I think it's pretty telling that Batman is a member of the Trinity. He is my favorite lead hero in any series, but let's face it, he's just a guy. On the other hand, Marvel tends to write significant weaknesses into their characters, as opposed to the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman is an immigrant. Superman is an immigrant. They're just as much Americans as I am (other than the being fictional) and I was born in Texas.
The DC editors have themselves stated that Batwoman was written as a Jewish lesbian to expand the diversity of DC comics. That's fine. Jewish lesbians are awesome. I dated a Jewish lesbian; she was cool.
There are three major, iconic heroines in the DCU: Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl. Barbara Gordon was going to be brought back to be the flag bearer for diversity, but after the costume redesign for Barbara had already been done, the DC editors changed their collective mind.
Instead of letting a well established character with a fan base take the mantle, they brought back Batwoman. By using a character that did not have a fan base, they ran the legitimate risk that fans would not take to the character wholly apart from her sexuality.
I understand the argument that using one of the more well established characters would require a rewrite, but in this case, a rewrite was still necessary. If they intend to portray Katherine "Kathy" Kane, who was Batwoman, as different from Katherine "Kate" Kane, who is Batwoman, it is not any less complicated than what would have been necessary with any of the other heroines.
I think that Batwoman has been written wonderfully. I don't expect to see her fail. However, the final outcome does not have any impact on whether DC editors made the right decision or whether they made it for the right reasons.
@Gylan Thomas: In 1964 Julius Schwartz took over as editor of the Batman series and essentially threw out all the peripheral Bat-characters, but she was not officially erased from continuity until The Crisis.
@Gylan Thomas: The erasure of Batwoman occurred in 1985, but both Kathy and Renee are in the modern age. Kathy sort of faded into the background until the rebirth of Batwoman in '06.
@Nighthunter: They are both Katherine Kane, but she was formerly referred to as "Kathy". Even though Batwoman was later erased from DC history, Kathy Kane and Renee Montoya both still existed and were heterosexual.
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