I've written before on In Sequence about my love for the character Bette Porter on The L Word. Now, as The L Word cranks up for a new season, I thought I would mention the parallels I've noticed between Bette Porter and Renee Montoya, one of the lesbian characters in the DC comics series 52.

Bette and Renee are both lesbians, racial minorities and professionals. Circumstantially, they're both going through what could generously be called "a career transition." Bette Porter recently took time out to care for her father during his last days (Incidentally, I thought Jennifer Beals deserved an Emmy for that). Renee Montoya, in issue #33, was doing caretaking for The Question in what appear to be his final days.

Next, there's the lawbreaking connection. When last we saw Bette, she was making a beeline for the border with her baby in tow, having kidnapped the little tyke from her ex, Tina. Renee, on the other hand, recently killed a suicide bomber while following a vigilante-like course.

Rene and Bette also share similar coping techniques. In the screenshot above, Bette is seen skulking in a bar before pouncing on an attractive young woman, whom she takes back to her hotel room. There follows a very hot scene--in which Jennifer Beals's outstanding upper arms are shown to great avantage--featuring Bette peeling the bra off her newfound friend from behind. The next morning we find Bette sulking in a chair, staring at the unclothed woman in her bed as she contemplates her actions of the previous night.

Compare this with Renee's stress management routine in 52 issue #18. Ridden with guilt after taking out a female suicide bomber, Renee is said to be "coping in her usual way." We see Renee, naked against dusky purple sheets, a dark-haired nymphette at her side. On the following page (she has to get dressed in a hurry when Black Adam, Isis and The Question burst suddenly into the room, just when she's "getting some"), Renee grips the neck of what looks like a beer bottle. Later, The Question refers to Renee's "week-long benders with the prettiest lass" in the city.

Clearly, Bette and Renee could enjoy a night out on the town together. I like the way the "old school" lesbian and "new school" lesbian ways are blended together in these two characters. You have the old school drinking-and-womanizing to block out the pain; then there's the new school nonmonogamy-as-personal-empowerment and underwear-by-Victoria's-Secret bits mixed in as well.