By Ronald Byrd
Operating in New York City, the Silhouette (Ursula Zandt) was one of several costumed crimefighters who debuted in 1939 and organized as the Minutemen in the fall of that year. Nothing is known about her origin. She was expelled from the Minutemen in 1946 when it was learned that she was living with a lesbian lover, and both she and her lover were killed by one of her past adversaries six weeks after the scandal.
In a bonus feature in Watchmen #9, “Probe Profile: Sally Jupiter” , the interviewer brings up the topic of costumes as a sexual fetish. Jupiter states: “Well, let me say this, for me, it was never a sex thing.” The interviewer brings up the Silhouette. Sally confesses that she didn’t like Ursula because she “was not an easy person to get along with” but felt the woman deserved better treatment after newspapers published accounts of her homosexuality.
Jupiter fleetingly refers to the Minute Men voting Silhouette out of the group to minimize PR damage and then says it was unfair since a couple of guys who are now dead were known to the other Minute Men to have been gay.
The Silhouette relied upon her athletic ability, fighting prowess, and wits.
The Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The character’s sexuality is mentioned in Watchmen #2.
Art by Darwyn Cooke from Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2.
All right reserved DC Comics.
