DC Pride: Meet the JLQ!

[tinygaylaura]

Aka the way cooler and more fun Justice League aka my new favourite superhero team



Our story begins with Aqualad enjoying his very first Pride parade with his new boyfriend who Raven has helped set him up with.




As the rain starts to fall something strange starts to happen. Suddenly all the negative emotions that the crowd feels start to be amplified as if something is messing with their emotions.

So whose been messing up everything?

Well its not Agatha Harkness this time but rather

ECLIPSO

Aqualad holds his own long enough for back up to arrive against this villainous entity

And what kind of back up?

None other than the debut of the best team ever

The JLQ, made up entirely of LGBTQ heroes from the DCU

Now THIS is the kind of superhero team that I'd want to join if I lived in the DCU

And IRL, this is the kind of superhero team I want to read stories about. Ongoing/Mini-Series featuring them when DC?

Get on that

The team working together are able to vanquish and banish Eclipso, not surprising given that this is easily one of the most powerful gatherings of heroes in the entire DCU.

And the short story ends with this beautiful shot




Which is very very lovely indeed

I really hope that we'll get to see this team again especially since it's full of characters who I always love to see appear.

For those curious about the characters who make up the team they are Extrano, Batwoman, Natasha Irons, Traci 13, Tasmanian Devil, Crush, Wink, Aerie, Shining Knight, Tremor, Midnighter, Apollo, Aqualad, Bunker and The Ray

Comments

[strejdaking]

As I said, not to bring in pointless negativity to what seems to be a genuine effort that clearly means something to man people, but I think it's kinda weak they wouldn't even give Wonedr Woman a cameo in this. Not a story or even real appearance, just any acknowledgement of her supposed queerness, with her theoretically being their most prominent LGBT character.

[tcampbell1000]

"Diana's Lover" is still sitting in my drafts folder. I've got a lot of paid writing I have to get to first, but maybe I can get back to that one.

As for including Diana here, that probably would've been better, but I can see one reason not to do it besides skittishness. The Justice League's Big Seven, and especially the "Trinity,"* have really dominated DC Comics' output for an awfully long time. In a sense, within the boundaries of the comics, these are the least marginalized people ever to exist, so using one in a project that's about giving marginalized people more of a voice might read a little weird. Call it "JL-normativity."

On the other hand, most of the characters on that cover (unlike at least some in the JLQ) have some identifiable tie to one of the Big Seven. So maybe that's just the reality of the modern reader's attention span, in which case, why the heck not?

Overall, I thought this collection was a lot livelier than Marvel's similar effort. There's still a sort of "keep it light, keep it positive at all times" backbeat that can feel disingenuous now and again, but it's got more to say, and it seems less afraid to say it.

* i don't think that word means what they think it means

[tinygaylaura]

I enjoyed both collections but I do think DC's did a better job on the whole. Though I will say three stories stand out as being very special to me on a personal level in Marvel's Pride special.

I think both were great though and I hope that DC and Marvel make a regular thing off this. I'd love to see more Pride specials from them next year and beyond

I do agree it would be nice to have seen Diana get a story where we get to see her with another woman in this special

[strejdaking]

I think your reasoning would work if, again, we were talking about a story of her own, but literally not even a single appearance in one of multiple group shots?

[iamrman]

The Grayson series inspired me to pick up the Midnighter series that spun-off from that. Am I right in thinking Extrano appeared in that?

As far as I am aware, the only other thing he appeared in was that New Guardians series. As much as I want to see the sheer insanity that is SNOWFLAME, I'm not sure I would be able to cope with all the cringe.

[icon_uk]

Yes, Steve Orlando has taken great steps to "recreate" the character largely by confirming he's gay (which the New Guardians were never able to expressly say because, well, 1980's bullshit).

He's also toned down the extra-flamboyant traits which more or less substituted for a character with Extrano in the New Guardians. (If they couldn't say he was gay, by crackey they were going to make him just about every gay stereotype going, all at the same time).

On the one hand, it's a shame to lose that, because of course there's nothing wrong with being a flamingly camp gay man and, for many souls far stronger and braver than I suspect I could ever be, it was and is a point of pride to be so.

On the other hand, to have about your only gay coded male character conform to every flaming gay media stereotype of male homosexulaity was, perhaps, unfortunately selective.

[iamrman]

It's probably a good thing that New Guardians has bever been collected. It was admirable that the series tried to tackle real life issues, it was just the execution that let it down.

At least I can console myself that SNOWFLAME was brought back for those two issues of Catwoman.

Mod Note! Page Count

[icon_uk]

And again, here we have more than 1/3 of the story, which is only 8 pages long.

Please reduce the number of pages to more than 2 2/3.

And the image above the cut should be no more than 400x300

I do not enjoy having to constantly stress the rules of posting to you, but our rules exist for a reason.

Re: Mod Note! Page Count

[tinygaylaura]

I am sorry I keep messing up

I thought the page limit applied to the issue as a whole not short stories in an anthology issue.

So I believed this would be within the rules

I have edited this now and done the same with the other post from Marvel's pride anthology that had the same issue

Re: Mod Note! Page Count

[icon_uk]

Thank you.

[tcampbell1000]

Thanks for ID'ing those characters, some of them hadn't been on my radar!

[tinygaylaura]

Some further recommendations

For more of Aerie and Wink, check out Tom Taylor's Suicide Squad run

For more of The Ray, check out Steve Orlando's Justice League of America title

More more Aqualad, he has appeared in Teen Titans, Aquaman and is getting his own mini-series in September!

If you crave more Crush she appeared in Teen Titans and is starring in the mini-series Crush and Lobo

For more of Natasha Irons and Traci 13 you can see them together in the Superwoman series. And after their break up, Natasha appeared in Titans and Traci has made guest appearances in Justice League Dark

I am guessing people know where they can read about Batwoman XD

Bunker appeared in Teen Titans but I hesitate to recommend that as while Bunker is a fun character the creator/writer who worked on the book when he appeared was Scott Lobdell who is not a good person

Apollo and Midnighter have appeared in the DCU both in Midnighter's own ongoing and miniseries and in Grayson and they are going to be featured in Superman and The Authority next month!

Shining Knight appeared in the underrated series Demon Knights

Extrano and Tasmanian Devil have both been absent from the DCU for quite a while so this is their very first post Rebirth appearance

Tremor can be seen in the pages of the short-lived The Movement series

[dan_ingram]

Who's the lady next to Midnighter?

[tinygaylaura]

There are a few you could mean here so I'll identify them all!

The lady in medieval armor is Shining Knight, a nonbinary magical hero

The lady who looks a bit like Lobo is his daughter, Crush, who is a lesbian

The woman with pigtails is Traci 13, a lesbian magic user

And the woman in the mecha suit is Natasha Irons, niece of Henry Irons who also uses the code-name Steel like her uncle and who is a lesbian who actually dated Traci for a time

[deh_tommy]

As long as they don’t actually unironically call themselves the JLQ they’d be a cool enough team lineup.

[tinygaylaura]

I like it myself

It has a corny charm!

[kurenai_tenka]

You know they would though.

[thanekos]

" God loves you.. at least, last I heard, He did. I left His service after that big flood, so I'm not up to date on what He's thinking. "

[tinygaylaura]

I loved the "Fuck you" to right wing bible thumpers everywhere with the guy who literally was made by God saying that God loves the LGBT community here

[blueprintstyles]

Man, I missed Brick. Hope he makes it to the next season of Young Justice.

[icon_uk]

You mean Bunker?

Though his using telekinetic brick constructs does confuse things a little.

[shadowpsykie]

BUNKER!!!!!(I miss Renee....)

ugh... they should make this available on digital., this and the other pride issues from Marvel

also i am glad Extano is alive and not dead of space aids.

[tinygaylaura]

It is available on Comixology! :)

And yeah the less said about THAT story idea in New Guardians the better

[zachbeacon]

Gotta be honest, I'm not sure I'd trust Raven to set me up on a date. Aqualad is living dangerously.

Anyway, always glad to see the Ray again. Hope he got more than just the one group shot in the comic.

[tinygaylaura]

Awwwwwww I would trust Raven!

Sadly his brief appearance here was The Ray's only appearance in this one shot but I'm hoping we see more of him soon