Pride Profile: Jericho. You would think being Deathstroke’s kid would be enough of a challenge for anyone. But, Joseph Williams Wilson has always been given bigger obstacles to overcome, and this sensitive and artistic superhero has conquered them all. Created in 1984 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez for Tales of the Teen Titans #43, Jericho was part of a broader effort to introduce more characters into the Titans not directly connected to the older generation of DC heroes. While Wolfman had the name and parentage, it was Perez who not only designed Jericho’s look but developed his powers, personality and his inability to speak. Jericho’s power to ‘jump’ into and control another person, and his need to express himself physically played into Perez’s strengths depicting action. At the time, the scribe and artist discussed Jericho being gay, but decided making the ‘sensitive’ hero gay was playing into stereotypes. And, while Joseph was romantically connected to Raven and Kole, some readers saw the character as gay. Finally, with Rebirth Jericho was depicted as bisexual. Making this a case were something his initial creators saw in him came through on the page and eventually became canon.
Adding another layer to this pride profile, a trans actor was chosen to play a character with the power to inhabit a body not their own, when Chella Man took on the role of Jericho in Titans. Man had already inspired others by chronicling his personal journey through gender transition and living “deaf, Genderqueer, Chinese, and Jewish," on his popular You Tube account.
