Justice League: Dream Girls: A DC Pride Event #1 shipped today. The cover shows Nia Nal/Dreamer on horseback on Themyscira, in Wonder Woman’s costume, waving a transgender pride flag. The story places her in the Wonder Woman origin template: a champion chosen to leave the all-female Amazon island and save the world.
Dreamer is a biologically male transgender character created for the CW’s Supergirl series as the “first transgender superhero on television,” played by a man pretending to be a woman,Nicole Maines, who co-writes this series.
Themyscira’s entire mythological identity is built on the absence of men. The Amazons are warrior women who withdrew from the world of men and built a civilization without male influence. Diana’s origin depends on growing up in that society. DC chose the island whose identity depends on the biological reality of its inhabitants as the backdrop for a story about a biologically male character playing its champion. Maines is co-writing a story that places her own character in the Wonder Woman origin role. The creative casting decision is not subtle.
None of this is generating commercial results. The direct market picture running alongside DC’s activism spending tells the actual story. Absolute Batman has topped the direct market bestseller list for multiple consecutive weeks, outselling its nearest competitor three to one. That book is about a working-class Bruce Wayne with no billion-dollar fortune and no ideological mandate. Everything else in DC’s line exists in its commercial shadow.
The main line DCU is not a market driver. The Absolute Universe carries DC’s numbers on the strength of one book. The Pride Month events, the Galaxy solo series, and the Dreamer showcases are not commercial performers. They are ideological statements dressed as publishing strategy.
The statements are not even satisfying the activists DC is courting. The #DCSoWhite boycott launched this month demanding two to three new Black-led ongoing titles with guaranteed 18-24 month cancellation protection regardless of sales. The audience DC is spending its publishing budget pursuing is simultaneously telling DC it has not done enough.
That is the trap. The audience that buys Absolute Batman needs no Pride events. The audience DC is chasing with Pride events demands more regardless of what DC produces while not buying what DC already published for them. The books built on story sell. The books built on agenda do not, and still generate demands for more agenda.
Placing a biologically male character in Wonder Woman’s costume on the island of women is not a story decision. It is a statement that alienates the audience that built the Wonder Woman fanbase while producing no commercial return that would justify the cost.
What do you think DC’s publishing strategy communicates about who they believe their audience is? Let us know in the comments.
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