And for slightly lighter fare, that doesn’t require quite as much brain power, here’s a list of every good guy metahuman, non-powered superhero, and human agent or operative with metahuman organizations, agencies or teams or whatever, in the DCnU:
- Superman
- Batman
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Wonder Woman
- Cyborg
- Aquaman
- The Flash
- Green Arrow
- Batwoman
- Batgirl
- Robin
- Red Robin
- Red Hood
- Nightwing
- Knight
- The Hood
- El Gaucho
- Nightrunner
- Batwing
- Black Canary
- Starling
- Poison Ivy
- Katana
- Catwoman
- Huntress
- Superboy
- Supergirl
- Power Girl
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
- Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
- Green Lantern (John Stewart)
- Star Sapphire (Carol Ferris)
- Apollo
- Midnighter
- Jack Hawksmoor
- Martian Manhunter
- Adam One
- Jenny Quantum
- The Projectionist
- The Engineer
- Harry Tanner
- Bunker
- Skitter
- Wonder Girl
- Kid Flash
- Danny The Street
- Solstice
- Ridge
- Terra
- Fairchild
- Lightning
- Thunder
- Beast Boy
- Blue Beetle
- Static
- Miss Martian
- Raven
- Starfire
- Arsenal
- Dawnstar
- Wildfire
- Tyroc
- Timber Wolf
- Tellus
- Firestorm 1
- Firestorm 2
- Captain Atom
- Fire
- Ice
- Red Rocket
- August General in Iron
- Booster Gold
- Godiva
- Vixen
- Mr. Terrific
- Steve Trevor
- Etta Candy
- Hawk
- Dove
- Hawkman
- Silver Banshee
- Voodoo
- Grifter
- Father Time
- Frankenstein
- Bride Of Frankenstein
- Dr. Ray Palmer
- Nina Mazursky
- Vincent Valero
- Warren Griffith
- Khalis
- John Constantine
- Black Orchid
- Shade The Changing Man
- Deadman
- Mind Warp
- Andrew Bennett
- Zatanna
- Madame Xanadu
- Etrigan / Jason Blood
- The Shining Knight
- Vandal Savage
- The Phantom Stranger
- The Question
- Amanda Waller
- El Diablo
- Black Spider
- Deadshot
- King Shark
- Pied Piper
- Amethyst
- Resurrection Man
- Swamp Thing
- Animal Man
- Lennox
- OMAC
- Enchantress
A few points to make: Earth 2 characters aren’t included because that’s a parallel universe, gods aren’t included because they’re gods, I’m only counting people we can reasonably assume to be alive in the “present day”, and sadly, in light of The Question’s new “Trinity Of Sin” origin, I have to assume Renee Montoya is just a regular GCPD detective in the New 52… albeit an extremely badass one.
Anyway…
There are a total of 11 queer characters, assuming that sexual identities established as canonical in previous iterations of the characters are still true (and there’s so far no reason to suspect otherwise)
Pied Piper (gay)
Apollo (gay)
Midnighter (gay)
Bunker (gay)
John Constantine (bisexual)
Madame Xanadu (bisexual)
Batwoman (lesbian)
Starling (lesbian)
Danny The Street (drag queen / cross-dresser)
Father Time (male identified but presently occupying a female body)
The Shining Knight (trans man)
There’s also still a bit of a chance that Poison Ivy might also be kinda-sorta bi too.
There are also 23 PoC:
Tyroc
Mr. Terrific
Etta Candy
Blue Beetle
Cyborg
Static
Vixen
Solstice
Skitter
Bunker
August General in Iron
Fire
Lightning
Katana
Amanda Waller
El Diablo
Black Spider (I think?)
Batwing
Green Lantern (John Stewart)
One of the two Firestorms
Voodoo
El Gaucho
Jenny Quantum
…
The thing is, percentage wise, this isn’t actually all that far off from real North American demographics.
I mean, there are a few noticeable issues. Like the fact that women account for noticeably less than half the total number of heroes, and that there are only two black women for some ten black men.
But honestly? I think it says some good things about the possibility that we’re heading in the right direction.
Now if just characters like Static, Cyborg, Vixen and Mr. Terrific could be given the creative teams and support they deserve in order to reach their potential… none of those characters are intrinsically limited, boring, or “just tokens”. Almost all the queer and PoC characters have potential to be really interesting characters. All they need is the right writers and artists, and to be given a chance. I mean… think about Batman of the silver age. Was he REALLY a “better character” than Static? Seriously? Fuck no. He became an interesting character because talented writers took him and found interesting things in his potential. And that can just as readily be done for female and minority characters as well, if the industry is just willing to put aside their ridiculous skepticism and cynical, self-fulfilling prophecies about “what the fans want” and let it happen.
I should point out that several of those characters are non-humans, which throws off the racial percentages. Superman is technically not a white guy, just an alien who happens to look like a white guy for a reason that’s had several contradictory explanations. I think it’s fair to count him as white. Starfire and Martian Manhunter don’t closely resemble any human race, though. I’m not saying they should count as people of color, but just remember to exclude them from the total when you are figuring out what portion is white.
Well, he was raised by a white family since infancy, being treated like a white guy, and granted white privilege, so… for every sense of “white” that has any real significance, yeah, he’s totally fucking white. It’s not like the meaningful distinction between white and other racial categories is genetic, after all. It’s sociological.
Interesting points, but I find that the very things that you suggest (better creative teams and support for minority characters) are exactly the things DC has shown itself to be utterly unwilling to do, both before and after the New 52 event. That’s why I’m pretty much done with DC, I’m just getting tired of it (plus none of the stories at the moment are really interesting me).
“But honestly? I think it says some good things about the possibility that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Headed in the right direction? Based on what? You list that they have a bunch of gay and POC characters and that, in itself, is supposed to prove something? They’ve always had POC characters, but what have they done with them in the past 60 years? HISTORY is the guide here. I don’t know how old you are, but I’ve been reading comics for over 30 years. After awhile, a clear pattern becomes obvious.
“Now if just characters like Static, Cyborg, Vixen and Mr. Terrific could be given the creative teams and support they deserve in order to reach their potential…”
And we saw what happened with the Static and Mr. Terrific series’, didn’t we? With the cancellation of Mr. Terrific, DC lost its ONE Black writer who, so far, has not gotten another job, while Rob Liefeld got control of 3 three new series, to replace the canceled one that he was working on. And, oh, now Scott Lobdell, who was already writing 3 books is now getting Superman. Proving the It’s Who You Know Boys Club is firmly in effect @ DC.
I’m sorry, but I see absolutely no reason for optimism regarding DC’s future. Again, this is based on HISTORY, and their current plans. The Big “NEW DC 52” was their chance to be really daring and to diversify their line-up, and instead we got a few half-arsed POC solo series, which got no real promotion and were destined for quick cancellation. And if they were serious about GBLT characters, it would be HAL JORDAN who is gay now instead of “Earth 2 Alan Scott”.
Not that Hal Jordan (or Barry Allen) should have ever been brought back in the first place. After a new generation of fans had become accustomed to John Stewart as THE Green Lantern via the cartoons, the smart thing would have been to raise him to prominence in the comics but, no, first chance they got, they had to bring back the “real” GL, so all the old fans could be happy.
I think when a company’s big major event for this year is a bunch of prequels to a 25-year old miniseries, it’s impossible to argue that the future looks better. They are continuing to cater to their target demographic of thirtysomething-year old Straight White Males, and anyone who isn’t in that demographic but is still supporting DC in the hope that it will someday, eventually, hopefully, get more diverse is fooling themselves.
Just my opinion.
I mostly agree with your sentiment and most everything you said, but you know the “right direction” comment was in reference to the demographic percentages, right? Not just that they happen to HAVE PoC, female and queer characters. And “possibility that we’re heading in the right direction” does not mean REMOTELY the same thing as “everything is totally fine and dandy right now, and just keeps getting better and better”.
Though really, take a look at Marvel. Have you noticed they don’t even have a single female-centered title right now?
And yes I know about the upcoming Captain Marvel, recently cancelled X-23 and various female characters in relative positions of alleged power on male-dominated teams. Hurray. That doesn’t really say much.
I didn’t say anything about Marvel, since this post wasn’t about Marvel. But I don’t think they’re much better, either, when their major event is “Avengers vs. X-Men”, that’s not exactly a testament to their creativity.
The bottom line is that the real creativity happening now is in the indies, like creator-owned books from Image, and Dark Horse. POC and GBLT readers need to stop looking to the so-called Big Two as the be all and end all, and look for those creators who are struggling to do it themselves, and support them.
Waah why are there no queer people of color 🙁
There are. Bunker is latino, Batwoman is jewish, and Father Time is currently occupying an asian body. And she’s not a superhero, but of course we can’t forget about Renee Montoya!
your list is generous to say the least- including Milestone characters, for instance, which while currently in use by DC (sort of) are not owned by DC and were not created by DC but as a reaction to the omission of POC and homosexuals by DC and, to a lesser degree, Marvel.
for some actual perspective on this that doesn’t omit the editorial bent towards not only omitting these characters from play (them just being in the DCU doesn’t mean much if they’re only shown in token performances. see what i did there? “token” performances. because it’s funny.) please check out a blog entry I wrote on this subject several months ago.
http://redjacket.blogspot.com/2011/09/everything-old-is-new-again.html
It’s not enough to say the characters exist. To actually discuss this one has to examine how they’re treated editorially which, in DC’s case, is like crap.
Instead of figuring ways to soft peddle the crap depictions or their absence altogether, perhaps, just perhaps, more of us should hold DC’s feet to the fire.
It’s not Milestone characters. Not really. Just the ONE Milestone character who was given a role of any prominence in the New 52 universe (which lasted all of eight issues before the title was cancelled).
This list would look VERY different if I could include Milestone characters. For one thing, we’d be able to have a transsexual woman on the list. A non-op transsexual lesbian, at that.
And the fate of the Static series was entirely predictably to anyone who paid attention to the history of DC comics. I knew the title would be canceled before the first issue was even published. Same with their other minority-lead books, just like I also knew Batwing would last the longest, due to it’s connection to Batman. If they were serious about promoting Static they would have tried to publish a new series years ago when the Static Shock cartoon was a hit on TV. Then we saw how Dwayne McDuffie was treated while he was on JLA, and how he was constantly undercut, including when he tried to reintroduce the Milestone characters in that book. So why the heck would anyone expect anything better from DC now?