A gorgeous new DC Comics Pride Month cover featuring Wonder Woman - by artist and writer duo Ted Brandt and Ro Stein - highlights the queer history and legacy of Wonder Woman as well as all the Amazons of Themyscira.Unveiled by the Eisner and GLAAD Award-nominated Ted and Ro themselves, the beautiful cover for Wonder Woman #800 debuts during 2023's Pride Month. It features Diana alongside Artemis, her mother Hippolyta and partner Phillipus, as well as the Amazons new Queen Nubia and her partner Io.
Wonder Woman is one of DC Comics' most beloved and famous heroes, and her familial home of Themyscira has long been seen as a queer paradise, with only women living there in a near-utopia never visited by "Man's World." However, until recently much of this queerness has been subtextual and not canonical.
Wonder Woman Has Always Been A Queer Icon
Thankfully, in recent years DC Comics has made an admirable and impressive push to increase its LGBTQ+ representation and diversity within its comics. This has been seen with beloved heroes like Jon Kent and Tim Drake coming out as bisexual, Green Arrow's son Connor Hawke coming out as asexual, and allowing Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to express their Sapphic love for each other without shame. Wonder Woman has always been queer coded, and seen as a queer icon by much of the LGBTQ+ community because of her uncompromising stance on supporting the vulnerable, her unabashed self-expression, and the gender role-defying feats and values that are the foundation of the hero. The actress Lynda Carter, who famously played Diana in the 1970s Wonder Woman TV series, recently made the news for voicing her belief that Wonder Woman is undeniably a queer icon. Carter said many queer folks have approached her to tell her how her portrayal of Diana has helped them, proof of Wonder Woman's lasting impact on the LGBTQ+ community.
Ted and Ro's beautiful Pride Month variant cover is an amazing way to honor the impact Wonder Woman has had on the queer community, affirm Diana's own queer identity - canonically confirmed in 2016 by writer Greg Rucka - and uplift the other queer voices present on Themyscira. Specifically, their art highlights Diana's mother Hippolyta and her romantic relationship with Phillipus, an incredibly brave and honorable Amazon General who Diana considers to be her step-mother. Artemis of Bana-Mighdall is also featured, a powerful Amazonian warrior whose best friend and former lover Akila has been killed twice in front of her. While Diana herself has not been seen in a serious queer relationship on Prime Earth, her Dark Knights of Steel counterpart was in a committed relationship with the Kryptonian Zala-El.
Nubia's Newest Era Has Brought Amazon's Queerness Into Focus
The queerness of Wonder Woman and the Amazons has never been on such sharp display as in Stephanie William's acclaimed beloved new era for the "original" Wonder Woman, Nubia. Throughout Nubia & the Amazons and Queen Nubia the newly appointed Amazon Queen has been shown being intimate, vulnerable, and joyous with her lover Io, also featured in Ted and Ro's marvelous variant cover. In addition, Themyscira's first canonical transgender woman has become an official Amazon, with the seer Bia being welcomed onto the island with open arms. Nubia's newest era shows that DC Comics creatives are dedicated to highlighting queer characters not just during Pride Month, but throughout the year in visible queer relationships or discussing their queerness as lead characters.
Diana of Themyscira's long history and legacy as an LGBTQ+ icon and a queer woman herself is often underrepresented. Ted Brandt and Ro Stein's splendid Pride Month variant cover featuring Wonder Woman alongside Artemis, Hippolyta, Phillipus, Nubia, and Io, is a powerful and inspiring reminder of the importance of visible queer representation in comics.
Source: Ted & Ro
Wonder Woman #800 will be available from DC Comics on June 20, 2023.