Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Featherweight, greg rucka, LGBTQ, nicola scott, trans

Reaction To Featherweight May Not Have Been All That DC Comics Hoped

Reaction to the new DC Comics supervillain Featherweight may not have been all that DC Comics were hoping for

DC Comics introduced Featherweight, a new character to the DC Universe, in the comic book mini-series Cheetah And Cheshire Rob The Justice League. A new supervillain, granddaughter to Ra's Al Ghul, cousin of Damian Wayne. She is initially portrayed as an activist, smashing up police tanks and buildings with her rage-powered super strength, before being recruited for a heist as the muscle. And in the last issue, letting Klarion the Witch Boy know that she is bisexual and trans, before heading to Greece for more LGBTQ protests.

Reaction to the character has been mixed. There is, as you might expect, an objection to any trans character in any comic book being introduced at all. With the usual slurs, "go woke go broke" and accusations of DC Comics lauding mental illness, pretty much everything we had with gay characters being introduced thirty or forty years ago. But there's also been significant negative reaction from the trans community online. Not all, but most. Much has been around her costume and the stereotypes therein. But also that she was created by cis creators who may have chosen a stereotypical route. And that DC also recently fired and cancelled the Red Hood comic book written by trans creator Gretchen Felker-Martin, as well as her Vertigo-planned book, over comments she made after the death of Charlie Kirk.

•  ‪Doc Impossible could see both sides, posting "So I'm genuinely glad DC is adding more strong trans women to the roster. I genuinely am. But like Could they have made her design less of an over-the-top stereotype of trans gals? She's in thigh-highs, Docs, the Amazon skirt, cat ears, and her fit's a literal Pride flag. Cmon. A LITTLE subtlety."
• Jesse L Taylor asked "they really did just use the trans character starter kit"
• ‪Rosie Amy was celebratory, saying, "Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League was fun. New Trans Icon alert! I love her already!"
• ‪Orion Starbeard‬ saw it differently, saying, "She looks like a stereotype dreamed up by some soulless corporate sleaze to appeal to an audience they don't respect. Like, cat ears as part of the trans flag colored costume is basically a slur. Maybe@jamesgunn.bsky.social will see this and give us an actual cool trans character in the next movie. He made Guy Gardner cool and G.I. Robot an icon. I'm sure he could give the trans community real positive representation."
•  ‪TrueFeyQueen888 added context. "DC fired a trans writer for being trans and hating nazis. And then they have cis writers make a trans character who hates nazis and try to sell that to trans people. No. That's not how you do it, no. Representation is more than about checking a "We technically did it" box, and is about respect and inclusion too. Instead, it seems DC, who has 3 great trans characters already, instead decided to go the "Marvel's Snowflake and Safespace" route. I wonder if they had AI scan 2021 r/egg_irl for some bullet point summaries about what a trans girl be then wrapped her in a trans pride flag, marketed her as a character with the same qualities they fired a writer for & made sure the reporting mentioned how many male characters she's connected to"
• ‪Cat Fitzpatrick‬ recalled Doom Patrol, saying, "Bring back coagula instead, you cowards"
• ‪Charlotte Counterattack‬ clapped back with "Okay, I'm just gonna say it, I think that the DC tgirl character has a very cute outfit and I think Featherweight is a wonderful name"
• Hierophant Shelley B Woke had a wider view.  "There's a decent paycheck waiting for any cis creator who wants to write trans characters with trans 'issues,' but a couple of quarters and a cigarette butt for the trans creators standing on the media corner with the sign reading "Will write about my people for food.""
• Happa posted the take that "the fact that she is a trans caricature directly related to DC's main source for stereotypical offensive asian moments is so wild like bruh"
• ‪Minilla Jovovich took that in a different direction, "Ra's Al Ghul already has a trans girl granddaughter (Damian*) *DC let me cook, i'm real chill"
• ‪Jazzy Oliver posted "Don't really hate the design as much as others seem to, though admittedly, they could've had a more creative color choice than just the trans flag. THAT SAID, everything else? Ohhhh…oh, that's yikes. That's plenty of yikes."
• hikikomorphism‬ ‪posted "update: Featherweight cancelled after tweeting about Charlie Kirk"
•  It's Just Jenn posted "Eh, I'm not bothered by the outfit. I know girls her age or older who dress exactly like that. If she sticks around, she should change it up. And personally, I don't consider Greg Rucka cis, so I think we should cut him some slack. Mind yo,u this in no way lets DC off the hook for firing Gretchen Felker Martin"
• New Year New Dog was verbose. "She irritates me because from her visual design to the obvious gaps in her philosophy being taken advantage of, it's very obvious she's incredibly new to both anarchist ideology and being trans, but this is straight up never acknowledged in the text, and it kinda just seems like she's just Like That. There's a lot of potential in this character if they just knew and acknowledged why she is this way, and by extension why a lot of trans women are that way and it's partially due to being in a mini [series] (it's not just a Featherweight issue, most of the characters who aren't cheetah kinda fall flat) but also!! There's nothing to indicate that Rucka considered this nuance when making her, and I hesitate to give him this much credit because again – and I can't stress this enough – there is nothing in the text supporting this interpretation of her character. Also worth mentioning- tying a trans character's power of super strength to her emotions, and specifically anger/hate, is definitely a Choice"
• While Zoe Tunnell‬, recently tapped to write Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics for Boom Studios, and former writer for WWAC, ComicsXF, Polygon, and The Beat, wrote, "A great way to discourage comic creatives from introducing more trans characters is to flip out every time one is introduced because they don't meet your individual criteria for perfect representation! Stop doing that! Like, at the risk of engaging in comic discourse which I try to avoid these days: You're mad a trans gal is wearing a pink cat-ear hoodie? I've been trans online for the better part of a decade now. There are hundreds of y'all doing the same damn thing every day. Calm down and chill out. Like, hey, sorry, but I see trans gals wearing knee-high shoes and cat-ears and pink, blue and white coordinated outfits every single day. Pretending it is Bad Representation because it's very on-the-nose is just clown shoes, especially these days."

My favourite objection was from one poster mad that Featherweight could find pink laces that long. Pink News culture reporter Emily Maskell, who followed up on Bleeding Cool's original report told me, "as with nearly every attempt to introduce LGBTQ+ characters, but specifically trans characters, in today's media world, it's sadly no surprise that there has been some backlash to the existence of a trans character rooted in bigotry. However, it's important to remember that the representation of trans characters should exist as a diverse and multifaceted endeavour. When creators are not part of the community they're representing, it's essential that there is a researched understanding behind the writing and representation they carry out. If the community is collectively pushing back against a character, there may be merit in their points."

It is suspected that Featherweight may be making her next appearance in the new Batwoman series from Greg Rucka and Dani, launching from DC Comics in March.

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