| DC Pride | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Format | Yearly |
| Genre | see below |
| Publication date | 2021 - present |
| No. of issues | 4 |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Various |
| Artist(s) | Various |
DC Pride is an annual LGBTQIA+-themed comic book anthology first published by DC Comics in June 2021. [1] The second anthology was published in June 2022. The third anthology was released in May 2023.
DC Pride was first announced in March 2021 as an 80-page anthology comic focusing on DC Comics' various LGBT characters. [2] It was published in June as a celebration of Pride Month. [3] The anthology is also meant to celebrate the LGBT creators working at DC, with the anthology's writers and artists being members of the LGBT community. [4] [5]
As part of their celebration of Pride Month, DC also announced the limited series Crush & Lobo, focusing on the mercenary Lobo and his lesbian daughter Crush; [6] June would also see the release of the graphic novel Poison Ivy: Thorns. [5] [7] DC Pride also marks the first instance of Nia Nal / Dreamer appearing in comics, with the story written by Nicole Maines. The character first appeared in the live-action series Supergirl , played by Maines. Maines described herself as very excited at getting the opportunity to write the character. [8]
A second anthology, DC Pride 2022, was released in June 2022. [9] DC Comics stated that it is a "100+ page Prestige format annual anthology comic". [10]
In 2023, DC Comics published three titles for Pride Month: DC Pride 2023 #1 (released in May), DC Pride: Through the Years #1 (released in June) and The DC Book of Pride (released on May 16). DC Pride 2023 #1 is the annual 100+ page prestige format anthology. DC Pride: Through the Years #1 is a reprint "collection of three older DC comics that featured LGBTQ+ characters". [11] The DC Book of Pride, by Jadzia Axelrod, is a character guidebook on the 50+ LGBTQ+ DC characters. [11]
DC Pride was released on June 8, 2021, and consisted of the following stories: [12]
DC Pride 2022 was released on June 14, 2022, and featured a foreword from Nicole Maines. The anthology consisted of the following stories: [13]
DC Pride 2023 #1 was released on May 30, 2023. It featured a foreword from Phil Jimenez and an extended tribute to the late trailblazing writer Rachel Pollack, who passed away before she could begin working on a story for the book. The anthology consists of the following stories: [11] [20]
DC Pride: Through the Years #1, released on June 13, contains:
DC Pride 2024 was released on May 28, 2024, and includes stories featuring Dreamer, Jon Kent, Poison Ivy, Steel (Natasha Irons), Aquaman (Jackson Hyde) and The Ray and a preview of the upcoming graphic novel The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley. [21]
Upon release, DC Pride #1 received widespread acclaim from comics critics. At the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 10 to reviews from comics critics, the series received an average score of 9.2 based on 17 reviews. [22] Oliver Sava, for The A.V. Club , wrote: "Corporate offerings celebrating Pride Month often feel like disingenuous attempts to cash in on a social movement, but DC Pride #1 succeeds by showcasing the ways DC Comics has been pushing LGBTQ+ representation for years. [...] Many of the stories in DC Pride feel like the start of something more, and ideally there's enough interest in this one-shot that these heroes can spend more than a month in the spotlight". [23] Sava compared this issue to Marvel Voices Pride and called Marvel's issue "more of a mixed bag". Sava wrote that "while Marvel has dragged its feet in regards to meaningful LGBTQ+ representation in film and television, DC has spent the last decade expanding representation across all of its media". [23]
Coagula is a character from DC Comics' Doom Patrol series, the first transgender superhero by the publisher. Created by Rachel Pollack in response to other poorly written trans comic characters, the lesbian Coagula obtained her powers—to coagulate and dissolve material—from having sex with Doom Patrol member, Rebis. An actively-written character from September 1993 through February 1995, Coagula has cameoed in other comics as recently as 2022.
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Nicole Amber Maines is an American actress, writer, and transgender rights activist. Prior to her acting career, she was the anonymous plaintiff in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court case Doe v. Regional School Unit 26, in which she argued her school district could not deny her access to the female bathroom for being transgender. The court ruled in 2014 that barring transgender students from the school bathroom consistent with their gender identity is unlawful, the first such ruling by a state court.
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