What does the word “gay” mean? Is it a description of sexuality? Emotion? Sexual identity? Cultural identity? All of the above or none of the above? Labels by nature are fluid: they are created to categorize and they change over time when they are found to be false, dubious, incomplete or obsolete. Sexuality was originally…
Interview: BATWOMAN and LGBT Visibility with J. H. Williams III
J. H. Williams III (Promethea, Detective Comics, Batwoman) has in essence become a comic book legend. A three-time Eisner Award winner, critics and audiences continuously praise his artwork which has been described as positively gorgeous. He is also the recipient of the 2012 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for his work on Batwoman…
LGBT Visibility: Ask Me About My Genitalia!
Take a look at the picture to the right, illustrated by Elias Ericson. As soon as I saw it, I burst into a fit of hysterics because I don’t think I’ve even seen every awkward moment I’ve ever encountered in life as a trans woman captured so brilliantly. I’ve been a public speaker on Lesbian,…
Where on Earth is Renee Montoya, or Where Have All the Lesbians Gone?
I’m forced to admit, my initial reaction to the historic announcement of the comic book industry’s first lesbian engagement was “Aww, ****!” Obviously, I’m not disappointed there is going to be a lesbian wedding within DC Comics — this is, in fact, a watershed moment in the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)…
LGBT Visibility: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
As the decades have worn on, the comic book industry has made a conscious effort to focus on diversity by creating, reinventing and promoting characters that defy what is considered normative. Popular fiction often represents the general mind-frame of the time in which it is written and the comic book industry is a prime example…
Crisis of Epic Proportion: The Case of That (Bat)Girl
You may not know this, but I fancy myself quite the ladies’ man. In truth, I’ve always had much more of a soft spot for female super-heroes than for their male counterparts. Maybe it was because they seemed to have worked so hard to get where they were. Maybe it was the fabulous outfits (looking…
Crisis of Epic Proportion: The Case of Alan Scott
As a young comic reader, I imagined that when you died, one significant perk of heaven would be the ability to read every comic book ever written — past, present or future. Who would be a member of the Justice League in 2086? (Betcha Superman’s going to be there.) Would the Teen Titans have teens…