Maggie Sawyer is part of a trio of prominent lesbian heroines in the DC Universe, the other two being Renee Montoya and Batwoman.

Maggie Sawyer’s Secret

Captain Maggie Sawyer is the chief of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. (If you lived in a city with so many super-villains, you’d want a Special Crimes Unit too.) As originally created by John Byrne, Maggie was a rather harsh-faced woman who wore leather mini-skirts. Since then, later artists have softened her appearance a bit, but not her toughness. She was often seen in the various Superman titles of the period, though her sexual orientation was at the center of only a few of those stories. Captain Sawyer was first introduced to readers in #4 (4/87) and first revealed to be a lesbian in Superman #15 (3/88). It all comes to light when Maggie’s ex-husband sues her for custody of their young daughter. See also #34 and Superman Annual #2 (’88) for stories that have Sawyer as a central character.

When she first appeared, Maggie Sawyer had a live-in girl friend named Toby Raines, who worked as a reporter for a rival paper of the Daily Planet. Maggie’s personal life was explored with her and in general in greater depth in the mini-series Metropolis S.C.U. This was the first and only time Sawyer was featured as the star of a comic book series.

As the tough-minded head of Metropolis’ Special Crimes Unit,a prominent subplot throughout the four issues miniseries is how Sawyer’s devotion to her job threatens to destroy her relationship with Raines. For the period from 1991 to 2001, Sawyer is featured as a supporting character who appears every third issue or so to support Superman’s crime-fighting efforts in the four weekly Superman series: Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, Action Comics, and Adventures of Superman. 

Sawyer Moves to Gotham City

As a non-powered character, Sawyer was often overshadowed by the magnitude of threats necessary to vex Superman. Editors at DC made the decision she could be put to better use in Batman’s sphere of influence. There were specific plans to have her play a central role in a new comic book called Gotham Central, written by rising star Greg Rucka, that focused on the non-costumed detectives who worked that dangerous beat. Unlike in the Superman books, Sawyer was a key character in that series, which debuted in 2003. However, Renee Montoya, another lesbian character, would prove to be the star.  was the star. 

In the first issue of Gotham Central, we see Maggie calling her lover, Toby, still located in Metropolis, to say how much she misses her. While Lt. Sawyer occasionally appeared in Detective Comics and other Batman titles, her primary home was Gotham Central until its cancellation in 2006.

Batwoman, Maggie Sawyer’s Lover

For a number years, Maggie Sawyer’s role in Batman titles became similar to what it was in Superman ones. But then DC Comics made a big splash with their first big name lesbian costumed hero, Batwoman. And the creative team decided they wanted Maggie Sawyer as her romantic interest.

In nearly every issue of Batwoman’s new comic book, which began in 2011, Sawyer was there: having arguments with Kate Kane, Batwoman’s secret identity, making up with Kate and coming into conflict with her given Sawyer’s official role with Gotham P.D. and Batwoman’s actions as a vigilante.

Plans ultimately were to have Kane and Maggie marry, but the powers that be at D.C. decided married characters ruined narrative tension and the plan was squashed. Batwoman was cancelled not long after in 2015 and Maggie Sawyer once again lost a starring role. She briefly appeared in Batman Eternal, a weekly series, during this period as a minor character.

In 2016, Sawyer moved back to Metropolis and occasionally appears in Action Comics to the present day. 

Maggie Sawyer on CW’s Supergirl

Sawyer proved to be one queer character who was able to appear on one of CW’s superhero shows without her sexuality being rein-visioned as gay. Maggie Sawyer was a key figure in a plotline in which Supergirl’s adoptive sister, Alex Danvers comes to term with her sexuality. Sawyer was played by Floriana Lima who appeared in seasons two and three of the series. 

While her appearances on Supergirl significantly elevated the name recognition of the character, her Supergirl character didn’t really feel like the Maggie Sawyer comic book readers had come to know. The problem was that Alex Danvers perfectly fit the Maggie Sawyer mold: no-nonsense leader of an official policing organization (albeit keeping rogue aliens in line) with short cropped brown hair. As such, CW’s Maggie Sawyer really resembled Renee Montoya, even to the extent that she was deemed a Latina (full first name now Margarita) and played with some of Montoya’s world weariness by her portrayer, Latina actress

Alex and Maggie’s relationship ends when Alex reveals she wants children and Maggie does not.

LGBTQ Significance of the Character

Maggie Sawyer was DC’s first notable lesbian character. Credit John Byrne for her creation, though not entirely for his execution. Byrne was obviously envisioning Sawyer as a butch lesbian and that, in and of itself, is just fine. But the severity of her features as rendered by Byrne was unfortunate. Later writers kept her no nonsense demeanor but softened her features. Thankfully she was never drawn in an overly sexualized way. As such Sawyer was able to evolve into a formidable presence in the story-lines she was featured in, remaining a sympathetic figure and a realistic romantic interest for other heroines. As such, and only as such, Maggie Sawyer has retained a central role in the DC Universe for over thirty years.

Notable Appearances of Maggie Sawyer

Superman 4, 7, 9-10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 26, 34 (4/87-8/89)

Superman Annual  2 (1988)     

Periodic appearances as a supporting character in Superman (49-149), Superman: The Man of Steel (1-119), Action Comics (595-773) and Adventures of Superman (445-572) from 10/88-12/01.  

Metropolis S.C.U . 1-4 (11/95-2/96)

Detective Comics 764, 766, 771, 773, 783, 784 (1/02-9/03)

Gotham Central 1-2, 6-18, 23-25, 28-31, 33-36, 39-40 (2/03-4/06)

Detective Comics 856, 858, 861, 863 (10/09-5/10)

Batwoman 0-4, 6-12, 14-34, 36, 38-39 (1/11-4/15)

DC Comics Bombshells 1, 3, 7, 13, 15, 19, 26 (10-15-7/17)

Action Comics 957, 958, 963, 973, 987, 1000, 1002, 1011… (8/16-x/19…)

Batwoman

DC Comics: Bombshells 1, 3 (10/15-12/15)

Mark Carlson-Ghost

For another early lesbian comic book heroine see Amanda Shane, an appealing Black lesbian bounty hunter operating in a dystopian future.