This, sure as frickle frackle, was a fight for a Jewish-American lesbian

June 28, 2017 10:19 AM

The ButHows are the bane of my career. "But how could they be lesbians if, but how could they be accepted, but how could they take the risk, but how if there are no hormones, but how if the first surgery was in the '60s, but how if she's never—" Shush. Just shush. She's not going to date you. Stop.

Marguerite Bennett talks about her experiences writing a rather queer comic series based on a line of DC Comics 1940ties themed superheroine statues.
posted by MartinWisse (10 comments total)

Huh. I was only peripherally aware of Bombshells, and assumed it was just another male-gazey attempt at merchandising DC's female characters, this time with a retro pin-up theme. I didn't know it was a comic, and I definitely didn't know it was a proudly feminist and queer comic. Good on Bennett.

(But can Harley put some clothes on? The poor girl will catch her death of cold!)
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:57 AM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

I like the bit about assuming Harley/Poison Ivy to be already a thing, because in everyones assumptions it really it is already a thing.
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on June 28, 2017 [3 favorites]

FWIW, I thought Bruce Timm established Harley/Poison Ivy as pretty much a given all the way back in the Batman Adventures comic.
posted by happyroach at 11:13 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Faint of Butt, I had the exact same reaction when I saw the pull quote I put here on Twitter, clicked through and discovered that DC not only had a comic called Bombshells full of queer ladies, but that they were aimed on a statue line I never knew existed.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is awesome and I had no idea it existed! Superhero(ine) comics aren't my bag personally, but I'm so go glad to live in a world where young (and old!) queer and trans people can see themselves represented in a fairly mainstream comic, written by somebody as fantastic as Marguerite Bennett.
posted by Dysk at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2017

And damn it, every time I think I'm completely done with regular comics, something like this pops up. Oh well, guess I have to make space on my shelves.
posted by happyroach at 12:15 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Marguerite Bennett is one of favorite writers working in superhero comics right now. If Bombshells sounds good to you I heartily recommend checking out the late, lamented Angela Asgard's Assassin (co-written with Keiron Gillen) and Angela Queen of Hel.
posted by smartyboots at 1:13 PM on June 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Nice — if your library allows borrowing through Hoopla, Bombshells Vol. 1 is available.
posted by Lexica at 1:27 PM on June 28, 2017

I also had a vague memory of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn already being a thing! Different timeline indeed.
posted by corb at 12:15 AM on June 29, 2017

If you write stories that tell folks that queer people can live without shame, they just might grow up believing it.

I'm not into superhero stories, but this interview has me sold on finding Marguerite Bennett's work.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:09 AM on July 3, 2017