Out of curiosity, volksjager, have you ever seen 'Tipping the Velvet'? It's a BBC miniseries about lesbians in the Victorian era - very good stuff. The reason I bring it up is there's a scene where the main character is naked and covered in gold paint, for the purpose of masquerading as a sort of 'living statue' - she actually looks very similar to Nova (or she would, if she were on fire), and my mind flashed back to it as I read the comic and your commentary. I don't know what your tastes in film are, but I'd recommend it - it's not only very well done, it's interesting historically.