A new comic book series will be among the first to feature a transgender person as its leading character.
Alters, a comic book series about “mutants,” portrays a man turning into a woman as its main character, reports NBC News. “Chalice,” a transgender man, transitions into a woman while at the same time gaining new “powers.”
“Her transition is a driving factor of the story. [And she] helps other people when she makes a second transition into an Alter and does that through the lens of compassion,” Paul Jenkins, the comic book’s author, told NBC News.
Alters tells the story of a group of “mutants” across the world that begin gaining powers.
“Whatever the case, Alters seem to be emerging all around the country … and they are met with fear, distrust, and prejudice. They manifest new, dangerous powers that emerge without warning,” the website reads. “As the world struggles to accept the emergence of these Alters, a young woman begins her transition from male to female only to find herself also transitioning into a powerful Alter.”
Jenkins told NBC News that the comic series focuses on characters that have “gender identity” and other issues. The series also features a character suffering from PTSD, a woman who is homeless and a quadriplegic character.
“The ‘Alters’ series focuses on characters that have different forms of disadvantage, whether they are marginalized by society or struggling with their gender identity,” Jenkins said.
The first book in the Alter comic series will be available Sept. 7.
The director of GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program spoke out about the inclusion of a transgender character in a comic book series.
While transgender characters remain rare on TV and are non-existent in mainstream films, comic books have been giving readers interesting, multidimensional trans characters for quite a while. I look forward to reading ‘Alters’ and seeing a trans woman as a true superhero,” Nick Adams, director of GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program, told NBC News.
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