Review: DC Pride: The New Generation hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)

That DC Pride: The New Generation exists at all is a source of celebration in and of itself; here’s to many more years of these specials and the collections that follow.

One thing that impressed me about the DC Pride 2022 stories were how tied in many of them were to current DC events — for DC Pride 2021, we got a story following Alan Scott after the events of the Infinite Frontier special, but here we’ve got Superman Jon Kent from the midsts of the Son of Kal-El series, Connor Hawke and Damian Wayne between the pages of Robin, and the Teen Justice story that leads right out to the Multiversity: Teen Justice miniseries. There was a time it would be virtually unheard of for stories in an anthology series to have mainstream relevance; for that to be the case and the anthology to be DC Pride is more exceptional than I think people realize.

At the same time, I can’t help but notice that, as compared to DC Pride 2021, the creators involved are less high profile. Some of that we might sincerely chalk up to the 2021 collection including stories from other various DC anthologies and the 2022 collection being just DC Pride 2022 and the DC Pride: Tim Drake special. But still, last time around included James Tynion and Mariko Tamaki, the two main Bat-writers, plus Steve Orlando and others. Here, we do get Danny Lore and Ivan Reis on their Teen Justice property, Stephanie Williams writing Nubia, Catwoman’s Tini Howard with a Far Sector tale, and I’m always happy to see Devin Grayson, but still I might have liked to see some really big names, all the more to underscore this book as the big deal it should be.

[Review contains spoilers]

Among my favorites from DC Pride: The New Generation was Stephanie Williams' Nubia story — again, among the rare pairings here of character with their associated writer. Nubia, relaxing with her lover Io, relates a madcap meeting with Big Barda; Williams actually sets it within the events of 1991’s Mister Miracle #25 (by Doug Moench), DC cover bullet and everything. I was fascinated by Williams and Nubia series co-writer Vita Ayala revelation that Nubia has been in “Man’s World” for ages, meeting Martian Manhunter (in Tales of the Amazons), among others, so another of these “lost” team-ups is a bunch of fun, especially rendered as era-specific.

[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]

Jadzia Axelrod’s Batgirl story is another good one, and I’d be happy to see artist Lynne Yoshii draw a Batgirl story again. Though I rather thought Barbara Gordon’s friend Alysia already knew Babs' secret identity, an item this story turns on, Axelrod does a fine job giving Alysia a full arc in just eight pages. Some of this book’s offerings struggle to balance telling a full story with also acknowledging the character’s gender or sexual identity; here, Axelrod’s tale is inseparable from Alysia’s identity as a trans woman, but the establishment of such isn’t the only thing it’s doing.

Alyssa Wong’s Aquaman Jackson Hyde story does well tying back to a diner motif we’ve seen a couple times in Jackson’s adventures (also some wonderfully accepting Xebellian parents). The Teen Justice story succeeds in using a Pride parade as the background in a way that seemed natural and not too self-referential, something the Jon Kent story can’t quite achieve in the same way.

Of course, it goes without saying that the gem of this book is Kevin Conroy’s autobiographical story, with J. Bone. It is all the more bittersweet due to to Conroy’s passing, but I found myself thinking that at least this story could be told before Conroy died, and in comics form. There are innumerable contributions to the history of comics from the LGBTQ+ community, and all the better it be firmly established that the definitive voice of Batman was one of them.

Among misses for me in this book, unfortunately, was Tini Howard’s Far Sector story. I’d happily see Tini Howard continue this take on Jo Mullein by way of Sam Spade, back in the City Enduring done up in just black, white, and shades of green. But the good setup is ultimately just in service of refuting the stereotype that bisexual people are promiscuous; refuting stereotypes is good, but shouldn’t overshadow telling a good story, or at least both of those goals should be reached together.

The Connor Hawke story has similar difficulties. In the background, Connor narrates a letter to his mother, revealing he’s asexual; in the foreground, Connor fights Music Meister. I appreciated that the story insinuates a reason that Connor’s hunting the villain, tied to the Robin book — though, in the context of the Robin book, it really makes no sense whatsoever, and the choice of Music Meister seems mainly to reflect themes of silence and noise in Connor’s personal journey. Again, what we have is a story that wants to say something — Connor Hawke is asexual — and by virtue of comics needs to dramatize it with action, but the authors can’t escape the gravitational pull of the message enough to tell a story that stands on its own (though Brandt & Stein do illustrate the whole thing beautifully).

I’ll say more about the Tim Drake stories by Meghan Fitzmartin when I review that trade proper, but re-reading here, I’m reminded how good developments for Tim get lost in clumsy storytelling. Tim’s new boyfriend Bernard gets kidnapped by a cult that … he actually wanted to join on his own? But then they decide to kill him? Also some odd mischaracterizations and etc. only makes things harder for stories with already a lot of eyes on them.

But in all, again, it’s a great thing that DC has the characters and the creators to offer DC Pride: The New Generation, and here’s to many more. I do worry that the presence of DC Pride makes it too easy for DC to shunt a story like Connor Hawke realizing his asexuality, for instance, into the yearly special instead of addressing it in the main book. It becomes all the more important for DC’s creators to celebrate Pride when it comes around but also to be sure to be carrying the themes of Pride into the mainstream books themselves.

[Includes original and variant covers, art pieces, designs and processes, introduction by Nicole Maines, Kevin Conroy tribute]

Rating 2.5