So for what is ultimately an extremely middling book, this sure has gotten a lot of ire. Most of the stories here should elicit a response from the reader that can only be described as "Eh." For what little it matters to this conversation, I am a member of the LGBT+ community. I'm pansexual. That doesn't matter here because I think the genuine criticisms of this book are universal, and the rest of what you see in these user reviews is horseshit. I'll quickly run down each story and give my thoughts, and then I will address the... absurdity on display in these user reviews. Such is the benefit of reviewing your comics in bulk (and falling hopelessly behind because life doesn't care about your hobbies.)

"The Wrong Side of the Looking Glass" by James Tynion IV is... fine. I don't know what it is about Batwoman, but I find her hopelessly boring most of the time. Her costume is a 10/10, I loved her in 52, but god help me if I have to read another fucking story about her terrible sister. But the moral of the story is ultimately a good one: Don't be ashamed for being different; You aren't alone. Nice moral that I completely agree with, I just find the path there boring as hell.

"By the Victors" by Steve Orlando is probably my second favorite story of the anthology, which is crazy since it's Steve Orlando, but I've heard in the past that he is exceptionally good at writing Midnighter, so maybe that explains it. Besides an odd framing device that doesn't really add anything to the story and features John Constantine of all people, I do think this is well-written. Straightwashing is a thing, even with history. Historical figures like Gandhi or Alexander the Great have been straightwashed because bisexuality is uncomfortable. And that's not getting into news media and entertainment.

"Try the Girl" by Vita Ayala is okay. It's just not a very engaging story. It's very contemporary, and I'm sure that may resonate with other people, but for me. I genuinely come away from it having forgotten most of it already. It's just not very memorable, sorry.

"Another Word for a Truck to Move Your Furniture" by Mariko Tamaki is alright. I don't have much affinity for the Harley/Ivy relationship. I just really dislike Harley and don't really care about Ivy. But this wasn't bad and had a candidness to it that I really wish Harley would have more often.

"He's the Light of My Life!" by Sam Johns is actually my favorite story here. I was surprised because I don't think the writer does a good job with their Punchline backups over in Joker. But I thought this was a really good exploration of how especially older men who grew up in more oppressive times end up feeling trapped with their sexuality. And I think it's very heartwarming that Alan could learn from his son to come out and be happy about who he was. This is genuinely a great story.

"Clothes Makeup Gift" by Danny Lore is such an odd story. It feels like it could be written for any backup in the Flash or for any anthology, and they just pasted it in this one to meet that page count. It's not very good, it's just bland, which could be because it's the Flash.

"Be Gay, Do Crime" by Sina Grace is... atrocious. If I was writing a slanderous, anti-gay comic, I'd make the gay character sound like Drummer Boy. This is embarrassing. Sina Grace, it's fine if you want to be a 90s gay sitcom character, but you write literally every gay character like that and it really gets annoying. I don't think writing an obnoxious know-it-all super indignant person as the mouthpiece for what is actually a very valid complaint is the way to go. Landlords are taking part in a predatory business that affects more oppressed people even worse than just the average joe, but is nonetheless barbaric either way. Don't make people hate that concept as a gut reaction to it being put in the most obnoxious way possible. This is the worst story here.

"Date Night" by Nicole Maines falls into the same trap as the Flash story. It just seems like it could exist anywhere, and it's an average story that doesn't do anything interesting.

"Love Life" by Andrew Wheeler is messy. It tries to do too much in the space it has, and it is not an amazing debut of the JLQ like they seem to what it to be. I came away from this just sort of annoyed by its pacing and its overall structure. The idea was too big for... what, 8 pages?

Now onto the astounding complaints!

First up is Merlyn. In his review, he complains about the Pride DC logo, saying "I do have a question: why does the DC logo on this book have all those extra-colors? The LGBT flag is obvious, the trans flag I can get too (even though the "T" in LGBT already covers that), but what are the black and brown for? Wasn't this about sexuality, it's also about race too? If so, intersectionality is a dangerous type of thinking and DC does no one good with supporting this ideological stance."

The reason the logo has all those extra colors is because the Pride Flag was redesigned in 2018 by Daniel Quasar to emphasize progress around inclusion. The baby blue, pink and white (which are not on the typical rainbow flag, hence the need to be introduced in a new flag) represent trans people. Yes, the acronym covers everything, what does that have to do with the flag though? The black and brown stripes are to highlight LGBT people of color, a group that needs inclusion, representation and comradery now more than ever, as they have to deal with all the oppression associated with being LGBT, along with all the oppression associated with being of color! And Merlyn was able to connect the dots on that one, I am so proud. It is a form of intersectionality, which is simply the idea that people can be discriminated against for one thing or another, but if they're both things, the discrimination can be "interesected" and therefore be even more intolerable. Nothing about that is dangerous, Merlyn. It's just common sense!

Maud Benjamin's whole review says, "Alan caused the train crash that killed a lot of people because the conductor was busy having sex with him and wasn't doing his job. How is this respecting gay people?"

And my response is, shockingly, no he didn't! The reason the train crashed is not because their gay sex was too hot and steamy for that poor little-engine-that-could to take! The reason the train derailed is because business rival to Alan Scott, Albert Dekker, sabotaged a railway bridge after the train company chose Alan Scott's company to build said bridge. Learn your continuities, kids!

Articulat3 had a charming review that went as follows: "As expected all the "professional" reviewers give it glowing reviews. Everybody has loved Harley, Ivy since forever, nobody cared they were LGBT. You guys need to be releasing this book in the Middle East, thats where they actually have a problem with intolerance towards LGBT. Stop writing down to your audience here. You can write LGBT and minority characters without making it there only personality trait. Constantine is bisexual and nobody gave a shit, the problem is you guys write bad stories for alot of these characters. If you actually care about lgbt/minorities write them properly and not as mascots for your social views."

My response to this is of course professional reviewers will give this book glowing praise. It's not like they actually read these things! And actually, I happen to know that plenty of Harley/Ivy lovers love them for the representation they give to the LGBT community as a prominent lesbian couple! Oh, and comics are available in the middle east. I'm not sure if this one will make it though, due to oppressive laws. But I think we can all agree that we shouldn't harp on social issues if they don't affect us westerners. That's just science! But seriously, given how dogshit some of these reviews are, DC isn't writing down to anything. Some of you clearly don't know shit about LGBT rights. I can't think of a single character in this anthology whose whole personality trait was being LGBT or a minority. The closest character to that was Drummer Boy, but even they were also anti-landlords. Fun fact about Constantine, it took a decade for anyone to actually portray him as openly bisexual. Before that it was an offhanded comment made once. And even when he was finally adapted into film and later into his own TV show, that bisexuality was conveniently excluded. I wonder why, if everyone was totally fine with it. Maybe it says something about what was socially accepted and what wasn't, not even 10 years ago. What you'll find is that a lot of LGBT people and minorities agree with the social views that you deem them mascots of in these stories. These stories were literally written by them. It turns out, gays like rights. I'm as surprised as you must be.

Foxter had a terrible point with their review: "This why the comicbook industry is dying. You just has to compare the users and "critics" rating, there is dissonance here. Dc and Marvel continue to make comics for an audience that dont give a shit about them."

The comic book industry is not dying, despite the constant doomsayers that have been screaming literally my entire lifetime. To think that this website is an indicator of the general reception of any comic is ridiculous. We are a small, fringe community. We aren't representative of any general trends, I promise you. And actually, a lot of LGBT people are comic book fans and as with literally every form of entertainment, you want to diversify your audiences to get the most product out there and the most money you can. Basic business.

Sup3rsa1yan1990 had a spasm and out came, "🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮".

(CONTINUED IN COMMENTS) more

As expected all the "professional" reviewers give it glowing reviews. Everybody has loved Harley, Ivy since forever, nobody cared they were LGBT. You guys need to be releasing this book in the Middle East, thats where they actually have a problem with intolerance towards LGBT. Stop writing down to your audience here. You can write LGBT and minority characters without making it there only personality trait. Constantine is bisexual and nobody gave a shit, the problem is you guys write bad stories for alot of these characters. If you actually care about lgbt/minorities write them properly and not as mascots for your social views. more

Alan caused the train crash that killed a lot of people because the conductor was busy having sex with him and wasn't doing his job. How is this respecting gay people?