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2 • October 6 - 12, 2019 • Brainerd Dispatch By Breanna Henry TV Media I may or may not own an overflow- ing stack of comic books that's get- ting dangerously close to weighing more than its current shelf can han- dle, so it's safe to trust me when I say that Batwoman, a.k.a. Kate Kane, is a fantastic character with a ton of in- credible story potential. As someone who's already a fan, I'm very interested to see how CW's "Batwoman" recreates, reimagines or reinvents the title character, and luckily I won't have to wait long. With the beautifully androgynous Ruby Rose ("The Meg," 2018) at the helm (or cowl) and Rachel Skarsten ("Ac- quainted," 2018) playing the totally twisted Alice, CW's newest prime- time addition to its DC Comics-based Arrowverse — "Batwoman" — pre- mieres Sunday, Oct. 6. Not everyone seems to be as excit- ed as I am about CW's "Batwoman." Many of the preemptively negative thoughts are likely the result of peo- ple being afraid. After all, Batwoman has a lot of fans, and people may be worried the show will portray the iconic and beloved character poorly. Much of the online negative senti- ment about the show revolves around lead actress Rose, whose credits include a few less-than-stellar films. Rose's castmate Skarsten is no stranger to caped crusaders. The To- ronto native played the super- screeching Black Canary in "Birds of Prey" on the WB at just 16 years old. Joining the two lead females are Dougray Scott ("Departure") as Bat- woman's father, Jacob, Elizabeth An- weis ("NCIS: Los Angeles") as her stepmother, Catherine, and Sam Lit- tlefield ("The Messengers") as Mouse. The cast looks fantastic, the trailers seem cool, and it seems hard to go wrong when you have such great source material with which to work. The fact that Skarsten has been cast as the "Through the Looking Glass"-quoting psychopath Alice actually provides a big hint as to where CW's "Batwoman" creators Caroline Dries ("Smallville") and Greg Berlanti ("Titans") drew their inspiration for the show. Those who've read the divi- sive 2010 Batwoman comic "Elegy" by Greg Rucka probably know what to expect from Batwoman and Alice's on-screen relationship. For those not familiar with Rucka's work, just know that you're in for some of the "Batwoman" comic books' most outrageous, unexpected and disturb- ing twists and turns. The psychedelic imagery and mind-warping colors for which the comic is known don't seem to have been carried over to the new TV series, but other such DC Comics television programs ("Ar- row," "The Flash," "Supergirl," "Ti- tans," etc.) really seem to love dark, gritty and grey post-processing, and the look feels right for the city of Go- tham. Still, fans likely hope the show will attempt to pay some homage to the source material with a bit of outlandish cinematogra- phy at some point. It's already become a topic of conversation when it comes to this se- ries, so it's worth mention- ing that both Batwoman and the woman who plays her on TV are gay. Somewhat comically and incredibly ironically, the original Batwoman (Kathy, not Kate) was in- troduced way back in 1956 solely to discourage a controversy that arose in the previous year regarding Bat- man's own perceived homosexuali- ty. After the Batwoman character was written out of the DC Universe in 1964, editors refused to bring her back despite demand from readers, calling her a "hapless female" who would be "gone for good." It wasn't until 2006, 50 years post-debut, that DC announced Batwoman's rebirth. In addition to swapping the old-fashioned name Kathy for the more modern Kate, editors revealed that today's Bat- woman would be a Jewish lesbian. Far from the lipstick-toting Batman- iac she was in the 1960s, Kate Kane was a directionless party girl, lost in life after being discharged from the military under the don't ask, don't tell policy that discouraged homo- sexual service members. Whether it was the murder of her mother, the loss of her partner, the thrill of breaking some bad-guy bones, or Batman himself, we may never know why Kate was inspired to put down her drink to pick up a cowl, cape and bright red wig, becoming the Batwoman fans know and love today. Holy diversity Batman! 'Batwoman' premieres on CW Cover Story this week Rachel Skarsten stars in "Batwoman" The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Apple was caught breaking a Chinese labor law to build its latest iPhone. People in China were shocked, they were like, "Wait, we have labor laws?" Tonight was the third Democratic debate, and I read that all the candidates were warned not to swear at the debate — it got weird when Bernie was like "what about nudity?" The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Last night, the president had a warning about those godless Democrats — now I happen to know a lot of Democrats who are religious but I will admit, when they see you on TV they mumble, "There is no God." The Late Late Show with James Corden Trump called John Legend a "boring musician" and called Chrissy Teigen a "filthy-mouthed wife." In other news, Melania's campaign against cyberbullying is still going strong. The world's first cheese conveyor belt restaurant has just opened in London. The restaurant features a 130-foot-long conveyor belt stocked with all kinds of different cheeses — India's developing a space program, Australia is moving towards all solar power and England's like "you know what the biggest problem the world's got now? It's not getting cheese fast enough." 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