Coagula

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This article is about the comics character. For the art magazine, see Coagula Art Journal.
Coagula
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance"The Laughing Game"
Doom Patrol 70
(September 1993)
Created byRachel Pollack
In-story information
Alter egoKate Godwin
Team affiliationsDoom Patrol
AbilitiesAlchemy

Coagula is a character from DC Comics' Doom Patrol series, the first transgender superhero by the publisher.

Character[]

Coagula is a transgender lesbian, former prostitute and programmer.[1] After having sex with former Doom Patrol member Rebis ("an alchemical hermaphrodite"), Coagula gained[2] "alchemical powers[1] […] the power to dissolve things on the one hand and coagulate them on the other hand."[2] She tried to join the Justice League, but "it's implied that she was rejected in part for being an out transgender lesbian activist"; she instead joined the Doom Patrol. Coagula first appears in issue 70—"The Laughing Game"—defeating The Codpiece, a spurned man-turned-villain with a multifunctional, mechanical codpiece. After her introduction in the next few issues, Coagula takes center stage in "The Teiresias Wars", a five-part story combining "Greek mythology with [Pollack's] twisted retelling of the Tower of Babel". The character last appeared in "Imagine Ari's Friend (Part Four of Four: A Cry for the Great Face)" Doom Patrol 87 (February 1995).[3]

Development[]

Coagula was created by Rachel Pollack. The synergy of Coagula's name and powers are derived from the Latin language phrase solve et coagula.[2] Pollack wrote Coagula's past to include prostitution and programming because those were the most-common professions for trans women in the early-to-mid 1990s. Pollack coopted Coagula's real name (Kate Godwin) from Kate Bornstein and .[1] The Coagula character allowed Pollack to expose readers to transgender topics before being killed off,[4] garnering positive feedback from readers who finally saw themselves represented in the pages of comics.[3] As of October 2015, Coagula was DC Comics' first and only transgender superhero, and had not yet been reused or reprinted since its original run.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Pollack, Rachel (December 15, 2013). "Interview with Rachel Pollack". The Heroines of My Life (Interview). Interviewed by Monika Kowalska. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gaiman, Neil; Pollack, Rachel (Summer 1994). "The Gods of the Funny Books". Gnosis (Interview). Interviewed by Erik Davis. Archived from the original on May 29, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2020. An Interview with Neil Gaiman and Rachel Pollack
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Lloyd-Davies, Madeleine (November 14, 2013). "Women Out Of Refrigerators: Coagula". The Toast. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Corallo, Joe (October 27, 2015). "Coagula, DC's First And Only Transgender Superhero". ComicMix. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.

Further reading[]

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