The Hidden Bigotry of Crosswords

The popular puzzles are largely written and edited by older white men, who dictate what makes it into the grid—and what is kept out.
NATAN LASTMARCH 18, 2020

A new DC comic is to feature Batman and the Joker as 16-year-old high-schoolers turning some of the storyline on its head, as Marvel recently introduced its mocked characters “Snowflake” and “Safespace.”

In the comic, ‘Gotham High,’ Batman will be depicted as being an American-Chinese Instagram superstar, inheriting his large fortune from his mother’s–not father’s–efforts.

The Joker will be repurposed, not as a full-on villain, but as an allegedly bisexual class clown anti-capitalist, anti-fascist by the name, Jack Napier. The Joker’s anti-capitalism is where he derives his heroism in the new comic.

Selena Kyle acts as the queen of the high school, in a comic designed to attack “toxic masculinity,” which comic books allegedly promote.

The trio–Bruce Wayne, Jack Napier, and Selena Kyle–were hinted to be engaged in a steamy love triangle, culminating in a raunchy polyamorous relationship involving a possible orgy.

Batman and The Joker also reportedly “abandon their sexuality in a moment of heat.”

Alfred, the butler, will be openly gay in the comic–which Melissa de la Cruz, the author, describes as “a ‘mix between Batman and Gossip Girl‘ but only more ‘LGBTQ friendly,” according to Sausage Roll.

On the Batman, Joker, Catwoman love triangle, she says: “It came out of trying to figure out all their desires. What does Jack bring to Selina that’s different from what Bruce brings to Selina? Ultimately you don’t know who she’s going to pick. You root for both of them, and there’s a surprise in the end.”