Gotham Is The New Gay Stomping Ground
Detective Comics recently won the GLAAD award for outstanding comic book, with most interpretative commentary skewed towards celebrating the "Elegy" and "Go" storylines from the past few months, though there' hardly a nod at The Question second feature which appeared in those books. Sure, Kate Kane is DC's undisputed kickass lesbian, but Renee Montoya has had her share of female empowerment, both in her side feature and in her Detective #859 cameo. And yet, awesome as their realistic portrayals might be, these characters owe a lot to Gotham City itself for enabling their storylines. Batman's turf have evolved beyond its crime-ridden alleyways to become a bootcamp of sorts for the emerging gay hero.
Besides the stunning examples of those two lovely ladies, there's Gotham's new DA, Kate Spencer, who has her gay co-counsel Damon Matthews, and gay-in-the-making son Ramsey. Gotham's a fair venue for such a large gay supporting cast; Characters who operate within it benefit from its notoriety. Manhunter relied on Crisis tie-ins to make its sales, her co-feature in Streets of Gotham pits her against Harvey Dent and makes a better story than whatever this Abuse fellow is doing in the main story. Gotham works that way, it's got Arkham and its architecture that give it a certain taste, the backdrop neccesary for a hero's coming out.
Even the most perverse reboot wouldn't be able to out a character from rural Metropolis. Imagine Jimmy Olsen as a fashion photographer, to regurgitate one possible stereotype. It can't even begin to work as well as the characters closer to the Wayne estate could actualize. The Batman villains represent subversions of Batman's realistic elements, corruptions of fear, wealth, law enforcement. Going back to Metropolis, the only place capable of generating the same buzz within the DCU, we have villains that do battle with idealization. They're the smartest, or the shrewdest. Gay characters, regardless of their heroic alignment, need to be challenged by flawed counterparts to develop the depth that can make them stable and established characters. Gotham is more than a springboard for those minor characters vying for the mainstream, it's what makes these realistic men and women the "accurate and inclusive representations" that GLAAD is looking for, wholeheartedly deserving those laurels from the gay community.
Rubber Justice
Posted to editorial on 16 March 2010
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: batman, Detective Comics, Manhunter, Question, streets of gotham
Gay characters, regardless of their heroic alignment, need to be challenged by flawed counterparts to develop the depth that can make them stable and established characters. Gotham is more than a springboard for those minor characters vying for the mainstream, it's what makes these realistic men and women the "accurate and inclusive representations" that GLAAD is looking for
I think this should be repeated over and over, mantra-like, anytime anyone produces a queer character who's all stereotype and no substance. For real, this is one of the most valuable observations of and insights into what makes a gay character work or not work I've ever seen.