Here at Multiversity, we like to celebrate our Jewishness from time to time. Let’s face it – we don’t get to do it very often! But when we do, we might as well go all out, right? So for the Eight Nights of Hanukkah, we are going to present to you a Jewish super hero or villain that we greatly appreciate here at Multiversity Comics.
For the first night, we’ve picked: Batwoman!
Kate Kane is a rather new addition to the comic book world, all things considered, having come onto the scene in the pages of 52 #7 (2006) as written by Greg Rucka. Kate Kane is a rather remarkable character, seeing as she took up a Bat-mantle with just a loose tie to the Bat-family. See, some of you might remember that Bruce Wayne’s mother Martha’s name before she married Thomas Wayne was actually Martha Kane, and it’s that very loose tie that brings Kate into the whole Bat-family. Of course, this doesn’t really tie into why she decided to dress up and fight crime, so I suppose that’s neither here nor there.
Instead, Kate is a character who has only recently post-RIP gotten the chance to really shine. Taking over Detective Comics, Greg Rucka and JH Williams III turned out one of the finest Bat-related stories at the time, doing so well that they actually earned themselves a GLAAD award for their positive portrayal of a Lesbian character in comics. See, there are three traits that 
really help to make Batwoman a truly great character: 1) she’s a strong female character who doesn’t fall into any form of average “super heroine cliches”, 2) she’s a Lesbian character, which in turn adds a definitive uniqueness to her in a world full of straight heroes, and 3) she’s a Jewish heroine, which puts her in an even smaller minority. Some of you might remember in issue #33 of 52 (pictured here), Kate attempted to use Hanukkah to cheer up Renee Montoya (the new Question) as Charlie Szasz (the old Question) was dying of cancer. Some of you may even remember Renee describing how Kate celebrated Hanukkah through the issue through a rather heavy and emotional sequence.
Never the less, tonight, the first night of Hanukkah, we light a candle in honor of you, Kate! We’re happy that you have been open with our Judaism, and we hope you have a Happy Hanukkah! Congratulations on your new book (issue #0 on sale now, issue #1 on sale in February, with the Elegy hardcover on sale now), and we wish you many sales! Thanks to Greg Rucka for giving us her, and JH Williams III for really knocking the title out of the park and placing the character on the map! And let’s all pretend that the attached picture here doesn’t end with Kate saying “Merry Christmas.”
For some Batwoman adventures, take a look at 52, The Question: Books Of Blood, Final Crisis: Revelations, Batwoman: Elegy, and the upcoming Batwoman series!
