Bat News

I saw on the tv news this morning that the Batwoman character is going to be resurrected in the Batman comic (see story here). The big kicker is that she's going to be a lesbian! Oh my goodness!

Now, I'm all for diversity in super-hero, but why is this news? Gay and lesbian characters in comics are nothing new. I've never really been a big Batman reader, so maybe I've missed something along the way, but Batwoman was originally a character from the super-cheesy Batman comics of the late fifties and early sixties. She wore a yellow & red outfit and was part of the wacky Batman family that included Bat-Mite, Bat-Hound, Bat-Ape and Bat-Baby. I thought the character was killed off sometime in the sixties, but I could be wrong.

New characters come and go all the time in the comic book world, so it perplexes me that this is a news-worthy story. I would wager that very few people know that a Batwoman even existed. Most people know Batgirl, but I don't think the common man on the street knows Batwoman. Sure, it's great publicity for DC Comics, but why does anyone care? Oh yeah - she's a lesbian in a slinky Batman outfit.