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Batwoman... A Crime Fighting Lesbian?

Trooper

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Date: May 26, 2006
batwoman.jpg
Source: IESB
Author: Robert Sanchez
Batwoman Back As A Lipstick Lesbian!


After being killed off in the late 70's D.C. Comics have decided to bring Batwoman back as a crime fighting lesbian! In other related news D.C. has also decided to re-invent Robin as a gay sidekick, oh wait, he always was a gay sidekick.​

BBC is reporting the following:

Batwoman - real name Kathy Kane - will appear in 52, a year-long DC Comics publication that began this month.
In her latest incarnation, she is a rich socialite who has a romantic history with another 52 character, ex-police detective Renee Montoya.
52 will be published in the UK as a graphic novel by Titan Books in 2007. The series is set in a world in which established superheroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman no longer play a part.

The new-look Batwoman is just one of a wave of ethnically and sexually diverse characters entering the DC Comics universe.
Others include Mexican teenager Blue Beetle - who replaces the character's previous white incarnation - and the Great Ten, a government-sponsored team of Chinese superheroes.
Regular characters Firestorm and The Atom, meanwhile, have been reinvented as black and Asian heroes respectively. The characters are part of a wider effort to broaden the make-up of comic-book creations in line with society as a whole. Batwoman, who first appeared in July 1956, has not been seen since September 1979 when she was killed by the League of Assassins and the Bronze Tiger
 
This has been posted twice already, I believe.
 
I dunno why they're making such a big deal about her being a lesbian; it's not like it's anything new.
 
Didn't care much for the "Robin is a gay sidekick" line. That is so old it's pathetic.
 
storyteller said:
I dont like we got another BAT"insert".
That's like the pointless complaint people have about this new character, I think. There's been ten thousand Bat-somethings throughout the past 70 years, and they'll be ten thousand more in future. It's inevitible. Except it and move in.
 
I've seen two pics of the new Batwoman, in one she has red hair in the other
(the one shown at the top of the page here) her hair is black. Which is it?
 
Bathead said:
I've seen two pics of the new Batwoman, in one she has red hair in the other
(the one shown at the top of the page here) her hair is black. Which is it?
The world may never know.
 
Mee said:
Why'd you have to ruin the mystery?:mad:
I'm Sherlock Holmes.

Now get back in the car, Watson.
 
CConn said:
I dunno why they're making such a big deal about her being a lesbian; it's not like it's anything new.


I was thinking the same thing when I read this. They're making the fact that she's a "lesbian"(DUN DUN DUNN) a selling point! It's almost ridiculus!

When will they learn that peddling something on a character's sexual preference, ethnicity and religion doesn't work?
 
who said DC is using her sexual orientation as a selling point? The people making a big deal out of it is who is going to make it the selling point.


Im sure this has already been posted, but for those who missed it:

As the news was filteing out through various channels, we caught up with DC Executive Editor Dan Didio to talk about the new character, the role her sexuality will play, and what the future holds for the new Batwoman.

NRAMA: So – after much rumor, speculation, and teasing, Batwoman is making her debut…

Dan Didio: Yes!

NRAMA: Tell us about her…

DIDIO: We’re always looking for ways to reinvigorate the Batman franchise, and look at other characters to inhabit his world. One of my problems with it was that I felt that a lot of the characters were coming form the same place, the same sense of origin, the same sense of tragedy in their backstory. We wanted to find a way to branch out a little bit more in the Bat-world. We looked at the Kathy Kane character, and we wanted to find a way to bring her back to the DC Universe. We figured that coming out of Infinite Crisis was a good time to re-introduce the character to the DCU –we can blame Superboy Prime for that.

We wanted to find a way to make her feel different, and give her a different personality, a different ideology, and a different backstory, so that she wasn’t just another Batman or Bruce Wayne clone. She’s a member of high society and she is different. But her sexuality is not the main thrust of the character; it’s just another aspect of her personality, one that helps her to determine her choices that she makes as she’s fighting crime in Gotham City.

NRAMA: What do you mean by that last part? How does the fact that she’s different help to determine the choices she makes as she’s fighting crime in Gotham?

DIDIO: Basically, what it means is that we have another very strong female character, and how her private life plays against her heroic life is going to be where the stories play in; as well as different types of adventures and different types of dramas that she gets caught up in. One of the first stories is that she does have a history with Montoya – because of that, it pulls her directly into a lot of the events in Montoya’s world, brings her into confrontation with The Question, and gets her hooked up with the things that are happening in 52.

NRAMA: Playing devil’s advocate, as you said, the fact that she is different will play a role in her activities as a hero – but, when you flip that, it doesn’t really apply to say, Batman. You can’t say, “Because he’s heterosexual, Batman’s adventures are thus and so.” Heterosexuality as a character trait is has been largely ignored with Batman, yet it’s not the same when you’re talking about a different character. Why is that?

DIDIO: If the character is different, she might have had different levels of challenges in her life. The fact that she conceals her own sexuality to some of the people around her and to her own family is going to be a bit of a story, so there are going to be secrets within secrets. You’ll also find more and more about who she is as the story is told, and see how it plays against her lifestyle.

NRAMA: Where does she debut again?

DIDIO: 52 #11

NRAMA: And her name is Kathy Kane…

DIDIO: Or “Kate” as we’re calling her now.

NRAMA: Her costume designed by Alex Ross – it has interesting elements, both a nod to the original Silver Age Batwoman, as well as a nod to the Batman Beyond color scheme. What went into the look?

DIDIO: We really attribute the costume fully to Alex. When we went to him, we explained that we were bringing Batwoman back, but she is coming back for a new generation. He knew the backstory of the character as well, and wanted to do something that would both pay tribute to the past, but also move the character into her own identity. He’s so incredible when he does these things; he pulls from so many different places and still makes it feel unique while still giving a wink and a nod to everything around him.

NRAMA: Anytime someone shows up in Batman’s world, he takes a relatively grumpy reaction…well; he did prior to Infinite Crisis. What’s his response to this intrusion, post Infinite Crisis?

DIDIO: Well, remember that she’s operating in the city for nearly a year before Bruce comes home. She’s going to be able to establish herself in that fashion, and part of the assumption of the identity will be filling that void in Gotham City that has been left by Batman packing up and leaving after Crisis. This plays out on several levels, because you’ll also find out that there’s history between Bruce Wayne and Kate Kane from before she put on the costume as well. She’s someone who’s frequented the high society circles – they’ve encountered each other in the past, and there is some sense of history between the two, although we’re not really explaining what just yet. So, more importantly, he’s going to have to deal with her on multiple levels, as she reasserts herself in a level of prominence in Gotham society.

NRAMA: Plans for her in the immediate future? Her own series, miniseries, appearances, or can it be said at this point?

DIDIO: One of the things that I would like to do with Batwoman in particular, because we feel that who she is and the development of the character is so unique to what we’re trying to accomplish in the DCU, but also to what 52 is about, one of the things I’d like to see, at least in the beginning, is to see her as a character who will be appearing primarily in 52. Them, we’ll be exploring things in different ways.

To use a Marvel reference, I always liked the way that Marvel introduced the Punisher. He started in Amazing Spider-Man, and had some really landmark appearances in Daredevil, and they allowed interest in him to grow. I think this is a character that can really benefit form appearing in different books first before we test the waters with her on her own.

NRAMA: And let the fan demand fuel a project?

DIDIO: Yeah. We’ve introduced a lot of characters in a very short period time, and we’ve got a lot more coming down the pipeline, but I’d like to believe that mostly everything we do now is coming out of other things so that we’re not just throwing books and ideas and concepts at people cold. I want it to be where it feels like everything has time to take root. Again, we’re throwing a lot of new ideas, and more importantly, things where people are already predisposed about how they think a character should act and behave. So I want to pull them in a little more slowly now, and get them acclimated to the new directions for the series and the characters themselves, and hopefully enjoy what we’re doing.

Therefore, when we do go bigger with series and stories, they’re ready for it, and, as the expression goes are coming out, “Because you Demanded It!”

NRAMA: Bigger picture – as you said, you’ve introduced a large number of characters in a relatively short time coming out of Crisis. A lot of these characters are non-white, or, like Batwoman, minorities in other respects. That was the plan all along?

DIDIO: Always. From the moment I walked in the door. If you go out and try to diversify the DC Universe in 15 minutes – and you can – but you’re going to get something that will instantly forgotten like, not to speak too ill of the dead, Planet DC. Noble effort, smart idea, but the execution short-circuited the concept, and it was stillborn.

So what we wanted to do is have a DC Universe that was more reflective, not only of our readership, but as society as a whole. Everything that we’re doing, every step that we’re taking, we’ll keep on pushing that, not only because I think it’s the right thing to do, but also because it allows us to create those points of difference. The fact that the Blue Beetle is Hispanic allows you to include a different kind of sensibility into the story that we might not have had in another series. It’s the same thing with the new Atom being Asian. It should affect the storytelling in some way, because it allows us to give a different point of view, a different perspective. The same thing with Renee Montoya or Kate Kane being different – that doesn’t matter who they are, but it does help give their stories a different point of view, a different perspective on the DCU that other characters might not have. It’s trying to attack these things on a personal level, so we can get much richer, more emotional stories from them.

NRAMA: Wrapping up – Batwoman coming back…Batgirl…not around anymore?

DIDIO: …I didn’t say that, did I? [laughs]

NRAMA: So the Bat-shaking’s not done?

DIDIO: Yeah. There’s a good chance that there are some more twists and turns coming up within the Bat Family. There was that sense that they were a single unit, operating with a single mindset, and all the characters were marching to Batman’s orders. One of the key things we need to do; especially coming out of Crisis is reinstate that sense of individuality for all the characters that inhabit Batman’s world. We’ve got a great set of characters with Robin and Nightwing and several others there, but what we need to do is make sure we understand and express what each one of their point of difference is.

I don’t want somebody to pick up a Batman book, a Nightwing book, and a Robin book and feel like they’re reading the same story. These are three different people with three different perspectives, with three different stories taking place. They all should have their own tonality and their own feel, and that’s what we want to do with Batwoman right now – she should have her own tonality, her own feel so that her character and her story has something that’s unique to itself, and not just another Batman story with a woman.
 
As I usually say, there's always room for hot lesbians in this world. ;)
 
waite wasnt poison Ivy sposed to like carpet as well ?
 
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."

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/a...n/20060531170709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
 
You know I dont understand any of this crap about changing charactors? Why do they have to go and make her a Lesbian? Do they think they are going to get more readers to the mag or will they just enrage the die hard readers? Just doesnt make sense to me
 
Personally, I like the idea. Who was the last gay hero? The Rawhide Kid? Come on, writers can do better than that. I just hope DC doesn't make Batwoman a horrendous stereotype. We already have enough of those, thanks.
 
sexual orientation aside, i can't wait to find out how they explain this new kathy kane just showing up and donning the batwoman costume. and if she's not a new kathy kane, where's she been and what's her relation to bette/flamebird?
 
Batwoman's sexually isn't the problem for me but is the costome that bothers me she looks too "Batman Beyond-ish"
 

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