Warning: Potential SPOILERS for DC Pride 2023 #1Infamous sorcerer John Constantine is about to team up with the youngest Superman, Jon Kent, and it surely won't go well. Between Constantine's penchant for chaotic magic and Jon's relative inexperience, their upcoming clash in DC Pride 2023 #1 is already something to look forward to.
DC Comics teases this likely ill-fated meeting in the description for DC Pride 2023 #1, the publisher's latest Pride-themed anthology featuring LGBTQ+ characters and creators. In a new twist, in addition to being a Pride anthology, DC Pride 2023 #1 will also specifically spotlight team-ups from across the queer DC Universe—including the bisexual duo of Jon Kent and John Constantine. In a story by Christopher Cantwell and Skylar Partridge, "Jon Kent gets a comprehensive course in dark magic when John Constantine sics a golem on him." The publisher's full description of this team-up themed Pride anthology is below.
DC Pride is back again with a brave and bold and all-new collection of stories starring DC’s fan-favorite stable of LGBTQIA+ characters—many of whom will find themselves in thrilling team-ups the likes of which you’ve never seen before! Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy go to extreme measures to get a little alone time…but there’s nowhere on the planet Crush can’t crash! Jon Kent gets a comprehensive course in dark magic when John Constantine sics a golem on him. Tim Drake and Connor Hawke learn that there’s nothing more awkward than reuniting with an old friend after you’ve both come out and one of you was indoctrinated by the League of Shadows for a while. Circuit Breaker struggles to stifle his powers after the Flash of Earth-11 leaps out of the time stream and knocks them both into another dimension. Just how far would Flashlight go to honor his lost love? All these stories and many more in DC Pride 2023!
Will Superman Find a New Bisexual Role Model in Constantine?
The annual LGBTQ+ Pride anthologies from DC Comics have quickly become essential reading in their relatively recent history. They feature fan-favorite queer characters, new and old, in new stories designed to spotlight their past, present, and future as essential queer representation in superhero comics. Jon Kent's Superman, having only come out as bisexual after kissing his now-boyfriend in 2021, is one of DC's newest queer icons; John Constantine, on the other hand, is one of the oldest, having been openly bisexual since his '90s days as a staple Vertigo character.
Now it seems as though the wizened and experienced Constantine is about to meet the newly-out-as-bisexual Jon Kent. Though readers don't yet know much about the story beyond the teaser sentence, the premise alone is delightful: Constantine has never been known to get along with others, so it's no wonder that he'll end up "siccing" a golem on the young Superman (despite the Kryptonian's weakness to magic).
But what readers should truly anticipate about this story is the meeting of two bisexual characters from vastly different DC eras. Constantine should probably never be considered a role model for young people, but it's still likely Jon Kent can learn a thing or two from this character who has been openly bi decades before Jon even debuted as Superboy in 2016. Chaos will surely abound in this dark-magic-themed team-up story—and hopefully a moment or two of joy, too, for both Constantine and Superman.
DC Pride 2023 #1 will be available this June from DC Comics!