It’s 2025, people, and Pride has never been more important. Lucky for us, DC got the memo. Never to be outdone, the annual DC Pride specials have always been about doing it up bigger, bolder and more spectacular than the year before. And this year, the community and collaboration at DC is stronger than ever. Where past DC Pride specials have been catalogs of individual stories, this year brings us one grand narrative informed by an all-star team of queer creators, sharing their experiences and perspectives to form a narrative that represents us all.

To learn more about how this all came together, we spoke to our good friend Sam Maggs, one part of the DC Pride “writer’s room” about representing the queer journey, the importance of feeling seen, and how to have the most fun in comics.

I’ve always felt that the importance of DC Pride has been in the way that it allows queer readers to see themselves represented. Why do you think it’s important in media to feel seen?

I feel like “representation is important” feels like such a cliche these days. But it really is still true. It’s probably more true than ever. Everything that I write is for myself at 15 years old. It’s all what I wish I had available to me when I was younger, because I think if I had been able to see all the different avenues of life available to me, I probably would have made really different choices in my 20s and 30s. Would have saved me a lot of angst.

I think that just being able to see all the potential available to you, to not feel like you have to be a certain way, to know people are out there living in ways that make them happy, means that you start to think you can do it too. Now, there’s such pushback. We’re getting book bans. Censorship on social media. It’s a really scary time. And so, to have DC be so loud in its support for the queer community, for marginalized creators—to have that coming from one of the Big Two is genuinely so huge, and I am so grateful and honored to be a part of it.

Unlike the DC Pride specials of years past, everyone worked together on this issue to tell one combined story that weaved through all the events. What was the process like for this as a writer, trying to put that together with all the other teams?

So interesting. I was just hanging out with all of the other writers at DC a couple of days ago, and we all couldn’t stop talking about how this was the most fun we have ever had making a comic book. And it specifically was fun because of this writer’s room! Our editor, Andrea Shea, and our head writer for the frame story, Tim Sheridan, had gotten together and come up with the overarching idea. There was going to be this bar, there were going to be these bubbles, we were going to have this new character, Ethan. So, they had that in place.

By the time the rest of us all joined up, we all had this really big writer’s room brainstorm session over Zoom where Andrea was like, “Here are all the characters on offer. Just throw out what you want to do with them. What does each of these characters’ ideal alternate universe look like? What is the idea that would make them happy? And who wants to do what?”

It was so cool because literally every person in the room came to the table with a different character. Like, the girls were not fighting. Maya Houston showed up and was like, “I’m doing Harley!” And we were like, “Yeah, you are!!!”

I pitched this totally nutso story about Midnighter and Apollo. And there was a part of me that was kind of worried, because oftentimes, I think writers are sort of pigeonholed into what people think of as “their lane.” We don’t see a lot of women writing Batman, for example. We certainly don’t see a lot of women writing Midnighter. I thought maybe they would really want me to write a lesbian character and I’d be trapped in that. But everybody immediately was like, “We love that, you should do it!” And that was such a delight for me too. I felt really lucky about that.

So, we were all bouncing ideas back and forth, and that sort of camaraderie and collaboration continued. We all ended up in a Discord together, just throwing scripts back and forth, sending each other notes, sending each other ideas. It was so great. It felt a lot more like working on a video game or working on a television show than working on comics because comics is usually such an isolated medium. And I think all the stories are better because of it.

The premise of this special is this magical effect that grants wishes to the members of the queer community, but from points in their life that might not necessarily reflect who they are now. Why do you think that theme speaks to a Pride special in particular?

I think that the journey of queerness and of self-identity is never ending. I can only speak to my journey, but I spent a lot of time thinking or wishing I was straight. And then, I thought I was bisexual, and it took me until I was in my mid-thirties to realize that I’m a lesbian. That process of discovery, as you see different ways of being represented in media, as you get to know people, as you ingratiate yourself in the queer community, as you realize the options that are available to you—that process of self-discovery is ever changing, ever ongoing. There weren’t a lot of people talking about being trans in 2002 the way that there are now. So, when people say, “Oh my god, there are so many more trans people,” well, yeah. We know that’s an option now. That [open discussion is] a new thing.

I think that there’s something really interesting about these queer people being forced to confront these past versions of themselves. Who they thought they were, what they thought they wanted, and how that comes in alignment with who they are today. It’s cool and feels very relevant.

Talking about pigeonholing, let’s talk about Midnighter and Apollo. When I hear people talk about them, it’s in the context of, “Oh, they’re the gay Batman and Superman.” What do you think makes them more interesting than that? What is the dimensionality to Apollo and Midnighter?

I think what makes Apollo and Midnighter so interesting, and so different from Batman and Superman, is their relationship. It’s their love for each other. Their existing in relationship with each other influences so much of what they choose to do. Who they are at their core influences each other. That queer love that they share is so fundamental to who they are. You can’t really pull the queerness out of a person and expect to have the same person left over afterwards. It really is fundamental to who they are. They see the world differently than other people do.

I think it’s important to remember that unlike Batman or Superman, Midnighter and Apollo have never existed outside of the context of each other. They were introduced at the same time. The relationship is the core of who they are.

Yes, that’s exactly how I feel about it! And, of course, they’re their own people and have their own individual wants and needs. Obviously, Midnighter is a very different person than Apollo is. But that’s what makes them great. I love an “opposites attract” story. And I think the way each of them conceive of their own goals, foes, or dreams is impacted by the fact that they are queer. This is how they move through the world. This is how people perceive them.

I want to talk about a character who’s very important to me, personally. Connor Hawke, as an asexual hero in comics, is the first character at DC who has really felt representational of where I’m coming from. So, it means a lot to see the stewardship of the character continue. I think it’s something that comes across really well in this story, with his very intentionally awkward juxtaposition of Black Canary and the way he breaks out by revisiting his Buddhist beliefs… You hit a lot of character beats in, like, two or three pages.

Two pages! [laughs] It was literally two pages. There’s NO room!

There’s no room at all, and you do so much with it! How do you make the most of your space in these packed anthologies?

First of all, thank you so much for the kind words about Connor in this. It truly means so much to me coming from you, someone who has real lived experience in this. This is actually my second time writing an ace superhero, and I feel truly honored to have that gift given to me to help represent this on the page. I think ace representation is so important. And, to your point, it doesn’t happen a lot. We don’t get to see a lot of it. So, I loved that I got to do it in this, and that we got to include Connor in this. He’s such an interesting character. He’s a mixed-race asexual Buddhist superhero. He’s got a lot going on. [laughs]

I’ve always loved the way that Connor’s been able to channel his asexuality as an asset to his religion and spirituality.

Oh my god, yeah. He’s like, “I don’t get horny, so I don’t care.”

“It’s just a step I get to skip on my path to freeing myself from desire.”

It’s true! “I’m far less distracted, and simply more evolved.”

But, as the story illustrates, it doesn’t mean that he’s without his own struggles.

Well, totally. It’s important to note that he had all these comparisons to his father. The world expects you to be a certain way, expects certain things of all of us. It places these expectations about how our lives are supposed to go, what our lives are supposed to look like. It was cool to approach Connor in a way where he didn’t even really need to learn anything. He was like, “I’ve already learned this. I am really happy with who I am. My life rules, actually. I don’t want to be any different, and I am at peace with myself.”

He really is that fully self-actualized version. And whether it’s Buddhism or therapy, I really do think all superheroes need a little bit of help. They go through a lot, you know?

Thank you so much for your time today. I’ve got one more question for you. What do you think the takeaway message should be from this year’s Pride Month in particular?

All we have is each other. Community is everything. Community is more important than ever. They’re going to try to take away our spaces online. They’re going to try to take away our spaces in person. And every time they do, we’re just going to make a new one. We’re always going to find each other. And we are stronger together than we are apart. Whatever they try to do to drive wedges between us—“gay men don’t like lesbians,” “asexuals don’t count”—all that is just manufactured garbage. We are all queer people. We are all marginalized. We all exist in a way that is counter to the norm, and we have to support each other if we are going to survive. Community is the way that we move forward. We cannot do this alone, and you should not have to. I really do think that’s the answer.
 

DC Pride 2025 #1 is now available in print and as a digital comic book. It can also be read in full at DC UNIVERSE INFINITE at all tier levels.