Stephen Byrne’s art is very strong and easy on the eyes, and he does a great job of showcasing the dynamic personalities of each character on the page. Nothing particularly crazy happens in this issue, but everything within it is done well. The premise of the story involves Midnighter and Extraño – who looks a little too close to Doctor Strange for my liking – taking down the time-warping operations of a Neo-Nazi Vampire, as most gay couples tend to spend their evenings. We also see the brief appearance of a character called Moish, which I found little to no information about – so please, someone tell me about him in the comments if you can. John Constantine is here, pansexual disaster that he is, but the main characters are Midnighter, one of DC’s most popular gay heroes, and Extraño, one of DC’s first. This one is quite an interesting story, because the combination of characters within it is really something I wouldn’t have expected. Good story, though I think it needed a little more time in the oven. The ending, though, is really sweet, and it surprised me by showcasing a few characters that I didn’t know were LGBTQ. The ethereal, fantastical and fluid nature of the art blends introspective thoughts with hallucination really well, and its a shame that Tynion’s extensive narration sometimes feels like it drowns Nguyen’s work out. Trung Le Nguyen’s art is probably the strongest part of this story, with a storybook style that reminds me of Omori, a fantastic RPG I just finished playing yesterday. Anyone who knows the slightest thing about Batman can tell who the villain of this story is, and it makes for a great narrative hook – but it also undercuts the character exploration that Kate goes through, just a little.
Personally, I might have preferred it if they cut the villain from this story entirely, and make this more of a confession on the part of Kate. However, the monologue continues – and after a certain point, she’s essentially talking to the audience anyway. About two thirds of the way into the story, the man behind the curtain is revealed, and we as the audience understand why Kate is talking about herself and her sister. The story is held together by a long monologue Kate Kane is making about her life to another character, and it’s where both the strength and weakness of this short lies. That feeling of coming out and accepting who you are is difficult, and Tynion writes a version of that experience in this comic. James Tynion IV recently came out as bisexual on his social media – and with him currently writing Batman and having extensively written Batwoman in Detective Comics, I’m sure that DC thought he was the most obvious choice for this short. Let’s take a look at what makes these stories special. I don’t love all of them, of course – this is a review, not a puff piece – but they do all express a level of pride and personality that’s exciting to see from a major publishing company. There are nine short stories in this collection, that portray a broad spectrum of heroes (and villains!) in the LGBTQ+ community. But when it results in a comic all about queer people feeling represented and empowered, that’s not such a bad thing. Naturally, this means that corporations are becoming more and more eager to capitalize on this. The world is slowly becoming a place where we can be the people we want to be… even if we don’t always know who that is, yet. It’s why I’ve questioned my own gender identity recently, and why I’ll continue to question it. People are slowly becoming less beholden to the gender binary, and while it can sometimes feel like discussing sexuality and gender requires a two-year college course, it’s worth it to see the euphoria people have from being able to truly express themselves.
Sexuality and gender identity isn’t exactly a choice, as many regressives would have you believe – but it is a long conversation you have with yourself, and it’s a conversation that arrives at different conclusions the longer you live your life. I didn’t really know until I was 19, though, when it eventually occured to me that the “exception” I made for my Hugh Jackman crush wasn’t a particularly good excuse. I’m sure if you talk to enough of my friends, you’ll find a few who said they kind of figured – I certainly had a few employers who thought I was flat-out gay, which was a funny conversation to have.