Alias: Batwoman
Fandom: DC
In 2006, DC announced Batwoman would be back, that it was going to be Kate Kane, and that she was totally a lesbian. Nothing else. "Hey readers! This character you all know nothing about because she was last seen in the seventies will be reintroduced also, ahah, check out that lesbian chick." That is not how they said it, to be fair, but, well... it seemed a bit shady. Especially when you're in a bad mood and you hate the comic industry because you feel they only cater to straight white males – I thought "Well damn, a hot lesbian that will have hot lesbian relationships so that more straight white males will read comics. Yoopidoo."
I was wrong. Kate Kane is, in fact, really not a horror story in the world of lgbt superheroes. Now that this is established and that everyone knows that I judge things too fast, let's get to this character introduction.
Kate was introduced in 2007, in the 52 series. The best thing about 52 is the worst thing about it: it's full of minor characters no one knows about. If you are a DC geek, it's pretty awesome; if you don't know that much about DC, you are lost after a few issues and drop the title.
Back on topic, the richest family in Gotham is the Waynes, as everyone ever knows. The family that owns everything the Wayne family doesn't own is the Kanes. We meet Kate for the first time at a rich party-thing being held in her family's bigass manor as we follow detective Renee Montoya there. The scene is reminiscent of all the functions held in the Wayne manor. They have an Alfred called Jeeves, who isn't as awesome as Alfred by a long shot.
Second page in and we know two things: she's rich and beautiful, and she and Renee used to be in a relationship.
Notice Renee's reaction to Kate punching her in the face: 'Somewhere along the line, someone taught her how to throw a punch.' Remember it, it will come back later.
We see Batwoman for the first time on the last page of 52 #9, doing nothing, and we theoretically don't know it's Kate at that point. I have thus decided that her first real appearance is in 52 #11, in a pretty good full page.
Renee recognizes how Kate punches right away, of course.
Kate and Renee end up having some sort of on/off relationship through 52, as they do share a kiss eventually in 52 #33.
Nightwing also spends part of 52 flirting with Kate and not really understanding why it's not working for a while. (Then again, if someone who looked like Dick Grayson existed in real life, I would also be puzzled by someone who didn't show even the tiniest bit of interest. And this is not a post about Dick so we shall return to Kate, now.)
The thing with Kate and Renee is that even though they quickly have something going on in 52, it's not written to pull the straight white male into reading this comic. It's not written in a hot, brainless way or with a 'lol lesbians' feeling to it. It's simply Kate, new awesome character, doing stuff from within a huge story, who also happens to be a lesbian. The relationship with Renee is complicated because they were once in love, and are they still, and what is going on there? And maybe now's not the best time to think about it, because other things are happening? It... honestly, the bits in 52 about Kate read more like they were written for a female audience than a male audience. I enjoyed it.
Kate sticks around through all of 52 and is the key character of one of the storylines going on there. After 52, she got an arc of 7 issues in Detective Comics.
Her arc in Detective Comics reveals a lot about her past, about how she came out to her father, about her family, about The Event(s) That Traumatised Her in her life that made her become a Bat. And okay, okay, it's not a direct cause-consequence thing, but all Bats need shitty things in their past. It's mandatory to have a membership card.
People have had mixed feelings about her background because, well, without getting into details here, there's rape in it. It is always touchy to put abuse perpetrated by men in a lesbian's background, because it tends to end up reading like 'oh, poor woman, she was traumatised by men and therefore she's a lesbian.'
I didn't get that vibe from Kate. Kate is a lesbian because she's a lesbian and she just went through some shitty stuff in her life. As I said – that's mandatory for Bats. And come on, Bruce was raped, Dick was raped, Tim's virginity was nearly taken through rape which I disliked a lot, holy shit... What I mean to say is that the dramatic past isn't there because Kate is a lesbian in a discriminatory way. It's not a lesbian thing; it's a Bat thing. I mind it a lot less that way.
To go back to her arc in Detective, she's a lot less feminine in it. There's yet another rich people function and she goes there with a tuxedo, which is a huge change from the flashy dress with the enormous cleavage from 52.
It can easily be attributed to the fact she was in the closet in 52 and isn't anymore by then. She is a lot more masculine in Detective Comics, overall, and her hair is shorter, so it seems pretty obvious that how feminine she appeared to be in 52 was an act to keep up appearances, and that she pretty much kicked it very, very far away since. The fact that she used to be in the army backs this up, too; hard to be a lipstick lesbian in the army, I would think.
I am now going to take a few minutes to show off the art in Kate's Detective Comics arc.
Traditional paneling? What is that? I find the art gorgeous when Kate is Batwoman and during action scenes, but I don't feel strongly about it when she's just Kate and mundane activities are going on. Your mileage may vary, obviously.
Since these issues, she's been around during Battle for the Cowl, Batman and Robin, and others. She has a title in DC's New 52, "Batwoman", which is drawn by the same artist who did her Detective arc. Not a bad time to pick her up!
Recs: Detective Comics: Elegy (issues 854-860), Batwoman #1 (ongoing), mainly.
52 is not a bad idea for Kate and Renee, but Kate only appears in the following issues: 7, 9, 11, 28, 30, 33, 34, 36, 47, 48, 52; also, there are many other storylines with various other characters happening in 52.
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