Posted in: Comics | Tagged: batgirl, Charles Battersby, Comics, entertainment, gail simone, Kristen Enos, Morgan Boecher, new york comic con, transgender characters

Why Are Transgender Characters Associated With Disguise And Deception? Gail Simone, Morgan Boecher And P. Kristen Enos At New York Comic Con

June Vigants writes from New York Comic Con for Bleeding Cool:

I attended the Transgender themes in comics panel this Sunday at NYCC.

The panel was moderated by Charles Battersby, a playwright and theatre critic and a member of PressXY, a website exploring transgender issues in gaming.

They regarded the term "Transgender" in a rather broad sense, connecting it to cross dressing and gender-swapping and anything that could be interpreted as blending gender binaries.

Panelists included Morgan Boecher, P. Kristen Enos, and Gail Simone.

Boecher is behind the webcomic What's Normal Anyways? which developed as a result of him being inspired by people's coming out and transitioning stories on Youtube.

Kristen Enos has written a variety of queer fantasy prose in addition to writing the upcoming cyber-punk webcomic Web of Lives.

Gail Simone is the well known comic author of titles such as Red Sonja, Birds of Prey, and her recent publication Leaving Megalopolis. Her work on the new 52's Batgirl and Barbara Gordon's roommate Alysia Yeoh, who is a transgender woman, was referenced throughout the panel.

Simone was on a LGBTQ comics panel at San Diego Comic-Con and witnessed a massive amount of attendees. The entire conference room was filled and many had to be turned away due to lack of space. She'd felt haunted that there weren't any trans characters in major roles in comics, and seeing this audience inspired her to finally take action with her new Batgirl series.

Specifically she knew she wanted to address PTSD issues in her new Batgirl series, in addition to creating a trans character that would exist without tropes and not be a magician, or an alien that can shift genders, but a real human being with this experience. Simone went to Dan DiDio with the idea and was prepared to fight for it, however DiDio was completely on board and only asked that Alysia not be turned into a token character. It's safe to say she's anything but.

Trans characters in comics, for the most part, have been used as plot devices. Panelists referenced characters cross dressing in costumes for comedic devices. There is a slightly misogynist tone to it as well, given that in most cases men disguise themselves as women in order to seem weak, and women costume themselves as men to seem intimidating. This degrades gender change as some sort of caper.

It has often been associated with disguise and deception, usually being accompanied by a malevolent intent.

The real truth of it is that the "disguise" for transgender individuals is being cisgender (meaning you identify with the gender you've been assigned at birth).

Magic curses have also been used as plot devices in comics, though they often appear as a punishment. The characters Tristan and Isolde in the 1980's DC 12-issue series Camelot 3,000 was referenced as Tristan (based off of the male character in arthurian literature) is reincarnated as a woman and experiences struggles in a relationship with Isolde.

Comics characters mentioned in the panel for further consideration include:
Wanda (Sandman), Alysia (Batgirl), Desire (Sandman), Xavin (Runaways), Dodge (Locke and Key), Lord Fanny (Invisibles), Coagula (Doom Patrol), Comet (Supergirl), and Sir Justin (DC Fantasy Knights).

Regardless of the representation left behind for trans characters in comics, it's quite clear and comforting to know that the future is ever the brighter with all of this involvement and enthusiasm between fans, well-established professionals, and aspiring creators a like.

Check out the Prism comics website  for a variety of Queer and Trans comics, as well as Northwest Press, a queer comics publisher based out of Seattle, WA

Follow these fine panelists at their respective twitter handles for more! Gail Simone – @GailSimone

Morgan Boecher – @MorganRBoecher

Kristen Enos – @PKristenEnos

Charles Battersby – @Charlesbattersb

Search #Secretidentitiescomiccon on twitter for pictures, stories and more!

June Vigants is a comic writer and artist based out of Connecticut. Follow her on Twitter @JuneRevolver for more.

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