Batwoman is here, she's queer

BBC News reports that Batwoman is returning from a 27-year hiatus in the erebuian netherworld (which is why, I assume, she is able to return from the dead).

Maybe she's like the hero in the Princess Bride who returned from his "partially dead" state to win the women... just like Batwoman will do in this, her new life.

Now. I'm on the fence about her coming out. Obviously, I am excited that our world is becoming more tolerant and accepting (excluding the whole Iraq and south-of-the-US-border thing). And I really do think it's healthy for younger readers to have access to such a progressive character.

But her obvious outness is just not as curious for adult readers, especially ones who are in the metrosexual know — folk who laugh at the signs and metaphors hidden like gemstones in the granite-rock dialogue.

Personally, I like word play and playing on words. I hope that doesn't disappear because she's officially out. It's so much more cheezier when a pun is written for the obvious.

Plus, if Batwoman's out, you can't play the "she's totally gay" or "she totally is" game.

Here's my story of playing the "she totally is" game with eight lesbians:

When I was visiting San Francisco, I shacked up with five lesbians in a lovely Victorian home just off Haight and Ashbury. They were a fantastic and generous crew who welcomed me into their home when my other accommodation fell through.

One night, they invited me to watch Melrose Place with them and a few friends. I wondered why five intelligent women who had very little in common with the Melrose Place characters would watch such pulp fiction but I accepted the invitation, curious to see what would transpire.

Seated inbetween a woman who was chewing tobacco and whose biceps were as large as my head and her totally fabulous girlfriend (she was a supermodel mixed with a bit of K.D. Lang... serious, I'm not making this shit up), I was ready to watch Lesbians on Melrose.

They all leaned forward, a hush fell over the room when the blonde Melrose character came on and started crying into her friend's ample bosom. They looked like an image on '50s pulp fiction jacket.

-One girl piped up, "Oh, she totally is".

-"Comon', she's not, you just wish she was... now she, she totally is — she's riding a hog," another girl retorted.

-"You're all totally gay," muffled one girl through a mouthfull of burrito.

Throughout the whole evening I was introduced to the world of secret and hidden gay entendres... and I never went back. The world is so much more fun when language takes on two levels of meaning. I guess that's why I'm on the fence about Batwoman coming fully out.

But then, how often do I read comics? Like never. This is the first graphic novel that has caught my fancy. Hmm. I may just pick it up.