“…I don’t want to see characters who’ve been straight for 60 years become lesbians overnight because the writer was too stupid or uncreative to come up with something decent…”
Seems like the makings of another controversy, this time from Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier, The Spirit, Parker – The Hunter). The comment came to my attention this morning following a link while reading through my Google reader.Whoever it was, they pointed to this Youtube video that was posted on 4th Letter. Apologies for not giving appropriate credit though Valerie D’Orazio has blogged about the incident. You can read her comments here. I might agree with some of Cooke’s sentiment if, as D’Orazio posits, part of what he was referring to involved the publicity that resulted from Batwoman’s sexuality.
Oops! Credit where it’s due. Postmodernbarney is the blog where I first read about Cooke’s comment. Dorian makes a valid point when he says he finds Cooke’s attitude disappointing given how much of Cooke’s work is backward looking.
I don’t believe that Greg Rucka, who’s implied here, was either too stupid or uncreative when the decision was made to revive and recast Batwoman into a superhero who happens to be a lesbian. That decision was made when Devin Grayson was given the character to develop, but that’s another story. It’s a shame that we’ll probably never know what Grayson’s plans for Batwoman were, but Rucka gave his best to write memorable stories.
Now it’d be easy to think from that quick comment Cooke is being homophobic. He wasn’t. And isn’t, as he clarified in the comments section:
“My comment about making a character a lesbian has outraged some so I thought the following clarification might help-
Consider this- After sixty years of being a lesbian, a beloved character is made straight for sales or creative purposes- wouldn’t that be wrong as well?
I think gay characters are an important and welcome part of any contemporary expression. What I want is to see creators and publishers creating new characters that are gay and lesbian, and spend the decades needed creating and supporting stories about these characters. It strikes me as opportunistic and somewhat wrongheaded to take someone else’s creation and afterdecades of established character action make that drastic a change.”
Up to a point I agree. The hypothetical question of turning a 60 year old lesbian character precludes the fact that gay and lesbian characters don’t have such a lengthy history. Off the top of my head, Maggie Sawyer has 22 years of history which is actually remarkable.
Art by Cooke and J. Bone
I’m all for new LGBT characters! The reality is that for any number of reasons new characters of any kind face significant hurdles to survive and thrive in comics today, touching on a lot of other related issues.
But Darwyn Cooke isn’t homophobic. If he were, he wouldn’t have created Argo Bones and Kimball Richards, a little known couple seen during his run on The Spirit. It’s just too bad they’ll never be seen again because they were quite interesting. So much for that long running history.
A couple of updates. G. I. Jolie wrote to let me know the video originated from the folks at Comic Book Syndicate. There, if you scroll down just a bit, you’ll find a note from artist J Bone, colleague and Spirit collaborator, setting the record, um, straight, as it were, about this tempest in a teapot. In case you don’t know, Bone is also gay and you should check out his NSFW Man’s Adventures blog. Bone also alludes to the character in question as being The Question and not Batwoman. Personally, I prefer Renee Montoya in her former detective days, but I also hate it when LGBT characters languish in limbo.
Here’s a surprise in the morning! In going through my routine of reading comics news sites first thing I find Rich Johnston from Bleeding Cool has linked to this article. Said link being coded in “however measured” in the following sentence:
“But in light of criticism, however measured, from certain people spying potential homophobia in Darwyn’s comments, certain creators rallied round.” Just to be clear… I don’t think Darwyn Cooke is homophobic. Certainly not based on comments in this video and his association with J Bone.
Around the blogosphere -
David Brothers shares thoughts on 4th Letter and lots of comments follow. Michael May of Robot 6 weighs in. Liana from Nerd Girl Pinups FTW!
Glad to see Cooke isn’t homophobic. That would have broken my heart. He’s one of my favorite creators. Also, since out artist J. Bone is his frequent collaborator, it just wouldn’t have made sense.
I’m half with Cooke here and half against him. On one hand, I hate the idea that nothing about iconic characters should never change. Usually what these creators (Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, Roy Thomas) seem to be saying is that they want the characters to stay frozen as they were in their childhood memories. The only Flash is the Flash that they grew up with.
On the other hand, Cooke seems to mostly have a problem with All Star Batman. Which was totally crappy. Right on, Darwyn!
But this is a new Batwoman. Same name, different woman. So give her a break, Darwyn.
I was so disappointed when one half of that gay couple in The Spirit was killed, it completely killed my enjoyment of those last issues. Yeah, I know, bit stupid, but I can’t help how I feel.
That being said, I’m also very relieved by Cooke’s subsequent comments. Though I don’t agree with his views in general. Those Golden Age and Silver Age weren’t made to last so long, that’s the big problem. The only way to make them interesting nowadays is to make changes. Which changes, that’s another problem!
Hello friends at Gay League… this is G.I.Jolie writing to you from the Comic Book Syndicate aka those responsible for this video.
Just wanted to thank you for your wonderful article as I’m becoming increasing worried that Darwyn is being painted as a homophobe (which has been refuted by J. Bone [thank GAWD] on the 4th Letter comment board)
just wanted to point out that the reference to the lesbian character has also been alluded to in J. Bone’s comment. “…the Questions. hint hint”
Do you have any writings/musings about sexual orientation in The Authority?
Hi, G.I. Jolie,
Ah, now that I know where the video comes from I can give proper credit. Thanks for letting me know. It concerned me that some people would start labeling Cooke as a homophobe and, while I don’t know the man personally, his comments, work, and association with J Bone, an artist who’s openly gay simply speak otherwise to me. Thanks also for the update about Bone alluding to the Question.
As for your question about The Authority, I think so, at least with Midnighter, but they may not be online right now. This site was hacked and mostly destroyed — it’s been over a year — but I know some material wasn’t re-published as I wanted to go through it. I’ll have to check.
Joe
Hey Joe,
Please keep me posted!
As I suffer through the increasely hetero comments (today and everyday), it’s rare that I find a different perspective! Keep me posted if you find your past writings.
Jolie
I’ll do that! Maybe I’ll have a look through old stuff tomorrow. Note made. Now it’s off to bed with me. Thanks for stopping by and posting. Much appreciated!
It’s interesting, and very reassuring, that J. Bone stated that Cooke was talking about the Question, and not Batwoman. But he still sounds like he’s stuck with some “pure” version of the characters he liked, and frankly, that doesn’t make much sense. The quality of the current versions is another question entirely.
Hi, Robert,
Bone alludes in a comment at Comic Book Syndicate that Cooke was thinking of The Question, not Batwoman when he made the comment in the video. In that case I might agree with him that Montoya Question isn’t so creative (my word) as regular Detective Montoya was. It’s just my personal theory that Rucka may not have found the character so interesting after making changes and I like to think that his Dex Parios in Stumptown is much closer to what Montoya would have been if she’d stayed a detective.
We agree that some creators (and lots of fans) have very idealized notions of how iconic characters should look and act and the kinds of stories to tell about them.
Joe
François, your comment about Golden and Silver Age characters lack of longevity in design is apt. I’ve been reading Kirby King of Comics and the sense I get time and time again in reading through it is that Kirby was overwhelmingly concerned with providing for his family, and that translated into working obsessively and trying to create a new hit or replicate some successful formula without being sued. Not that Kirby & Simon, Kirby & Lee (well, maybe not so much with Lee) and other writers and artists didn’t have integrity but the primary concern was making money. Agh! Starting to go off on a tangent.
You’re right! There has to be change. Siegel and Schuster’s early Superman is different from the 50s or any other era.
Absolutement, mon ami!