Contributed by Mike McDermott
Kimiko’s Pastrami Dog is a fusion restaurant located in a seedier neighbourhood of Los Angeles, described by Hank McCoy as unique in all the world. The super-villain Goliath (Erik Josten) would reluctantly use the restaurant as a place to receive his phone messages, since the rundown motel he was staying at didn’t have any phones. Goliath looked down on the patrons of the restaurant, whom he described as “Runaways. Drunkards. Creatures neither man nor woman”. The last comment would be in reference to a trans woman in a green dress and a flowery hat, who was a regular customer at Kimiko’s Pastrami Dog.
The customers were used to Goliath’s condescending attitude and his delusional behaviour, and when he asked Kimiko if his agent had phoned, the lady in the green dress responded by asking if Star-Search had started a “best lunatic” category. Another customer made a remark mocking Goliath, and he responded violently, smashing the man’s table. A pair of young men tackled Goliath away from the older man, and Goliath responded by starting to grow larger and threatening to kill them all! The lady in the green dress stepped in to defend the young men, and punched Goliath in the face! Unfortunately they broke their hand against his super human jaw. Goliath ended up fleeing the scene without further violence, ranting about how Wonder Man lives a life of fame and fortune he felt was rightfully his, and how he was going to take it all away.
A few issues later the Beast brings Wonder Man to Kimiko’s Pastrami Dog, looking to experience “California weirdness” and learning of the unique restaurant in an “Offbeat L.A.” guidebook. The lady in the green dress can be seen in the restaurant talking to another customer, who is impressed to be speaking to someone that punched a super-villain. The lady appears to be wearing a cast, but not on the arm they punched Goliath with (presumably an art error).
We never learn this character’s name (or pronouns), but they are notable as a visibly trans character in an early 90s comic book, and one who is given a somewhat heroic role. They aren’t written as a joke, and the only character who treats them as ‘different’ is the villain of the story.
This character first appeared in Wonder Man #1 (1991) by Gerard Jones and Jeff Johnson.
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Gerard Jones was arrested in December 2016 on charges of distributing and possessing images of child sexual abuse. Pleading “not guilty” originally, Jones changed his plea to “guilty” in April 2018 and admitted to having tens of thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse on stored on electronic devices. In August 2018 Jones was sentenced to six years in prison to be followed by a five year period of supervision. An unknown amount of restitution was ordered to be paid to his victims. Jones was released in December 2022.