DC Pride Review

“Freedom is priceless. The freedom to be yourself.”--Dreamer

Writers

James Tynion IV

Steve Orlando

Vita Ayala

Mariko Tamaki

Sam Johns

Danny Lore

Sina Grace

Nicole Maines

Andrew Wheeler

Artists and Colorists

Trung Le Nyugen

Stephen Bryne

Skylar Patridge

Jose Villarrubia

Amy Reeder

Marissa Louise

Klaus Jansen

Dave McGaig

Lisa Sterle

Enrica Eren Angiolini

Ro Stein

Ted Brandt

Rachael Stott

Luciano Vecchio

Rex Lokus

DC Pride is as beautiful of a book as the people that it represents. This book is full of love and possibilities. 

As a straight white male trying to write a review of a book that is as important as DC Pride is a daunting task. I know that there have been several times in the past in which well meaning straight white males flubbed up a simple task like this. Just now that I am coming at this review from the heart and will do my absolute best to do it justice. 

Dc Pride is such an important book and DC Comics got some of the best writers and artists to complete this anthology of short stories. I’m not sure if all of the writers and artists are in the LGBTQ community but I know that several are. James Tynion and Nicole Maines may be the two most well known of the bunch. In case you didn’t know, Nicole Maines, who wrote the short about Dreamer, is also Dreamer herself on the CW Supergirl show. This book is the first appearance of Dreamer in comics. I’m so glad that Dreamer made it to this book being that fact that Dreamer is a transwoman and does a heck of a good job as a superhero on her own. 

The book as a whole is just lovely. There is some great art in this book. The Harley and Ivy story sticks out with some emotional moments talking about their relationship while fighting a giant plant. Seems like a thing right up Harley and Ivy’s alley, don’t you think? 

To start off the book is a Batwoman story written by Tynion. Describing Kate Kane’s life, Tynion takes us on an emotional rollercoaster. Great way to start the book by just breaking your heart but, in typical comics, there is a very touching ending. That is what DC Pride is great at. DC Pride brings representation to a group of people who have been underrepresented, at best, and outright hated and discriminated against most of the time. 

The Alan Scott Green Lantern story did a fantastic job about telling the history of the LGBTQ movement. Back in the days where people of that community would go to the worst dive bars just to be able to be themselves. Many of those places did not have running water and certainly wasn’t up to modern safety codes to say the least. Police would routinely come in and shut down these places and even arrest some of the attendees just for being who they were. For more of a history on that, you may want to check out the You’re Wrong About Podcast about the Stonewall Inn riot, which incidentally is mentioned in a lovely introduction piece by Marc Andreyko. 

The stories are just phenomenal and really moving. The art by all the artists and the colorists fit perfectly within this anthology. You can tell that each member of each story put their hearts into this and did some of their absolutely best work to date. For instance, take a look at the Harley and Ivy story and the art by Reeder and Louise is just stunning. Those color choices are certainly a blend of what you would expect from a Harley and Ivy story. And did you see that variant Harley and Ivy cover? That is the one that I picked up personally. It is just so beautiful. You can juxtapose that story against The Wrong Side of the Looking Glass with Nguyen with a darker palette and things just not being just right it seems like. Certainly fits the story that is being told along with Tynion. Then, you can look at the sharp pencils by Stott in the Date NIght story. Those pencils by Stott and the color palette chosen by Angiolini are reminiscent of what you see in the CW Supergirl show and really fits the character of Dreamer.

I could go on and on about how beautiful this book is and how well written the stories are. But, instead, I would suggest that you just go buy a copy. It is stunning. By day, I am a teacher of high school students that use comics in the classroom. I will certainly be adding a copy of this to my classroom library. These stories are so important. Everyone needs to see themselves represented in comics and now is a great time for these historically underrepresented groups to shine. I want my students to see themselves represented just like I want to see everyone represented. Please, go out and get this book. Buy an extra copy if you can to gift to someone who might need to read it.