DC Pride 2022 #1

 This past weekend, I ventured into my local comics shop, Acme Comics of Greensboro NC, and among the books I picked up was DC Pride 2022 #1, this year's anthology of stories written and drawn by LGBTQ creators featuring DC's LGBTQ characters.  

I had to ask for the book. It seem this year's anthology sold out rather quickly but Acme's owner/manager Jermaine found a copy for me.

While I'm straight, I do try to support this initiative as an ally of my daughter Randie.  

DC's roster of LGBTQ characters has grown considerably including Tim Drake (Robin) and Jon Kent (Superman) coming out as bi-sexual over the last year.   

I understand the Bi label for Tim as he's had a long history with DC which includes more than a few girlfriends including most notably Stephanie Brown.  But I think given Jon Kent's relative newness as a character and the lack of such history, I think DC should've just committed and have him just be gay.  

I guess there is only so far a corporate entity will go regarding the person holding down the mantle of Superman in the DC universe.  Still, I suppose, kudos are in order for going as far they have.  

In the book's 12 stories, most feature LGBTQ characters who are part of the main DC Universe line. These are not just specially designated characters from some sort of Elseworlds type one shot. Some of these stories reference events in various ongoing titles. 

Due to circumstances of time and budget, I'm not completely immersed in the minutia of the goings on in the DC Universe. But I was able to pick up things pretty well. (Probably the Far Sector story was the most confusing for me personally.)   

Most of these short stories are "slice of life" entries, a few moments in the life of a super hero who also happens to be   LGBTQ. There are some perfunctory battles with a super villain but mostly these stories are about people just trying to live their best and most truthful lives.

Not all these stories deal with same-sex couples. The Connor Hawke/Green Arrow entry deals with asexuality.  

The Batgirl entry features Barbara Gordon's friend Alysia Yeoh, a trans woman character Gail Simone introduced years ago.  

Nicole Maines (Dreamer from Supergirl) pens a forward to this book that is part celebration and also sadly part cautionary.  Nicole addresses the aggressive anti-LGBTQ political climate.  Whatever gains that have been achieved that make a book like DC Pride 2022 #1  possible are under siege. 

Speaking of "cautionary", the book ends of a powerfully personal note with a story written by Kevin Conroy, perhaps the definitive Batman actor of our generation, providing the the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Animated Series. Kevin's journey as a gay actor is not an easy one with obstacles of homophobic discrimination and abuse as well as fear at the height of the AIDS epidemic.  

It's when Kevin goes into audition for the part of Batman that he was able to craft a sort of answer to his lifelong pain. Batman created dual identities to cope with his pain, his trauma, a mechanism that Kevin understood all too well among the other stories in that it's not about a super hero in their unique world of adventure and action but about a real person who uses the language of the super hero to find meaning, purpose and peace in his own life. 

While anthology books are by nature a bit hit or miss, this collection looks good and is consistently enjoyable.