At first, I was excited. A lesbian Batwoman, and a redhead, no less. Being a fellow member of that esteemed league, I felt a certain bond.

Then I read the rest of the article, in which Gotham’s female guardian is described by writer Greg Rucka as “the kind of sexy that makes you think of a succubus with a very bad attitude.”

From Wikipedia:

A Succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men in dreams to have sexual intercourse, according to the medieval European legend. Their male counterpart is the incubus. They draw energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death of the victim. . . .

According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or “Witches’ Hammer”, written by Heinrich Kramer (Insitoris) in 1486, a succubus would collect semen from the men she slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women, thus explaining how demons could apparently sire children in spite of the traditional belief that demons were incapable of reproduction through generative or gestative means.

Oh, great. All we need is another killer lesbian with bisexual tendencies. The only twist this time is that she’s part of the lesbian baby boom. (One would imagine she’d do the inseminations herself, without the help of a male incubus.) Wonder if she carries a cryo tank on her utility belt?

I’ll give Rucka the benefit of the doubt and be willing to think he didn’t make the lesbian-mom connection. But still. After the flap a decade ago against shoemaker Reebok for naming one of its shoes the Incubus, after a demon who had sex with women while they slept, you’d think people would be more careful.

Given that the whole Batman aesthetic is dark and brooding and even the male caped crusader has his share of hangups, I’m not expecting Batwoman to be a perfect human being. Tragic flaws can make a character more interesting. For the love of Gotham, though, just don’t make them stereotypical flaws.

What do you think? Will a lesbian Batwoman be good for the LGBT community?

(Thanks to PageOneQ for the pointer to the article.)