While most of the comments I’ve seen about the new Batwoman, be they positive, negative or simply confused, have focused on the fact that she’s gonna be a lesbian, I think people are missing the real allure that the story has with the media. There’s been a minor frenzy about the DC news, not because they’re launching a high profile gay character this year, because that’s been done before. No, they’re interested because it’s a gay Batman character.

Think about it - if the exact same info had been given to the NYT last week, but it was for an all new, all different, all gay Human Bomb, do you think that the NYT would have wasted time writing a full article about it, or that it would have been picked up on by so many other media outlets? There might have been a little mention of it here and there, buried in amongst other random comic book news about Civil War or the like, but it simply wouldn’t have caught anyone’s imagination. Dress it up in a Bat-outfit though, and stand back!

DC knew what they were doing when they developed this character. I’m not saying it was a cold, calculated stunt built simply for the media attention, but there’s no doubt that they knew that by linking their new lesbian superheroine to their biggest franchise character, they were guaranteed at minimum, a week’s worth of attention from the world at large, plus a steady diet of internet buzz from now until well after we see Batwoman in action for the first time in 52. When it comes to internet fandom, it’s kinda hard to dissapoint on the obsessive fan tip, after all. Either way, it’s all gravy to DC, and will likely result in increased sales for 52, for a while at least, plus solid sales when they eventually collect the “Secret Lives Of The Batwoman” into a TPB next year.

The News, Comics