Posted in: Comics | Tagged: apollo, batwoman, Comics, dc comics, enigma, entertainment, gay, lgbt, midnighter, pride

Cleaning Up DC Comics' LGBT History With The Advocate

Published Tue, 09 Jun 2015 10:00:25 -0500

Last updated Tue, 09 Jun 2015 11:29:57 -0500

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUP_9BB6zWo[/youtube]

The Advocate's Jase Peeples presented a special episode of DC All Access on YouTube, looking at the history of LGBT characters in DC Comics as part of Pride month, but makes a number of curious omissions.

While it looks at what may have been clumsier efforts to portray such characters and issues in the past, he sidesteps other corporate issues DC have had regarding such concepts.

It manages to sidestep more groundbreaking-at-the-time books like Enigma, a DC superhero comic with a (spoiler) gay lead from twenty-two years ago, as well as the likes of Sandman and Doom Patrol but also manages to skirt past a few issues regarding the characters it does cover – such as DC Comics' corporate fury over the Midnighter and Apollo getting front page newspaper headlines, courtesy of Mark Millar. And while they talk about an early kiss between Midnighter and Apollo, they don't mention the removal of a chaste kiss between the pair in the Authority spinoff Jenny Sparks: The Secret History Of The Authority. Comics Alliance co-EIC Andrew Wheeler owns the original artwork to that page, he really should scan it and post it up sometime, for historical reasons if nothing else. Then there was the interminable delays from conceptualisation of a gay Batwoman to the publication of her series including the abandonment of an approved series by bisexual writer Devin Grayson (she read about DC's reversal of plans to publish a series in the New York Times as she was writing the second issue), and the decision of the eventual Batwoman creative team to leave the title after the previously approved decision for the character to get married was reversed by DC Comics editorial.

Among others. And while Peeples might not be able to mention these issues on DC Entertainment's dime – that's what Bleeding Cool is for.

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