DC Comics has more surprises in store for Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman and Lois who inherited the cape and identity of the Earth’s Man of Steel from his Kryptonian dad, and the next one is in keeping with young Jonathan’s fluid sexuality.
In the 2022 DC Pride one-shot, he is given a new cape by his boyfriend Jay Nakamura that has a special color scheme on one side – Pride-themed rainbow stripes.
Jonathan’s redesigned super-cape is also an LGBTQ flag in part and he will put those colors on display when he flies slow enough for people to see him.
Nakamura’s gift is unboxed in a DC Pride story called “Super Pride” and its colorist Tríona Tree Farrell shared a preview on Twitter.
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She also shared this was her first job on a Superman story. “I have also wanted to work on a Superman comic and I’m SO happy it’s this one!” Farrell wrote in her post.
The “Super Pride” short story also comes to us from Devin Grayson, artist Nick Robles, and Aditya Bidikar. Continuing, Farrell shouted them out: “I am so jazzed to be working with Devin Grayson, NickRobles and Aditya Bidikar!”
This cape and Pride story furthers the creative trend with Jonathan Kent that started with him coming out as bisexual in issue #5 of Superman: Son of Kal-El. He took another step in the most recent issue (#10) when he came out to his mom, Lois.
Multi-talented YouTube commentator Eric D. July took time out of his busy schedule to talk about the cape and the creative moves by DC Comics with the Son of Kal-El, especially why they did it.
July reminds his viewers that Son of Kal-El writer Tom Taylor was making media rounds when it was announced Jon Kent is bisexual, and sees this as more publicity-seeking by DC.
Part of it is about selling merchandise, July says, but what they are really trying to do is use the symbolism of a beloved character and logo to “legitimize the existence of gay versions of that” same IP.
He calls the writers hacks who are incapable of writing or creating interesting characters that are more than their sexual or ethnic identity. Chuck Dixon concurred in an earlier chat with July where the Batman writer said Tim Drake isn’t more interesting now, he’s just bisexual.
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July added that DC’s writers have a stereotyped view of characters they play identity politics with. Thus, they have to be defined by their blackness or their lifestyle or gender and remind you of it on virtually every page.
Pointing to Batgirl’s trans roommate who wrapped a trans flag around the baseball bat she uses as a weapon, July states, “They don’t know what they’re doing,” so they write uninteresting characters just to appeal to these demographics.
“And when it fails,” he continues, “they’ll blame the customers for not being progressive enough.”
DC Pride 2022 comes out at the end of the month to coincide with Pride Month in June.