LGBTQ representation is very important and DC Comics has always been ahead of the curve on it. While Marvel made its bones creating a more realistic comics world, DC in the '80s and '90s started to bring in more LGBTQ characters, many created by writers and artists from the British Isles like Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan. From there, DC has done its best to keep LGBTQ community representation a part of its line.

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DC has had a lot of famous firsts for the LGBTQ community and many of the best stories of comic characters from the LGBTQ community were published by DC.

10 Engima Was A Pioneering Look At Sexuality

Enigma Cropped

1993's Enigma, by writer Peter Milligan and artist Duncan Fegredo, told the story of Michael Smith, a twentysomething telephone repair man with an unfulfilling life. When he discovers his favorite comic character, Enigma, has come to life, he goes on a quest to find out what's going on, teaming up with Enigma's creator and encountering a wider and weirder world than he ever imagined— and discovering who he really is.

Enigma was published by DC's legendary Vertigo imprint and was all about a man coming to terms with his sexual identity, expertly and realistically handling the subject matter.

9 The Authority Normalized Queer Relationships In Comics

The Authority- Midnighter, Apollo, Jack Hawksmoor, Swift, the Doctor, and the Engineer

DC/Wildstorm's The Authority was a genre redefining comic in a lot of ways. Spun out of Warren Ellis's Stormwatch, the book starred a group of heroes willing to do anything to save the day. It introduced readers to Apollo and Midnighter, Superman and Batman pastiches in a committed and loving gay relationship.

The book broke new ground with the way it showed a normal queer couple and would go one step further when Mark Millar took over the book, showing the first gay wedding in a mainstream superhero book, years before Marvel claimed Northstar and his boyfriend's wedding in Astonishing X-Men was the first.

8 Midnighter And Apollo Starred The Titular Couple

Apollo and MIdnighter feature

Midnighter And Apollo would be brought over to the main DC Universe after Flashpoint and eventually get their own mini-series named after them, written by Joe Orlando with art by Fernando Blanco. Spinning out of the Orlando written Midnighter book, it starred the titular couple in a new adventure and is one of fans' favorite Midnighter stories.

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Fans love Midnighter and Apollo and this mini-series was just more of why the characters were so great. In one of its sex scenes, it even showed Midnighter as the bottom, which was a big deal as bottom stigma is a real thing and showing a character like Midnighter as a bottom worked to erase that.

7 Judd Winick's The Outsiders Starred Two LGBTQ Characters

The Outsiders

Writer Judd Winick's The Outsiders was a breath of fresh air in DC's mid-2000s line-up. An adult oriented superhero series, it dealt with Nightwing bringing together a new team of Outsiders and starred not one but two LGBT characters, two of the group's most powerful members: Bisexual Amazon Grace Choi, and lesbian Thunder (daughter of Black Lightning).

Both characters were portrayed wonderfully, with their sexuality just being an everyday part of them and not some forced gimmick or attempt at being salacious. In a time when there wasn't a lot of queer representation in comics, this comic was a trailblazer.

6 Death: The Time Of Your Life Revolved Around A Lesbian Couple & A Deal With Death

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Death: The Time Of Your Life, by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Chris Bachalo & Mark Buckingham, starred Hazel and Foxglove, a lesbian couple first introduced in Gaiman's The Sandman. When their son dies one night, Hazel makes a deal with Death to keep him alive— and a year later, Foxglove (a reticent rockstar) and her manager have to find a way to save Hazel and their son.

Seeing Death as a reluctant antagonist is interesting enough in this The Sandman spin-off, but readers getting to see Hazel and Foxglove again is the real highlight of the book, made all the more special because of the lack of out lesbian-fronted literature both then and now.

5 Since Grant Morrison Reinvigorated The Book, Doom Patrol Has Been A Bastion Of LGBTQ Representation

Doom Patrol #19-22 Crawling from the Wreckage- Grant Morrison run begins

Doom Patrol has always been a bastion for outside-the-mainstream-norm stories, but that especially became true after Grant Morrison— who would themself come out as non-binary in 2020— took over the book. From combining Negative Man Larry Tainor with Dr. Eleanor Poole to create Rebis, who was both male and female; to creating Danny the Street, a sentient transsexual street; Morrison represented the community at a time when few else were.

After Morrison's run ended, Rachel Pollack, herself trans, would take over the book and introduce the first trans hero: Coagula. Doom Patrol has been presenting positive LGBTQ characters for decades.

4 Wonder Woman: Earth One Gave A Realistic View Of An Island Of Women

Wonder Woman Earth One feature

The three-volume Wonder Woman: Earth One, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette, starred one of DC's most respected heroes as she dealt with Man's World, trying to bring the utopia of Themyscira to the world. The book took a very realistic look at the island, highlighting the queer relationships that would develop in a place where women were allowed to be who and what they wanted.

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Lesbian subtext was a part of Wonder Woman since the beginning and Morrison leaned into it, turning subtext into text and crafting a story that was respectful of lesbians and bisexuality.

3 The Invisibles Is Still Is One Of The Few Comics With A Trans Character In A Starring Role

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The Invisibles is Grant Morrison's most powerful work, a mind-bending tale of sex, drugs, magic, and the battle between beautiful chaos and horrific order. It's also one of the few books that not only starred a trans character but portrayed her in a positive light: Lord Fanny was the Invisibles resident magician and one of the book's highlights.

Lord Fanny is often the most beautiful character on the page, gets the best lines, and loves herself. She's one of the most positive trans characters ever, an effervescent presence in every story. Besides her, the book also showcases Jolly Roger, a lesbian, and has many other positive LGBTQ characters throughout.

2 The Sandman Was Queer From The Beginning

DC Comics Ego Feature Sandman

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is considered one of the greatest comics of all time and it's also chock full of positive LGBTQ characters. For example, there's Desire, Dream's brother/sister that is both male and female at once. There's the aforementioned Hazel and Foxglove, the Cluracan, a gay elf from Faerie, trans woman Wanda, and many more.

Just about every story arc of The Sandman has some kind of LGBTQ representation. Gaiman presented it for what it was— just another facet of life. The fact that the book is over thirty years old shows just how groundbreaking all of this was at the time.

1 Batwoman Is The Only Mainstream Comic To Star A Lesbian Character

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In the '50s, Batwoman was created to assuage the general public's fear that Batman was a homosexual and when the character reintroduced in 2006's 52, she was transformed into a homosexual herself. Eventually getting her own book from writer/artist J.H. Williams III and artist Haden Blackman, Batwoman would be the first mainstream book from a major publisher of its kind: One starring an out lesbian.

Batwoman would portray the titular hero's relationship with Maggie Sawyer without playing into any gay clichés, and although DC did drop the ball by not allowing the couple to get married, positive lesbian representation like this was and sadly still is far too rare in comics.

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