Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Jem and the Holograms comic book

The last issue to come out was wonderful, but I feel really bad.

We had Blaze reveal her status as a transgender woman to the Misfits because she was afraid they wouldn't accept her, and didn't believe it was right to keep it from them. And apparently, one reviewer and a few trans readers thought the scene was handled poorly, and Sophie Campbell reacted very sadly towards it. It's a shame.

Wow. That sounds powerful.

The last time I remember there being so much controversy over a comic was the "baby dupe" issue of X-Factor, which I ended up liking a lot.

I had pretty much given up on all comics, but I may check this out. This is, after all, the first comic dealing with a transwoman where one of the creators was trans herself.

Thanks, Sarky.

And here's the thing. Clash, CLASH, of all people, tells Blaze that they will destroy all of their Misfits gear if the Misfits do have a problem with Blaze being trans, even though Clash asserts they won't.

Wait what about Rachel Pollack and Coagula?

Oops.

My memory's not what it used to be.

OTOH, it's the first one in such a mainstream context. Doom Patrol was always culty.

Also the first one in a generation.

I finally got around to reading this issue thanks to the third Jem trade (these days, I buy most of the comics that I'm committed to when they come out in trades.)

I can kind of see how some trans readers and trans-friendly critics might have had a problem with the scene, because while it's heartwarming to see that the Misfits are trans-friendly (or at least most of them; after all, Pizzazz wasn't there, and Gods only know how she's going to react when she finds out, what with the potential rivalry between her and Blaze for the lead singer gig already simmering), it did feel a little bit too...I don't know...maybe "neat and tidy" is the phrase I'm looking for? Or perhaps "unambiguous and lacking in real-life human messiness?"

Still, I think it's a step in the right direction, and hopefully Kelly consulted with Sophie about where the story should go in subsequent arcs before Sophie left (yes, sadly, Sophie has now left Jem for good. Her replacement, Jen Bartel, is quite good, even if her style is a lot more traditional than Sophie's and lacks the endearing cartoony quirkiness that has defined the first 16 issues.)

I think it's also worth noting that Blaze's revelation is all of the piece with the theme of the "Dark Jem" storyline -- heroines aren't entirely good, and villainesses aren't entirely evil, and sometimes, the cosmos inverts those extremes in unexpected and surprising ways. And even if the status quo was more-or-less restored by the end, there is a definite sense to me that none of these young women will ever be quite the same as before. Which is a good thing.