Bia, DC Comics' First Trans Amazon
DC Comics' push for LGBTQ visibility in its comic book universe continued with the debut of Bia, the first out trans woman to join Wonder Woman's community of Amazons.
Making her debut in this week's first issue of “Nubia & The Amazons,” Bia is among five women who join the denizens of Themiscyra, the homeland of Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons, after passing through the Well of Souls. The emotional introduction sees Bia choosing her name, as is custom, while crying and remarking on her struggles to live open without difficulty in her pre-Amazon life.
The nature of how Bia and other people come to Themiscyra also speaks to the plague of violence facing trans communities, specifically trans people of color. Passage through the Well of Souls carries the prerequisite of being a woman who died “as a result of the terror of ‘Man's World.'” This heavily points to Bia being a victim of the rising amount of violence toward Black trans women and creates a starting point for conversations around the issue.
“As much as it is important for the ‘Nubia & The Amazons' miniseries to reintroduce Nubia and establish her definitive role in the DCU, it is also important to make clear that Themiscyra is a place for all women,” said series writer Stephanie Williams. “Bia will have a role on Themiscyra beyond just existing – she isn't set dressing, she isn't a box to tick, she is a fully fledged character that is important to her community. Just as Black trans women are important to us in real life.”
Bia's introduction comes one week after Wonder Woman herself Lynda Carter deemed all trans women “Wonder Women.”
‘Battlefield 2042' Introduces First Non-binary Character
Video game publisher Electronic Arts' long-running first-person shooter ‘Battlefield' series is jumping forward into a future riddled with the effects of climate change and never-ending warfare in its latest installment, “Battlefield 2042.” But that environmental time jump also comes with a cultural one as well.
The upcoming game will feature the series first non-binary playable character, or Specialists as the game calls them. Emma Rosier, codename “Sundance,” brings gender-diverse identities to the battle as an Assault Specialist, complete with a wingsuit and Smart Explosives that can disrupt opponents' aerial assaults.
According to Gaming Bible, Electronic Arts lead community manager Adam Freeman confirmed Sundance's enby identity after fans spotted the use of they/them pronouns in promotional material discussing Sundance.
Superman Colorist Quits When Motto Changes from the long-used, “Truth, Justice and the American Way,” to “Truth, Justice and a Better World”
DC Comics Colorist Gabe Eltaeb quit their job after hearing company is changing the the iconic Superman motto to “Truth, Justice and a Better World”, possibly carrying a slightly less xenophobic message, and signaling we're no longer in a Cold War with USSR with from the long-used “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”
As Gayming Magazine reports, Eltaeb, who was working on the upcoming “Superman” comic where Jon Kent comes out as bisexual, let loose a tirade against the comics giant and the industry during a livestream with prominent names in the Comicsgate movement.
Note: Comicsgate is a movement, not an isolated scandal, a real force in the comic book world that predates Pizzagate. The participants in both do share a similar love for conspiracies and paranoia, as well as fighting to cancel the folks they claim are cancelling them for… Well…They think you'll call them racist for suggesting that making superheroes trans or of color makes the stories boring.
“I'm tired of this shit. I'm tired of them ruining these characters – they don't have a right to do this,” Eltaeb began.
Going on to say “fuck that”, referring to the motto change, calling it a “a bunch of fucking nonsense.” Eltaeb did note that he didn't quit DC over Jon Kent's bisexuality, though that's something of a silly effort to split hairs while speaking from Comicsgate movement hat has been homophobic and transphobic for years.
And in fact during that same livestream other participants told homophobic jokes about the Jon Kent character and other LGBTQ characters. Among those lovelies, “Graveyard Shift” creator Jon Malin equating LGBTQ people to pedophiles.
A Bitter World in deed.
