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“Fearless Defenders” introduces another lesbian comic book character

It’s been a tumultuous year for gay lady geeks as we’ve soared and plummeted along the broken tracks of the mainstream comic books roller coaster. Up we went when Marvel released Fearless Defenders, an all-female team-up with a brand new lesbian character! And down we went when they killed off Dr. Annabelle Riggs in issue #6. Up: Batwoman proposed lesbian marriage to Maggie Sawyer! Down: Batwoman‘s creative team resigned in a very public way because DC refuses to let them go through with the wedding.

But it looks like we’re on another upswing: Fearless Defenders #10 hit stands last week, and introduced us to a new character called Ren Kimura, and guess what? She’s a lezzer! But she’s more than just a token homo; Issue #10 is narrated by her, dominated by her, and it lays out her back-story in glorious three-dimensional detail. Which means a lot of things, one of which is that she’s not going to get murdered any time soon.

Ren Kimura is a 2o-something Asian-American whose parents do not approve of her life’s great passion: Dancing. They always thought she should master ballet and move onto other pursuits (until she’d mastered them, too, and could move onto other pursuits). But dancing – tap, jazz, hip-hop, freestyle, salsa, bellydancing, swing – is soul-sustenance for Ren. So she hides her truth from her mom and dad. And not just dancing. Ren loves the ladies, and she keeps that secret from them as well. Oh, and also her fingers become razor sharp, tough as steel, and long as ribbons, if she wants them too. Just another thing she can’t tell her parents.

Ren gets caught up with the Defenders in New York City as they’re trying to navigate a battle between Thanos’ Wardogs and Caroline LeFay, who are battling it out for these cocooned humans that are being mutated by the Terrigen Mist. By the end of the Issue, Dr. Annabelle Riggs (who was resurrected almost immediately after her death in Issue #6) reached out to Ren, literally, and invites her to become a part of their team, their family.

I sense a loooove connection!

Seriously, though, this is only the second time Marvel has given us a pair of lesbians on the same team, and it’s the only other mainstream comic book besides Batwoman to feature two queer ladies. And since the jury is still out on where Batwoman‘s new creative team is going to take us, it looks like Fearless Defenders is our best bet for gay gal times in the wide world of comics.

Have you picked up Fearless Defenders #10 yet? What did you think of Ren?

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