Two guesses what Demographic THIS will appeal to?

And if you say "14 year old lesbian comic book fans", I've got some land to sell you.

For the record, there have been at least a couple of gay superheros here and there. I think one of the characters in "Alpha Flight", the Canadian super hero team, was gay (Northstar was his name, and he actually contracted HIV virus, which I thought was pretty bold for a comic!). The new DC series THE AUTHORITY features a well-adjusted gay superhero couple called "Apollo and Midnighter". If you agree with the premise of THE GAY LEAGUE website, there actually have been many gay superheros, although none of them appear to be "A-listers".

Ain't the internet a wonderful thing for finding out all you could want to know about an obscure topic?

I hate to go tawdry here, but I suspect the BIG market for a beautiful lesbian superhero is likely to be a masturbating MALE fourteen year old, not the legions of gay comic book fans. But we will see. I have no problems with comics broadening their appeal-- there are no sacred cows therein.

Article follows: Copyright 2006 BBC News

Batwoman hero returns as lesbian

Batwoman's new look has been designed by artist Alex Ross
Comic book heroine Batwoman is to make a comeback as a "lipstick lesbian" who moonlights as a crime fighter, a DC Comics spokesman has confirmed.
Batwoman - real name Kathy Kane - will appear in 52, a year-long DC Comics publication that began this month.

In her latest incarnation, she is a rich socialite who has a romantic history with another 52 character, ex-police detective Renee Montoya.

52 will be published in the UK as a graphic novel by Titan Books in 2007.

The series is set in a world in which established superheroes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman do not play a part.

Reinvention

The new-look Batwoman is just one of a wave of ethnically and sexually diverse characters entering the DC Comics universe.

Others include Mexican teenager Blue Beetle - who replaces the character's previous white incarnation - and the Great Ten, a government-sponsored team of Chinese superheroes.

Regular characters Firestorm and The Atom, meanwhile, have been reinvented as black and Asian heroes respectively.

The characters are part of a wider effort to broaden the make-up of comic-book creations in line with society as a whole.

Batwoman, who first appeared in July 1956, has not been seen since September 1979 when she was killed by the League of Assassins and the Bronze Tiger.

Wouldn't it be cool if the Great Ten was based on the old stories of THE SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS? Think about it, they were prototypical superheros!