It’s June, so happy Pride to everyone! Might be fun to throw out some discussion questions so here we go:
-Who is your favorite LGBT+ character and/or couple?
-What is your favorite story featuring an LGBT+ character?
-What do you hope to see in the future regarding these characters?
-Overall, how do you feel DC handles LGBT+ characters and themes?
Not a positive example, The Dark Knight Returns
Obsidian
I was thrilled when Connor Hawke came out last year as asexual. It’s so hard to find any representation for my end of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet, and it feels nice to have someone in the DCU stand for how I feel.
Batwoman’s coming out story where we learn how she was expelled from the military academy is an extremely powerful statement from its time, and one I stil lthink about as a gold standard demonstrating the courage it takes to be yourself.
I mean, my dream book is a Vic Sage and Renee Montoya team-up comic. Would love to see more of them working off each other.
I think it’s getting better every year. The increased focus on trans and nonbinary characters like Circuit Breaker, Galaxy, Dreamer, and Xanthe Zhou has been very welcome.
One character I was DEFINITELY stoked to meet this year was Circuit Breaker. Loving the explicit trans rep!
Coagula! Definitely Coagula! My favorite couple is HarlIvy though (obviously)
Galaxy: The Prettiest Star
More. Lol.
I think it depends on the author. Typically, I think they’re handled very well.
My favorite LGBTQ character would have to be Wonder Woman. As to my favorite story, I really can’t decide. Off the top of my head, I’ll say “A Game of You” from The Sandman. Wanda was a wonderful character. Over all, I think DC Comics handles LGBTQ characters very well. As to the future, I think DC Comics should just continue as they have. I think they’ve done a pretty good job thus far.
The Dance. Having Ghostmaker confirm something Gail Simone alluded to about Catman for a long time and I’m glad it’s official and with one of the best new additions to the Batman mythos. They honestly seem perfect for each other.
I want to see more of Catman obviously. Hopefully DC spotlight him more because he’s a great anti-villain who deserves more love. And Ghostmaker, a controversial superhero and self-proclaimed psychopath might have a softspot for Catman is still a hero who would most likely love to chase him, detain him and put him behind bars. (I swear I wasn’t planning on being funny with that last sentence 
)
More Catman and Ghostmaker!
Tim Drake
Probably Galaxy: the Prettiest Star
I think Galaxy deserves her own ongoing series
Eh pretty good but could be better
Was this pairing twased in Batman Incorporated? I didn’t know they knew each other.
And OMG, I’m just now seeing the parallel between Ghostmaker/Catman and Batman/Catwoman
Who is your favorite LGBT+ character and/or couple?
There’s a bunch but first that comes to mind is Dreamer. She was really cool and super and enjoyed seeing her like many dc characters make that transition to comics.
-What is your favorite story featuring an LGBT+ character?
I’ve enjoyed a lot if the stories in the Pride books. Time in Detective Rebirth was really nice. Jinny Hex’s book was fun. Hope to see her in more adventures one day. Maybe some time travel adventure with Jonah. I always enjoy Constantine and Kaldur has had great one too.
-What do you hope to see in the future regarding these characters?
Just more adventures and stories to be told. That they’re not tossed to side to never be seen. Outside of a cameo.
-Overall, how do you feel DC handles LGBT+ characters and themes?
I think they’ve always did their best to get some sort of rep for them regarding the times they were in. It hasn’t always been perfect but it’s nice to see them grow and learn and give people a chance to see some of themselves in these awesome™
stories and adventures.
Happy Pride everyone!
I haven’t read a lot of current DC, so I don’t know very much about the LGBTQIA+ characters at DC. I’ll answer the best that I can.
I don’t necessarily have a favorite couple, but I do like Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and The Ray.
Most of the stories I know with the LGBTQAI+ characters are the Pride anthologies. I loved “He’s the Light of My Life” with Green Lantern, “Super Pride” with Robin and Jon Kent, and “Public Display of Electromagnetism” with The Ray.
I’d like to see them used more (specifically The Ray). I’m a little miffed that some of these characters only see the light of day during Pride month, in an anthology.
You bring up a good point about hiw some of these characters only get stories during these kind of anthologies. A couple make sense like characters from Multiversity. But maybe if we cut back on some books, like how many Batman books we have, we could give more focus to these characters
The Hal and Barry expy’s from Multiversity, whom were well established as a couple even if that surprises people on reddit when they are talking about the DC Pride issue is probably my current favorite…
And while I did not like how quickly the killed off Alan’s boyfriend on Earth Two (New 52), I did like how they brought him back and at least allowed some closure. I also liked the way that this Alan Scott’s story was concluded (once they got towards Society and so forth), as I didn’t think they did a good job.
I think he and the Jay Flash would have made a good couple, but obviously TPBs at the time didn’t want to go there. Heck, even Jimmy before they turned him EBIL would have been a good partner for that version of the Flash than he was potentially indicated with. Heck, even EBIL Jimmy himself might have been!
I know people list some obvious choices and I do like many of them, except for the most obvious female one because I’ll never be a fan of a certain clown, but I don’t think DC has been doing a good job on any of them. I agree, for different reasons, about a bit of the criticism about Bernard and Tim and likewise Jay and Jonathan, but the problem with that is either a combination of (a) editorial dictates or (b) lazy or uninspired story-telling and scripting. I understand Bernard has had better development of late, so I’d refrain from actually calling this final judgment since I’ve ignored Tim’s solo book other than looking at the covers and variants and skimming the first issue, even the variants I’ve been too busy to look at in months. I haven’t looked at the last arc of Son of Kal-El so likewise on Jay, but my comments on poor scripting and lazy character development stand. Especially when Taylor has put so much effort into developing character for those of Grayson’s FRIENDS he’s introduced in that run - it just feels like he used up all his creativity there, and not so much so for the Jon run, OR that was an instance where he might have wanted to do something or he had to spend time and energy doing other things, due to editorial. Since I don’t know the facts behind that particular situation, again, it’s hard to intelligently comment.
So I’ll still give it to Hank and Ray (who deserves a LAST NAME, GF Dang It, and also a RING on his finger) for this year.
I’ll get back to the other questions in @EDT’s OP introduction in another post.
Jon Kent and Jay Nakamura are one of the best couples in superhero history.
Rrrrgh, the problem with that is there are so many of them that most all stories have at least one tangentially LGBT+ character, so you basically just asked me to name my favorite DC story. Which I guess is… DCeased maybe?
Tim Drake and Conner Kent need to be a couple
Ivy is not bi, Ivy is gay, but I don’t want to just reduce the number of bisexual characters, so that can only be acknowledged once Wonder Woman has a girlfriend, that way it’s +1 lesbian character and the number of bisexual characters stays the same.
On a scale of 1 (Disney) to 10 (Netflix), DC is a solid eight-and-a-half-to-nine-and-a-half.
When The Brain broke up with Monsieur Malla. I put my fist through a wall in sorrow.
Green Lantern in Earth-2 (just one of the reasons I loved the New 52).
I hated that too. I genuinely like the new Doom Patrol series but that was so messed up. The Brain and Monsieur Mala aren’t Harley Quinn and Joker. They’re a bickering villainous couple who have a genuinely wholesome relationship.
Hopefully they reconcile because that was so upsetting to see.
