays out.

"This is not just about having a gay character," DiDio said. "We're trying for overall diversity in the DC universe. We have strong African-American, Hispanic and Asian characters. We're trying to get a better cross-section of our readership and the world."

The outing of Batwoman created a furor of opinions on Web sites devoted to DC Comics. Opinions ranged from outrage to approval. Others took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the announcement.

"Wouldn't ugly people as heroes be more groundbreaking?" asked one poster. "You know, 200-pound woman, man with horseshoe hair loss pattern, people with cold sores, etc.?"

DiDio asked that people wait until the new Batwoman's appearance in the series before they pass judgment.

"You know what? Judge us by the story and character we create," he said. "We are confident that we are telling a great story with a strong, complex character."

DiDio spent most of the morning fielding phone calls from media intrigued by the Batwoman reinvention.

"It's kind of weird," he said. "We had a feeling it would attract some attention, but we're a little surprised it did this much."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2006-05-31 17:07:13

[Wukei]

So..you can't be a tough woman crime fighter unless you're...nevermind, I don't mind gay people, I just hate that they ruined my favourite superhero's comic.

[CelestialStick]

So..you can't be a tough woman crime fighter unless you're...nevermind, I don't mind gay people, I just hate that they ruined my favourite superhero's comic.

So you're not thrilled that DC has become PC? ;)

[KayJay]

I dunno... "Batwoman" just hasn't got the same ring to it as "Batgirl"...

[Wukei]

If you want a lesbian character, create a new character, know what I mean?

Didn't she have a thing going with **** Grayson for a while?

[Alchemistmerlin]

If you want a lesbian character, create a new character, know what I mean?

Didn't she have a thing going with **** Grayson for a while?

It's a comic book...

Retconning is a retcon's retcon.

[Haggis_McCrablice]

All well and good, I suppose, although I sort of wish they hadn't used the phase "tongue-in-cheek" in a story about a gay character.... :-[

[Alchemistmerlin]

Bah Batwoman x Supergirl will NEVER be as good as Harley Quinn x Ivy

[dragonseth]

Bah! My personal irrational hatred of PC is kicking in. Let's just hope this doesn't somehow ruin the comic. Odds are, it won't, but you never know.

[Bluelantern]

THe funny thing is that the original Batwoman was created to avoid gay rumors about the batman ;D

[CelestialStick]

THe funny thing is that the original Batwoman was created to avoid gay rumors about the batman ;D

LOL!

[Alchemistmerlin]

Batgirl?


Did someone say "Gay rumors about Batman"?




Sorry for the Not Safe for 56k but these were to priceless to pass up.

[CelestialStick]

Is this supposed to be the Batwoman? It looks more like Batgirl to me.

[Alchemistmerlin]

Is this supposed to be the Batwoman? It looks more like Batgirl to me.

It is Batgirl. Still...

[ed]

why would this ruin a character? i'm seeing a lot of hysteria and wrongheaded PC whipping but not a whole lot of reason.

me, i think it's cool. but then again, i'm in touch w/ my inner pig. :>

ed

[CelestialStick]

why would this ruin a character? i'm seeing a lot of hysteria and wrongheaded PC whipping but not a whole lot of reason.

me, i think it's cool. but then again, i'm in touch w/ my inner pig. :>

ed

Yeah, I mean, what's wrong with changing a character solely to fit the lastest trendy ideology? I mean, comic books are supposed to teach conformity, right?

[Jibar]

If you want a lesbian character, create a new character, know what I mean?

Didn't she have a thing going with **** Grayson for a while?

It's a new batgirl/woman

Personally, my thought is; meh. So she's a lesbien, so what? It's still a batman comic, it's still a bat character. S'all groovy with me as long as they don't try to appeal overly to the male audience through the character.

[ed]

stick: i'm sorry, i wasn't aware that sexual orientation was merely a trendy ideology.

ed

[Alchemistmerlin]

Yeah, I mean, what's wrong with changing a character solely to fit the lastest trendy ideology? I mean, comic books are supposed to teach conformity, right?

A) Changing what character? It's a DIFFERENT character. Many people have worn the various batcowls, Batman goes through sidekicks and spinoffs like Joker goes through laughing gas.

B) 1. Because it pisses off the loony right wing (And that's ALWAYS a good thing)
2. Because it sells and *GASP* We're in a capatalist society, and the comic book industry is just that, an industry.


And to everyone whining "PC this and PC that"

It's not PC at ALL. Males between the ages of 14 and 60 (Specifically 18 and 25, the target audience for comic books) tend to think lesbians are HOT. As such they're playing off of that. It's exploitation rather than Political correctness. It's the same reason there's so much boobage in comic books, it's the target audience.

[Holy_Knight]

I guess there's two things about this this kind of bug me. First is that I'm skeptical about adding another character to the Batman team in the first place. We've already got (besides Batman himself) Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Oracle, Azrael, Gordon (though he's retired now), various other police officers, and sometimes others like Huntress and Black Canary. We don't need Batwoman. Second, the whole lesbian thing seems more like a marketing gimmick than honest character develolpment. It's one thing to develop a character and have it be revealed she's a lesbian, but it's another to make a big announcement where that's seemingly the main reason for the character's existence. Finally, here's a quick question for those who may be more up on your comics than I am at the moment--has there been past indication of Montoya being a lesbian? Or is that being retconned?

[Ing]

no that's not daring

what would be daring would be to finally just roll with the insanity that is RObin and retcon so that it (relationship between OLD LEGAL AGE **** GRACON ROBIN...not the young boy ewwww) IS what everyone thought or suspected

Bruce Wayne: millionare bi-sexual playboy socialite by day
BATMAN: utterly cold and the imbodiement of fear, the incarnate of justice by night.

now that is daring character development!


lesbian Batwoman seems too much like a typical male fantasy, rather than an actual development on untraditional sexual orination...besides we have Ivy and Harly for the male fantasy job(and Ivy X Catwoman in HUSH *squells with joy*)...and frankly they do a very titilating job at that as it is thank you very much.


EDIT: yah montayna was a lesbian, it wasn't retconed, just revelled. Harvy Dent fell in love with her and outered her when she rejected him durring the whole Earthquake thing. its a long complicated thing but yah she's gay....she's gay.

[elliott20]

honestly, I'm more annoyed with the new Chinese characters they have penned by morrison than this. I personally think people are making too big of a deal out of the fact that she's gay. but in a lot of ways, if that's how they approach her character, I might end up disliking her for the same reason I dislike the Asian superheroes... because that one aspect of their personality severely overshadows anything else about them.

I personally wouldn't mind if it was like, here's Batwoman, after all is said and done she happens to be gay. It's just part of who she is, not her entire character. To give thsi much weight to soemthing like this is pretty pointless.

[DeathQuaker]

If you want a lesbian character, create a new character, know what I mean?

This is, essentially, a new character. There _was_ a Kathy Kane but it's been ages since she's been around and they've retconned the universe several times since we've last saw her... and she never was never a well known character to begin with. Basically they're making someone up and giving her the same name last seen in the comics 20 years ago, give or take.

(Edit: Sorry, I just noticed Alchemistmerlin already pointed this out.)

I _think_ perhaps the reason you're so upset is you're confusing Kathy Kane with someone else...

Didn't she have a thing going with **** Grayson for a while?

That would be Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl. She is now known as the Oracle and is leader of a team of crimefighters called the Birds of Prey, which is, IMHO, the very very best comic book in existence. :)

And she still has a thing going on with **** Grayson. And despite all my fantasies about her and Dinah Lance ever since the "Hunt for Oracle" story years ago, she is definitely not a lesbian. :)

[WampaX]

This is not the Cassandra Kane character?
They needed to create an all-new character? again?

The press is probably picking it up because they think that this is the Barbara Gordon character.

[Dags]

Hmmm, I seem to remember a pilot episode or a season of the Birds of Prey on WB or something... all I really remember was one episode where they were playing Tatu during a fight scene... not really sure if they knew Tatu were lesbians when they played them during a show that seemed... well, you get where I'm going.

I don't read DC, so I don't REALLy give a rat's arse. It's not a big deal that she is a les, it's the fact that they marketed her as a les. Now all thos 18-60 year old men are going to buy it JUST to see some lesbian action instead of buying a Batwoman comic. It's a cheap ploy to boost sales.

[ed]

wampa quoth
press is probably picking it up because they think that this is the barbara gordon character.

i think you may be giving the press too much credit for their mad comics-fu. :> that said, if that's the case, in the TV show (most people's sole exposure to the character), she was a librarian, no? cuz, you know, that's an even bigger set of adolescent male fantasies. :>

ed

[Adeptus]

Yeah, I mean, what's wrong with changing a character solely to fit the lastest trendy ideology? I mean, comic books are supposed to teach conformity, right?

Uhg... "latest trend ideology"?

Are you saying gay people are a late trend? Listen. People do realize they are gay late in life too. I don't see what the big deal is here. Heck, nearly 10% of people are gay anyway, and so far they are very much under representen in the superheroes.

Less with the knee jerk reactions people. A super can be gay as much as the people in the next cubicle over, or the person who sells your groceries.

[DeathQuaker]

This is not the Cassandra Kane character?

I'm pretty sure it's not. She is neither a Gotham socialite nor would she be old enough to have had a romantic history with Montoya.

In fact, I have trouble imagining Cassie exploring her sexuality at all, let alone coming out.

They needed to create an all-new character? again?

Apparently. Ever since they did the whole Infinite Crisis nonsense I've mostly ignored all the DC comics except the single one I like that fortunately hasn't been too messed up.

The press is probably picking it up because they think that this is the Barbara Gordon character.

Probably. Or simply that there will be a lesbian in the Batman mythos at all.

Wonder Woman had a woman in love with her before the series ended, and no one really noticed that.

Hmmm, I seem to remember a pilot episode or a season of the Birds of Prey on WB or something... all I really remember was one episode where they were playing Tatu during a fight scene... not really sure if they knew Tatu were lesbians when they played them during a show that seemed... well, you get where I'm going.

The point of Birds of Prey TV was to have as much leather and cleavage on the television as much as possible. Which, really, there's nothing wrong with that. ;) Though it also really had nothing to do with the comic book. Which has leather, cleavage, and actual good writing.

[ElfLad]

Uhg... "latest trend ideology"?

Are you saying gay people are a late trend? Listen. People do realize they are gay late in life too. I don't see what the big deal is here. Heck, nearly 10% of people are gay anyway, and so far they are very much under representen in the superheroes.

Less with the knee jerk reactions people. A super can be gay as much as the people in the next cubicle over, or the person who sells your groceries.

10%?

That was taken from an outdated Kinsey study. He interviewed prison inmates, and a lot of them were gay because of "situational homosexuality."

Actual figures are closer to 2-3% for men and <1% for women.

And, really, the tokenism mentality annoys me more than the gayness. (i.e. Black Panther!!! P.S. he's black)

[Ing]

yes but the bisexual population who live as homosexuals would be far greater.