All all through Delight Month, we’ve been celebrating DC’s best LGBTQIA+ characters. Nonetheless, we couldn’t let the month finish with out paying tribute to one of the crucial vital—Maggie Sawyer. She may not have the title recognition of more moderen queer characters like Batwoman, Harley Quinn, Jon Kent or Tim Drake, however don’t underestimate Maggie’s significance. Maggie Sawyer was an early trailblazer for LGBTQIA+ characters within the DC Universe. In essence, Maggie walked in order that characters like Batwoman might run.
Readers first met Maggie Sawyer in 1986’s Superman #4. She was launched as a police captain working within the Metropolis Particular Crimes Unit. This place continuously paired her up with Superman, who revered the powerful captain. In 1988’s Superman #15, readers got a peak at Maggie Sawyer’s private life. When her daughter Jamie goes lacking, Maggie tells Superman about her failed marriage, and the way she misplaced custody of her youngster.
Whereas Maggie’s flashback doesn’t explicitly spell it out, readers have been in a position to learn between the strains and determine her sexuality.
“I used to be confused in these days,” she tells Superman. “There have been issues taking place in my head that I’d been denying for a very long time. Issues a correct Catholic lady didn’t even need to contemplate.”
Maggie explains that after her marriage collapsed, she misplaced custody of her daughter as a result of she wasn’t a “match mom.”
It is vital to place this within the context of the time interval. In 1988, it was extraordinarily uncommon to see a mainstream superhero title like Superman tackle homosexuality on this means. Conversely, it’s fascinating to see how obscure DC needed to be solely 33 years in the past. It actually makes you admire how far we’ve come whenever you evaluate Superman #15 to one thing like this yr’s DC Delight particular. It’s additionally a heartbreaking reminder of what life was—and nonetheless usually is—like for queer dad and mom.
Maggie misplaced custody of her daughter as a result of a decide thought her sexuality made her an unfit dad or mum, establishing an especially bittersweet ending for the story. Superman and Maggie finally save Jamie from a villain known as Skyhook, however Maggie’s ex-husband James remains to be unwilling to present her visitation rights.
Maggie’s sexuality was weaponized in opposition to her as soon as once more in Motion Comics #600. Captain Sawyer’s investigations had been getting too near Lex Luthor’s operations, so the enterprise mogul determined to take some counter measures. Luthor calls Maggie to his workplace and threatens to launch a file containing her most private secrets and techniques. As soon as once more, the dialogue doesn’t explicitly state what’s within the file, however readers have been in a position to put collectively that Lex is blackmailing Maggie over her sexuality.
When Lex experiences a medical emergency, Maggie is left alone with the file. In that second, she’s tempted to destroy it with a view to protect her secrets and techniques, however finally decides that might resolve nothing. She later recounts the expertise to her companion Dan Turpin: “I fought onerous to get the place I’m. If Lex Luthor thinks I’m going to tuck my tail between my legs and run simply because he now holds what he thinks is his large trump, he’s misjudged his goal.”
Maggie continued serving as an vital member of Superman’s supporting solid all through the Submit-Disaster period. In 1994, she starred in a four-issue restricted collection known as Metropolis SCU. The comedian pits Maggie in opposition to an eco-terrorist whereas detailing a number of the struggles in her personal life. Specifically, we see Maggie battle to keep up her difficult relationship with Toby Raynes, a feminine reporter for the Metropolis Star. The character of their careers provides their relationship some challenges as Toby and Maggie attempt to keep away from crossing any moral strains. Maggie’s ex-husband James additionally visits, throwing further problems into the combo. Metropolis SCU was the primary restricted collection to characteristic a lesbian because the main character. It was acknowledged with a GLAAD Award for Excellent Comedian Guide in 1996.
Maggie Sawyer was additionally an early pioneer for queer illustration in western animation. She was a recurring character on Superman: The Animated Sequence, the place she was voiced by Joanna Cassidy. Through the “Apokolips…Now!” two-parter, Maggie is hospitalized and Toby Raynes is seen at her bedside. Toby and Maggie maintain fingers and are genuinely affectionate with each other, however the present by no means explicitly defines their relationship. Within the episode commentaries, government producer Bruce Timm reveals that this was their means of incorporating the connection into the present.
Maggie’s scenes with Toby might have been minor, however on the time, they have been one of many solely examples of lesbianism on a superhero animated collection. (Thankfully, issues have progressed and right this moment queerness is a lot better represented in animation, with exhibits like Steven Universe, The Owl Home and DC’s personal Younger Justice main the cost.)
Maggie additionally performed an enormous position in seasons two and three of The CW’s Supergirl, the place she was portrayed by Floriana Lima. In comparison with Maggie’s earlier small display screen look, Supergirl had the liberty to be extra overt about Maggie’s sexuality. Over her first season, Maggie fostered a romantic relationship with Alex Danvers, Supergirl’s adoptive sister. Maggie helped Alex come to phrases along with her sexuality in a storyline that gained the hearts of viewers and critics on the time. One among Maggie’s most memorable moments occurred within the episode “Far From the Tree” the place she stood as much as her homophobic father.
As I look by means of the varied variant covers for DC Delight 2022, I see many iconic queer characters, however not Maggie Sawyer. This will sound like a bizarre takeaway, so bear with me, however I feel that’s a testomony to her legacy and the way far we’ve come. When Maggie’s backstory was revealed in 1988, the script couldn’t be too express about her sexuality. When Metropolis SCU was revealed in 1994, it was DC’s first title to characteristic a lesbian because the lead character. At present, DC has sufficient out-and-proud queer characters to fill a 100-page anthology. Maggie might not be on the quilt alongside them, but when it wasn’t for the obstacles she helped break, these characters and the DC Delight anthology they’re all now part of might not have ever existed. That’s a legacy worthy of delight.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, motion pictures and comics for DCComics.com and writes our month-to-month Batman column, “Gotham Gazette.” Comply with him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this characteristic are solely these of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and don’t essentially mirror these of DC Leisure or Warner Bros.
