On the trail of the Batwoman

Tracking response to this weekend's revelation that the "new" Batwoman will be a lesbian socialite has been a somewhat surreal exercise. And I'm not even talking about the comic-book message boards.

The story broke Sunday in The New York Times as part of a much larger article about efforts by DC Comics and Marvel to diversify their superhero universes. By Monday, news had crossed the Atlantic to the U.K., where it met with mixed reaction from gay and lesbian advocacy groups. (One organization suggested DC was pandering to fanboy fantasies, while another lauded the publisher for promoting diversity.)

From there, news wound its way to France, India, South Africa and Australia before ending up back in the United States, where even DC Comics executive editor Dan DiDio admits to being overwhelmed by media interest in Kathy Kane.

"It's kind of weird," he told The Associated Press. "We had a feeling it would attract some attention, but we're a little surprised it did this much."

Just as weird are the headlines accompanying the coverage. Most are fairly straightforward, but others, well ... aren't:

"New incarnation of Batwoman likes girls" is the headline for The AP story.

"Lady-lovin' Batwoman comic fuels rabid debate," the New York Daily News says.

And because headline-writers can't resist, Ireland's GCN goes with, "Kerpow! Batwoman is back -- and gay." (UK's The Sun pushes the allusion and fumbles the facts with, "Batgirl kerpow-t of closet.")

Related: Newsarama has Batwoman previews from 52 #11