Pride Profile: Sir Tristan, Camelot 3000. Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland’s Camelot 3000 broke a lot of barriers in comics. It was DC’s first maxi-series, the first printed on higher grade paper, and it presented the first truly transgender character by a major comic publisher. Sure, you could find some Silver Age cross-dressing (looking at you master of disguise Jimmy Olsen), but this series dives full-force into the issues surrounding gender dysphoria in a surprisingly complex and compassionate way. Awakened with the rest of King Arthur’s court in the year 3000 to once again save England, Sir Tristan finds himself born into the body of a woman. Tristan struggles with his identity, his love for Isolde and what ‘evil’ he must have done to deserve this fate. The word ‘transgender’ never appears and the story resolves differently than it might if written today but, none of that takes away from the historical significance of Sir Tristan’s depiction. On top of that, Camelot 3000 is a heck of a good read.
