Paying tribute to some of the lesbian comic book characters that have played a part in increasing visibility over the years...kudos ladies! It was tough growing up on the margins of society and these sapphic superheroines/villians (no matter how closeted some may have been in my day) gave us someone to relate to in the comic world.
The launch of DC's Batwoman series following her award-winning Elegy story arc in the Detective Comics made Kate Kane the first lesbian charcter to have her own mainstream series. Since she was 'outed' in 2006, Ms Kane has arguably provided some of DC's best story lines in recent years.
Maggie Sawyer was notable in being one of the first openly gay characters in a mainstream comic series. It'll be interesting to see where her story line in the 2011 Batwoman series will lead.
Thanks to Greg Rucka, Renee Montoya became one of the most prominent homosexual characters in the mainstream comic world. Between Ms Montoya and her ex-girlfriend Kate Kane to name but a couple, DC deserve some serious brownie points when it comes to their representation of lesbian characters.
Based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire ur-mother, the comic counterpart of Carmilla was one of my first encounters with an openly lesbian comic book character. The Aircel series depicted Le Fanu's lesbian undertones in an unapologetic and explicit manner. This sapphic sucker remains an old favourite.
What's not to love about this sapphic sucker? With attitude for days and enough blood lust to satiate an entire vampire community, Purgatori is a vampiric lesbian force to be reckoned with. Chaos Comics' open representation of lesbianism may not have been the most accurate but it was definitely significant in improving visibility.
Mystique and Destiny may just have had the first 'modern' family in comic book history...quite who Marvel thought they were fooling with the whole closet thing I will never know!
One of the few people Mystique truly loved, surely that says it all really...
Purgatori's soul mate...whoever thought that the red-skinned lesbian vampire goddess could be tamed? That said, the sympathetic portrayal of their relationship by Chaos! was appreciated.
