Neil Gaiman

muchymozzarella:

monetizeyourcat:

neil-gaiman:

Why would you think that? I think the final page is absolutely clear on Wanda’s gender. And I hope the story is too.

Mostly, I found a lot of the stuff I was seeing in the late 80s from some feminist quarters really offensive, seeing them dismiss trans women as not real women, and decided that I wanted to put those attitudes into the story, which, from the title on, was about identity and how we create our own. So yes, there are god-like things in Sandman who do not see Wanda as a woman, just as Wanda’s family back in Kansas are not able not see her as a woman, but then, the narrative in Sandman is pretty clear that god-like things are just as likely to be screwed up, wrongheaded and mistaken as anyone else in the story. Wanda’s attitudes and responses to the Gods in the story are mine, although said much more pithily than I would have.

If I were writing it today, rather than in 1989, when there weren’t any Trans characters in comics, it would be a different story, I have no doubt. But that was the story I wrote in 1989. I got a fair amount of hate mail for putting a trans character in a mainstream comic, and I’m still proud of it, and of Wanda.

this is such a self-congratulatory retcon it disgusts me. when you write force majeure into your story and make it do value judgments, what in fuck’s name do you think people are going to take as the last word on a point of contention

also “there weren’t any trans characters in comics” maybe not the ones you and your boys’ club were writing you smug little shit

1. Neil Gaiman wrote more LGBTQIA characters into his 80s mainstream stories than most other writers do today. Mainstream.Keyword is mainstream. How many mainstream comics or media do you know today very actively portray transwomen as a major player in an arc or storyline? What about in the 80s? And when I say mainstream, I mean mainstream.

2. If you actually read the storyline, you’ll understand that Wanda remained Wanda even while the entire world was against her, the last insult being the name Alvin on her gravestone—promptly crossed out and replaced with Wanda by Barbie, who with the lipstick wrote the last word; the last word in writing being Wanda’s true name. 

3. Death, who was probably the most powerful being in existence and arguably the greatest of the Endless, knew completely and entirely who Wanda was—a woman. That was the final word, to trump all other words. Wanda was a woman, and no shitty gravestone marker, no intolerant families, and no evil cuckoos could say otherwise. 

That was my point of view too. Obviously, readers’ mileage varied and not everyone took that away from the story. But I think most people did. Or at least, I hope so.