XtraNormal is a website that allows you to create your own cartoons simply by adding text for the pre-made characters to say.

With so much creative control, any message you desire can be passed along cartoon style.

WOOTY99 is a user on YouTube who collects pro-gay XtraNormal cartoons on their channel, and here are a couple of the cartoons WOOTY99 scoped out from the site…

Pat the Clown and Gay Marriage:

The reason she’s still not Miss USA

Another one WOOTY99 collected is “Joe the (plumber) Clown views on gay marriage” which is too crude to place here on our site (they have to be to imitate Joe the Plumber!) and so here is the link for you watch that one.

The website to create your own videos and watch the other ones people have made can be found at www.XtraNormal.com.

**PS This is not a hearing impaired friendly website as many characters of the video use the same mouth movements and there are not sub-titles. I apologize if any of our readers were not able to understand the videos in this post.

I’m curious to know of any other good videos from XtraNormal so if anybody happens to find any feel free to link them in the comments.

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In an effort by the DC Comics editorial staff to diversify its publications and better connect to modern day readership, 2009 will see Batwoman as the first lesbian superhero in a regular Detective Comics role.

DC super-writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams will be taking over the reins of the flagship title for “at least” twelve issues and giving a lesbian Batwoman time out of the cave.

Batwoman (originally referred to as the Bat-Woman) is a fictional character and female counterpart to the superhero Batman, created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff. This character appears in publications produced by DC Comics and related media. Batwoman made her first comic book appearance in Detective Comics #233 (1956). Originally named Katherine “Kathy” Kane, the character was introduced as a love interest for Batman to disprove allegations of homosexuality in response to the backlash from the book Seduction of the Innocent (1954).

Although Batwoman made a number of appearances during the late 1950s and early 1960s, declining sales of both Batman and Detective Comics led to the editorial retirement of the character. When Julius Schwartz became editor of the Batman related comic books in 1964, he removed non-essential characters including Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite and Bat-Hound. Kathy Kane is later killed and her existence as Batwoman in the DC Universe is retroactively erased by the conclusion of the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The modern incarnation of the character, Katherine “Kate” Kane, first appears in week 7 of the maxi-series 52 first and came out of the closet in 2006 as being of Jewish descent and as a lesbian. Batwoman’s sexual orientation has gathered mixed reviews, ranging from acceptance to outrage.

Several GLBT organizations such as GLAAD have praised DC Comics for attempting to diversify their characters, but Batwoman is not the first openly gay character to star in a DC series – Batwomans former partner Renee Montoya, who had been an irregularly appearing supporting cast member in various Batman titles, was over the course of her comic book history also outed as a lesbian. …

However Batwoman does represent the most high profile title starring a gay superhero for the publisher.

Hmmmm… I wonder…. do you think she will drive the Bat U Haul when she fights the bad guys?

Comic strips have dealt with issues as far and as wide as simple humor to social commentary to loss of a loved one. Recent story lines have included the economic melt down which saw the grandparents of the perpetual toddler Marvin move in with his parents, and Kell’s cousin loose her job in Kevin & Kell; government bail outs via Rudy Park; the loss of a beloved wife via Funkey Winkerbean; the slow decline of the newspaper in Candorville and Ink Pen; and same-sex marraige also in Candorville.

Over the years, minorities have gained in representation in the comics. A number of comic strips center around women

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including Cathy, Tina’s Groove, 6 Chix’s, and Safe Havens. Many women write and illustrate their own comics too. There are several comics centered on the African-American community including Jump Start, Candorville, and Curtis. Some comics bypass the usual minorities and go for the furry audience with anthropomorphic animals including Kevin & Kell and My Cage. However, gays, lesbians and transpeople are only slightly represented in the comics, usually as supporting characters.

The first gay character that I’ve been able to find is Andy Lippincott. He was introduced into Doonesbury back in 1976. Andy disappeared after a short stint in the strip where he was the romantic obsession of Joanie Caucus. He returned to the strip in 1982 as the organizer of the Bay Area Gay Alliance, and returned again in 1989 after being diagnosed with AIDS. He died listening to the Beach Boy’s Wouldn’t It Be Nice. His final appearance was when he returned as an angel to reveal to long time main character Mark Slakmeyer that Mark is gay. Lippincott was given a rare honor for a cartoon character in that he has an AIDS quilt panel with his name on it.

Mark has continued on the strip. He remains the only gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender character in a main role. Going well back into the strip, Mark rarely had any relationships with women. For a while, he was in a serious relationship with Chase Talbot III, only to break up over major differences over politics. He is currently a commentator on NPR.

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The comic strips Kevin & Kell and 9 Chickweed Lane have supporting characters who are gay, lesbian or trans. Kevin & Kell is set in an alternate world full of anthropomorphic animals, the strip centers around Kevin, a six-foot tall rabbit; his wife Kell, a wolf; his adopted daughter from his first marriage, Lindesfarne; Kell’s son from her first marriage, Rudy; and Kevin and Kell’s daughter Coney. Among the supporting characters are Bruno Lupulin and Rachel Einhorn. Bruno is a trans-dieter. In this world, the bigger issue is that of diet and not gender. Bruno, a meat eating wolf had surgery to become an herbivore. Many of Bruno’s issues parallel those of a transsexual in our world. Rachel Einhorn is a lesbian rhino, and no one cares. While both are side characters more often discussed in the supporting blog that goes along with the site, they are still there.

9 Chickweed Lane has featured Seth Appleby and his boyfriend Mark for some time. Seth is a ballet dancer and good friend of one of the main characters, Edda Burber. Seth and Mark’s relationship is not always easy. Recently they broke up and got back together.

For Better or For Worse, which ended original strips in September ‘08, also featured a gay character in the form of Lawrence Poirier, Mike Patterson’s life long best friend. FBFW highlights the controversy that has

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always surrounded the coming out of a particular character in a comic strip. The controversy over Lawrence’s coming out was costly for Johnston. She lost many readers who objected to having an openly gay character in a family strip, and several newspapers chose to cancel the strip or refused to run the arc. Three years later, Nick, Lawrence’s boygriend, came into the strip and caused a slightly smaller outcry. Johnston worked for two years hammering out the arc concerning Lawrence’s coming out. In an interview from around that time, Johnston stated that she knew that Lawrence was gay when she introduced him to the world in 1979. Johnston, on her site, includes a five page overview of the entire process which both she and her character Lawrence went through including several key strips. Johnston has gone back to the beginning of her strip and we are getting to see Lawrence grow up all over again.

Comic strips do not necessarily need a gay, lesbian or transperson as a character to be friendly to the LGBTI community. Darrien Bell’s Candorville is one such strip. Set in a sort of alternate Los Angeles, Candorville has strayed into the political quite often. In November ‘08, Bell ran a three part arc in the strip called Pride and Prejudice about Prop 8. He has continued to address the rocky and difficult relationship between the LGBTI and African-American communities.

The funny papers are changing. Not only are they becoming more inclusive, they are also becoming, well, paperless (I subscribe to three different comics sites and read five pages of funnies per day). Perhaps, some day soon, we will see a mainstream comic strip that centers around a gay, lesbian or trans character.

On 19 November, Candorville ran it’s last strip in the Pride and Prejudice arc.

My thanks to Darren Bell for writing these three strips and making a very quiet statement about the illogic and idiocy of prejudice.

Sei is a trans-lesbian who lives in Vermont and has a strong passion for LGBTI rights. She has a BA in History and her hobbies include sci-fi, anime, fantasy, action movies, video games, and more. You can visit her Blogger profile here.

The battle over same-sex marriage hit the funny papers, that is the comic strips, this week with, so far, two strips from Candorville written by Darren Bell.

Mr. Bell lives in Los Angeles. His strip Candorville is set in a sort of mirror world and stars Lemont Brown as well as his friends Clyde (aka C-Dog) and Susan Garcia.

What follows are two strips entitled Pride and Prejudice 1 & 2.

Darrin Bell is the first African-American cartoonist with two strips simultaneously.

Bell writes and illustrates Candorville as well as illustrates the strip Rudy Park written in collaboration with Theron Heir. He attended UC Berkley where he studied political science.

Candorville Official Site:
http://candorville.com/

More Published Candorville:
http://comics.com/candorville
http://www.gocomics.com/candorville

Sei is a trans-lesbian who lives in Vermont and has a strong passion for LGBTI rights. She has a BA in History and her hobbies include sci-fi, anime, fantasy, action movies, video games, and more. You can visit her Blogger profile here.