Katherine Miller, The Real Life Batwoman
I've never seen someone malign Greg Rucka's work, but a news piece that broke today makes him look damn-near prophetic. Pinknews.co.uk reports on the story of Katherine Miller:
A lesbian cadet offered her resignation this week to top US military academy West Point over the "don't ask, don't tell" policy...
Which is perfectly reflexive of a plot point in Rucka's Detective Comics #859, a book you should've read a half-dozen times by now. It's a credit to the author that he can create characters so true that their stories exist in reality (though undoubtedly there have already been other gay cadets in the same position), but Rucka exhibits a real mastery for their motivations and moral stances. If you'll remember, Katherine Kane bowed out in reverence to the West Point cadet honor code, "A Cadet Will Not Lie, Cheat, Steal, Or Tolerate Those Who Do." Katherine Miller had this to say about her own resignation,
"In short, I have lied to my classmates and compromised my integrity and identity by adhering to existing military policy."
She may be no Batwoman, but Ms. Miller is certainly an object of admiration for me. And Rucka, well, I'm sure this won't be my last chance to gush at the women he "invents".
Rubber Justice
Posted to LGBT Character of the Week on 13 August 2010
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: batwoman, Greg Rucka, politics, strange resemblance
Incredibly brave and sad. I have tremendous respect for her integrity and the military is poorer without her. One of my close friends is a recently-discharged veteran who had to be extremely nimble regarding how in or out of the closet he was at any given moment. Incredibly frustrating for me to hear about, but to him it's just how things were.
What's even more weird... Katherine Miller is a twin too.