This is what Batwoman looks like today in the comics.
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| Art by J H Williams III |
Batwoman is Kate Kane, a highly trained ex-Marine and a lesbian. Since her creation about 10 years ago, Batwoman has headlined Detective Comics and a couple of solo titles, milestones for an openly gay character in comics.
Here is Batwoman today from TV.
Portrayed by Ruby Rose, an openly gay actress, Batwoman made her TV debut during the Elseworlds crossover event with The Flash, Arrow and Supergirl.
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| Art by J H Williams III |
Batwoman got to team up with Wonder Woman once but don't get too excited. It was for super hero stuff. Yes, you might think, "Hey, Batwoman's a lesbian and Wonder Woman is from a island full of lesbians so why not?"
Look, lesbians can just be friends, OK? Just because two lesbians meet up doesn't mean the occasion turns into a soft core porno on Showtime at two in the morning.
Besides, Batwoman's eyes were elsewhere.
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| Art by J H Williams III |
The "Mags" in the above illustration is Maggie Sawyer and if that name sounds familiar, she is DC's #1 lesbian cop person.
She made her debut back in the mid-1980s during John Byne's run on Superman. Later, Sawyer moved to Gotham City where she met DC's #2 lesbian cop, Renee Montoya.
Yes, there are exactly two lesbian cops in the DC universe and yes, they got together because... comics, man!
Later, Renee became a super hero so she and Maggie split up because... comics, man!
Then DC's #1 lesbian cop Maggie Sawyer met Gotham's #1 lesbian socialite, Kate Kane who was also Gotham's #1 lesbian Bat person.
Then Kate asked Maggie to marry her but Dan DiDio was a dick about it, being on a "no married super heroes kick" and so that DC's #1 lesbian cop moved back to Metropolis.
2 years ago, Maggie Sawyer made the jump to TV where she became the CW's #1 lesbian cop on Supergirl where Maggie hooks up with didn't know she was a lesbian Alex Danvers. Alex asked Maggie to marry her. Then the actress playing Maggie didn't want to be the CW's #1 lesbian cop anymore and so Alex, who suddenly realized she was gay all her life also realizes she's wanted kids all her life because.... TV, man!
Anyway, Maggie doesn't want kids so you can guess the rest.
Anyway, back to Batwoman.
The weird thing is that for all off Batwoman's lesbianess, the first Batwoman in comics was introduced to demonstrate that Batman and Robin were NOT gay.
In the early 1950s, Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent was a powerful polemic against the comic book industry, accusing comic books of breeding juvenile delinquency and sexual deviancy. On the latter point, Wertham accused Batman and Robin of promoting a homosexual lifestyle.
What Batman needs is a WOMAN!!!!
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| From Detective Comics#233: Bruce Wayne is pleased that a newcomer, Kathy Kane, has taken such a liking to the Batman. However, when a mysterious new crimefighter appears on the scene, usurping much of Batman's glory, the Dynamic Duo steps in to halt her career before she gets seriously hurt. |
Basically, Batwoman kept throwing herself at Batman trying to get him to love her and ol' Bats is flummoxed as hell because, well, she's a woman!
And what of poor old Robin, the Boy Wonder?
Kathy had a cousin, Betty, who became the first Bat-Girl.
When Julius Schwartz took over editing the Batman titles in the early 1960s, Batwoman and Bat-Girl were just ignored.
In the late 1970s, Bob Rozakis brought Batwoman back in Batman Family and Freedom Fighters while Bat-Girl turned up in Bob's Teen Titans series.
Then Denny O'Neil had Kathy Kane killed by the League of Assasins which was just sad.
About 10 years ago, a new Kate Kane made her debut as the newest iteration of Batwoman as one of comics first openly gay female super heroes.
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| Art by Steve Epting |
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