So Long, Batman…Hello, Catwoman!
As an on-again, off-again comic reader and collector, imagine my delight to read in this week’s NY Daily News that Kathy Kane, the new alter ego for Batwoman, is a dyke. There she is in all her glory–muscles, leather, long, curly hair, a great body–I can hardly wait to rush to the store to pick up a copy! The first issue is due in July.
I wonder if she will ever get together with Catwoman? I know Catwoman is supposed to have a big thing for Batman, but when I last picked up the book and read a few issues, Catwoman would leap off a building anytime Batman tried to move in for a kiss. She moved so fast Batman couldn’t follow her. Once back at her apartment door, Catwoman returned to her identity as Selena Kyle, a wealthy businesswoman with a soft heart for the poor and oppressed. Selena lives with a young woman she rescued from the streets. There is nothing ever explicit, but they are usually seen standing close together, or lounging around beds and couches half-dressed. The long, meaningful looks, the jealous flair-ups, and the constantly hurt feelings were tantalizing clues as to what was really going on. The writer, Devin Grayson, not only revitalized the character of Catwoman/Selena Kyle, but also provided some sexual tension between Catwoman, Batman and the young prostitute Selena Kyle took under her wing.
The masks, the outlaw life, the double life, the trying or acting “straight” but maintaining a secret life or identity…all these themes have a place in gay life as well as comic books. “We deal with stories about identities and secret identities,” said Dan DiDio, DC Comics vice president and executive editor, “And we think that a character who is openly gay, yet keeps it a secret from certain members of her own family, has a lot of strong emotional layers.”
Well, if sparks don’t fly with Catwoman, she can always crossover to Marvel and date Supergirl, or anyone of the “X-Men” women.
