The Comic Book Thread

[Gamerforlife]

This is really, really dumb. Do they really want to piss off people who are against the New 52 initiative even more than they already have? And it's insulting to gay people that you can't actually make characters for them but have to instead force pre-existing characters into a gay role just to try and be politically correct or sell more books

What they did with Batwoman is the right way to bring gay characters into the world of DC. Over time, they can turn Batwoman into a real major player in the DC Universe. Then you'll have a major character who was gay from day one so it doesn't seem forced.

I'll stop reading Batman if they turn him gay. For one thing, it'll just make people who've been making gay jokes about him and Robin for years have even more of a reason to make fun of the character. It's going to ruin the whole Batman/Robin dynamic by making it seem very awkward and weird and it would also spit in the face of the character's history. Batman's been banging girls throughout his entire history and given all the attention his appearance in Catwoman # 1 got, having him suddenly come out of the closet wouldn't make any sense at all. Hell, if he was gay you can be damn sure someone like Catwoman would have picked up on it. Course they could make him bi, which for some reason people never talk about it. It's always an issue of people being straight or gay, as if bi sexual people just don't exist. I'd hate that too though, because it would just be too drastic a change for such an established character.

They need to create new characters with diverse backgrounds and sexual orientations. You can't just go around making major changes to established characters liked that. It spits in the face of tradition and it upsets long time fans when you take someone they thought they knew and completely change them.

[Mendoza]

This is DC we are talking about. They do cultural sensitivity about as well as that old guy at the bus station sometimes.

Lets not forget that the new Batwoman was immediately identified as a lesbian before she even appeared. It was her character trait as far as people knew, and having her refereed to in an article as "a lipstick lesbian" didnt help.

Now thankfully they got away from that at lightspeed, but Renne Montoya was handled about a billion times better.

A gay Batman doesn't make sense given his history. Id just like him to not come off as a paranoid dick.

[OldSchool_Boy]

I have question regarding if anyone reads 'The Goon'. When it comes to the trade paperbacks; It (wikipedia) says that Volumes 0 has issues #1,2,3 and then Volumes 1 and 2 have issues #1,2,3,4. Can anyone tell me whats the difference between them?

[BurningDoom]

This is DC we are talking about. They do cultural sensitivity about as well as that old guy at the bus station sometimes.

Lets not forget that the new Batwoman was immediately identified as a lesbian before she even appeared. It was her character trait as far as people knew, and having her refereed to in an article as "a lipstick lesbian" didnt help.

Now thankfully they got away from that at lightspeed, but Renne Montoya was handled about a billion times better.

A gay Batman doesn't make sense given his history. Id just like him to not come off as a paranoid dick.

Wait, huh?! Cultural sensitivity as well as the old guy at the bus station? Really? Then what is this:



Or how about this one:



I think you meant to say that DC Comics were the innovators when it comes to cultural sensitivity in comic books.

And of course Batwoman's character was lesbian to begin with, when she was introduced she was Renee Montoya's girlfriend. I think it would be even less believable if she debuted straight then suddenly turned lesbian.

[Gamerforlife]

See that's the thing I don't like, turning straight characters gay. It just feels kind of jarring. It took me a while to get used to Willow being gay on Buffy after three seasons of her being a straight character. In that time, we saw her being googly eyed towards her friend Xander all the time. We also saw her develop a strong emotional attachment to another male character who she seemingly fell in love with and even had sex with, then season 4 came along and it was like, hey! She's gay now!

I mean she became a very well written gay character and even became something of an icon among the gay community due to her having what may have been the first long term gay relationship on a TV show. I eventually got used to her being gay, but it was just so weird how they took a character who had been straight for three years and just had her switch teams all of a sudden. Frankly, I'd have adjusted to it more easily if she had came out as being bi-sexual, but the whole I was into guys for three years and now have no interest in guys at all thing is just weird. Some people say the signs were always there, but I think that's nonsense. Joss just woke up one day and decided that he wanted her to be gay and that was that. He handled it so well though, but I just would have preferred that she had been gay since day one.

So I'm not keen on DC taking a formerly straight character and having that character magically become gay. If they did that with batman, which I highly doubt is what they are actually doing but a lot of people seem to think so, it presents the same problem. You have a guy who always played the millionaire playboy for years with a reputation for sleeping with droves of beautiful women, not to mention his long established relationships with Talia and Catwoman leading to a son (Damian) and a daughter in an alternate universe (Huntress) and just have him come out of the closet all of the sudden? Really? Seriously? That would be ridiculous. This is the world of comic books, where you are always inside people's heads in a way you don't get with TV shows and movies. Are they seriously going to make us believe that a character who never had a gay thought in his entire life is suddenly coming out?

[BoringSupreez]

So I'm not keen on DC taking a formerly straight character and having that character magically become gay. If they did that with batman, which I highly doubt is what they are actually doing but a lot of people seem to think so, it presents the same problem. You have a guy who always played the millionaire playboy for years with a reputation for sleeping with droves of beautiful women, not to mention his long established relationships with Talia and Catwoman leading to a son (Damian) and a daughter in an alternate universe (Huntress) and just have him come out of the closet all of the sudden? Really? Seriously? That would be ridiculous. This is the world of comic books, where you are always inside people's heads in a way you don't get with TV shows and movies. Are they seriously going to make us believe that a character who never had a gay thought in his entire life is suddenly coming out?

Couldn't have said it better. If they turn Batman gay, I'm going to start ignoring new Batman stuff from here on out. It would be totally ridiculous.

[Michi]

....If they did that with batman, which I highly doubt is what they are actually doing but a lot of people seem to think so, it presents the same problem. You have a guy who always played the millionaire playboy for years with a reputation for sleeping with droves of beautiful women, not to mention his long established relationships with Talia and Catwoman leading to a son (Damian) and a daughter in an alternate universe (Huntress) and just have him come out of the closet all of the sudden? Really? Seriously? That would be ridiculous. This is the world of comic books, where you are always inside people's heads in a way you don't get with TV shows and movies. Are they seriously going to make us believe that a character who never had a gay thought in his entire life is suddenly coming out?

Not only that, but wouldn't it be odd to turn Batman gay when you already have a gay character in the 'Bat Universe?' I know he and Batwoman don't really interact all that much, but I think having him come out of the closet would be overdoing it.

I'm not saying they won't do it, but I do think it would be a bad idea considering his mainstream exposure via motion picture where he showed obvious attraction to women. I guess they could always cover for all of that by just saying he's a major flirt/tease or in denial or some such nonsense, but with the new movie coming out I think that would be a bad idea. People'll hear he's gay, go see the movie looking for some secret attraction to Bain and then see him inevitably making googly eyes at Catwoman instead and call BS.

I'm thinking they'll pick a different character, is what I'm saying.

[Gamerforlife]

....If they did that with batman, which I highly doubt is what they are actually doing but a lot of people seem to think so, it presents the same problem. You have a guy who always played the millionaire playboy for years with a reputation for sleeping with droves of beautiful women, not to mention his long established relationships with Talia and Catwoman leading to a son (Damian) and a daughter in an alternate universe (Huntress) and just have him come out of the closet all of the sudden? Really? Seriously? That would be ridiculous. This is the world of comic books, where you are always inside people's heads in a way you don't get with TV shows and movies. Are they seriously going to make us believe that a character who never had a gay thought in his entire life is suddenly coming out?

Not only that, but wouldn't it be odd to turn Batman gay when you already have a gay character in the 'Bat Universe?' I know he and Batwoman don't really interact all that much, but I think having him come out of the closet would be overdoing it.

You know I've been thinking a lot about Batwoman's place in the Bat universe and it just seems so odd. I mean, she calls herself BATwoman and she has a BAT symbol on her costume, but that's really it as far as her connection to Batman. She doesn't interact with him, his family, or his allies. She has no strong ties to any of them and works alone. In fact, her book is the only Bat title to be excluded from the recent Night of Owls crossover event that took place in all the Bat books. Even the Birds of Prey book was included and they are considered "allies of the Bat." So here's what I don't get. Why the hell does she call herself BATwoman? Why the hell does she wear a BAT on her costume?

Honestly, the only thing that connects Batwoman to Batman in any way is that she lives in Gotham. I'm not knocking the character, but it just seems like they could have named her anything BUT Batwoman and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's just something that's been irritating me. If you're into Batman and looking for comics to pick up, you see her book and think, "Oh, let me see what this Batwoman is all about and what her connection to Batman is." Then you find out she's NOT a Bat character at all. Hell, Huntress has more of a connection to Batman and there's nothing bat related at all in her name or outfit.

Plus, if you're reading the current Batgirl book, you know it pissed off Barbara Gordon when people keep referring to her as Batwoman

Can't say that I blame her

[BurningDoom]

....If they did that with batman, which I highly doubt is what they are actually doing but a lot of people seem to think so, it presents the same problem. You have a guy who always played the millionaire playboy for years with a reputation for sleeping with droves of beautiful women, not to mention his long established relationships with Talia and Catwoman leading to a son (Damian) and a daughter in an alternate universe (Huntress) and just have him come out of the closet all of the sudden? Really? Seriously? That would be ridiculous. This is the world of comic books, where you are always inside people's heads in a way you don't get with TV shows and movies. Are they seriously going to make us believe that a character who never had a gay thought in his entire life is suddenly coming out?

Not only that, but wouldn't it be odd to turn Batman gay when you already have a gay character in the 'Bat Universe?' I know he and Batwoman don't really interact all that much, but I think having him come out of the closet would be overdoing it.

You know I've been thinking a lot about Batwoman's place in the Bat universe and it just seems so odd. I mean, she calls herself BATwoman and she has a BAT symbol on her costume, but that's really it as far as her connection to Batman. She doesn't interact with him, his family, or his allies. She has no strong ties to any of them and works alone. In fact, her book is the only Bat title to be excluded from the recent Night of Owls crossover event that took place in all the Bat books. Even the Birds of Prey book was included and they are considered "allies of the Bat." So here's what I don't get. Why the hell does she call herself BATwoman? Why the hell does she wear a BAT on her costume?

Honestly, the only thing that connects Batwoman to Batman in any way is that she lives in Gotham. I'm not knocking the character, but it just seems like they could have named her anything BUT Batwoman and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's just something that's been irritating me. If you're into Batman and looking for comics to pick up, you see her book and think, "Oh, let me see what this Batwoman is all about and what her connection to Batman is." Then you find out she's NOT a Bat character at all. Hell, Huntress has more of a connection to Batman and there's nothing bat related at all in her name or outfit.

Plus, if you're reading the current Batgirl book, you know it pissed off Barbara Gordon when people keep referring to her as Batwoman

Can't say that I blame her

You make a very good point about Batwoman. They basically did it simply to get more fans to pay attention to it, I suppose.

As for it being too much for two gay characters to be in the same, uh, grouping (what would you call that? They're not a team, they're just Bat-people). I don't know, it makes sense to me. You know the saying, birds of a feather flock together. Like-minded people usually become friends with each. That's just human nature. BUT, like was pointed out above, they aren't really friends...so I guess it doesn't matter either way.

[Luke]

The fact that anyone even thinks for a second that DC would make Batman gay is completely baffling.

That's like Nintendo announcing Mario is gay. Ain't happening.