Gay Comic Book Characters - blackicbookday

Contents:

• 10 IMPORTANT GAY MOMENTS COMIC BOOK HISTORY
• A CHRONOLOGY OF GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS
• 15 OPENLY GAY MARVEL CHARACTERS THAT MIGHT BE COMG TO THE MCU
• LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO
• WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS?WILLIAM LD·FOLLOW11 M READ·MAY 13, 2015--LISTENSHAREA IEND OF ME, A FELLOW IC BOOK LOVER, RECENTLY REACHED OUT TO ME WH A SIMPLE QUTN: WHY DO SEEM LIKE THERE ARE THERE SO MANY GAY CHARACTERS POPPG UP IC BOOKS THE DAYS? FRANKLY, I WAS HONORED TO BE CHOSEN AS THE SPOKMAN FOR ALL OF GAYKD, AND TOOK MY NEWFOUND ROLE TO HEART. AFTER ALL, I AM A HUGE FAN OF IC BOOKS, AND DO SEEM AS THOUGH LGBT ISSU ARE BEG MORE OF A STAPLE MASTREAM ICS THAN EVER BEFORE. BUT WHY? HAS SOMETHG CHANGED WH THE IC BOOK DTRY, OR HAS SOCIETY SHIFTED S PERSPECTIVE? THIS NERDY GAY DU THKS THE TTH LI SOMEWHERE BETWEEN.THE HISTORY OF LGBT CHARACTERS COMICSBEFORE WE N REALLY LOOK AT THE STATE OF IC BOOKS TODAY, WE NEED TO SET OUR WAYBACK MACHE TO THE 1950S TO EXPLORE THE LONG AND TRAGIC RELATNSHIP BETWEEN GAYS AND IC BOOKS. IN 1954, DR. FRERICK WERTHAM PUBLISHED SCTN OF THE INNOCENT, WHICH LLED OUT IC BOOKS AS A BAD FLUENCE ON CHILDREN DUE TO PERCEIVED SEX APPEAL, RAMPANT VLENCE, AND SUGGTIVENS REGARDG HOMOSEXUALY. DR. WERTHAM BELIEVED THAT BATMAN AND ROB’S PICTN OF A YOUNG WARD BEG RAISED BY A SGLE, OLR BACHELOR WAS APPROPRIATE. ROB’S FLAMBOYANT STUME, ACROBATIC PROWS, AND EXTENSIVE LLECTN OF SCISSOR SISTER ALBUMS ONLY ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE. THE ENZY THAT DR. WERTHAM STIRRED UP WAS ENOUGH TO MAKE CONGRS TAKE NOTICE. THIS SRED THE IC BOOK PANI TO CREATG THE FAMO COMICS CO AUTHORY, WHICH PROHIBED ‘SEXUAL PERVERSN’ AND KEPT GAYS OUT OF IC BOOKS FOR A LONG TIME. THE CCA’S STRANGLEHOLD ON ICS LASTED FOR S, BUT BY THE MID-90’S, MOST IC BOOK PANI WERE WORKG AROUND THE SEAL, AND BY 2001, MARVEL WAS THE FIRST OF THE MAJOR PANI TO SCRAP THE CCA ENTIRELY.LET’S TAKE A JUMP FORWARD TO 1979, WHERE WE WERE FIRST TRODUCED TO ONE OF THE MOST PROMENT HOMOSEXUALS IC BOOKS TODAY: NORTHSTAR. ORIGALLY CREATED 1979 BY WRER JOHN BYRNE AS PART OF THE CANADIAN SUPERHERO TEAM ALPHA FLIGHT, NORTHSTAR WAS ALWAYS TEND TO BE GAY. UNFORTUNATELY FOR NORTHSTAR, MARVEL’S EDOR-IN-CHIEF AT THE TIME, JIM SHOOTER, WOULDN’T ALLOW ANY REFERENC TO NORTHSTAR’S HOMOSEXUALY TO APPEAR ICS. Y, HE WAS STILL ALLOWED TO WEAR BLACK AND WHE SK-TIGHT SPANX, BUT I GUS THAT WASN’T ENOUGH TO TRIP SHOOTER’S GAYDAR. DPE BEG FORCED TO KEEP NORTHSTAR THE CLOSET, BYRNE DROPPED HTS HERE AND THERE THAT NORTHSTAR WAS A IEND OF THE CANADIAN EQUIVALENT OF DOROTHY.NOT TO BE OUTDONE, DC COMICS TRODUCED TO THE SHORT-LIVED CHARACTER EXTRAñO 1988. EXTRAñO WAS A FLAMG, EFFEMATE PEVIAN SORCERER WHO WORE OUTRAGEO CLOTHG AND MA THIS TEAM MAT REFER TO HIM AS ‘AUNTIE.‘ HE WAS ALSO DIAGNOSED AS HIV-POSIVE, BEE WALKG STEREOTYP THAT MAKE LIGHT OF A SER CRISIS ARE APPARENTLY EASIER TO WRE THAN CHARACTERS WH NUANCE. INSULTG TO DIENC OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE, EXTRAñO HAS NOT MA MUCH OF AN IMPACT ON MORN DIENC SPE BEG THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SUPERHERO.IN 1992, WRER STT LOBLL WAS GIVEN EEDOM TO OUT NORTHSTAR AS GAY ISSUE #106 OF ALPHA FLIGHT. OF URSE, THE STORY FEATURED NORTHSTAR G OUT , WHAT ELSE, A STORY ABOUT A BABY WH HIV, BUT WAS STILL FORWARD MOMENTUM. IRONILLY, NORTHSTAR’S POWERS CLU SUPER SPEED AND FLIGHT, SO WHO BETTER TO PROPEL THE ISSUE OF GAYS ICS FORWARD? THE NEW YORK TIM LLED NORTHSTAR’S G OUT STORY A ‘WELE DITOR OF SOCIAL CHANGE,’ AND THE MEDIA’S LOVE AFFAIR WH LGBT ISSU IC BOOKS BEGAN.THE 90S GAVE A STRG OF CHARACTERS HTG ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY AND ORIENTATN NFN, ALL THANKS TO THE (MOSTLY) POSIVE RECEPTN THAT NORTHSTAR HAD RECEIVED. HOWEVER, MOST OF THE STORI ME AND WENT, AND FEW OF THE CHARACTERS END UP STANDG THE TT OF TIME. THE NEXT MAJOR STORY THAT UGHT THE ATTENTN OF THE PRS, THOUGH, WAS GREEN LANTERN KYLE RAYNER’S IEND AND ASSISTANT TERRY BERG. EIGHT MONTHS AFTER FIRST APPEARG THE GREEN LANTERN IC BOOKS, TERRY ME OUT TO THE ACCEPTG RAYNER. SHORTLY AFTER G OUT, BERG AND HIS BOYIEND DAVID WERE ACSTED BY A GANG OUTSI OF A GAY CLUB, AND TERRY WAS LEFT ATOSE AFTER A BTAL BEATG. THE STORY WAS SPIRED BY WRER JUDD WICK’S REACTN TO THE ATH OF MATTHEW SHEPARD A FEW YEARS EARLIER, AND STCK A NOTE WH FANS.IF NORTHSTAR HELPED MAKE GAYS MASTREAM, APOLLO AND MIDNIGHTER HELPED MAKE GAY RELATNSHIPS MORE ACCEPTABLE. THE PAIR BUTED THE PAG OF STORMWATCH AS TRANSPARENT HOMAG TO BATMAN AND SUPERMAN. THE TWO WERE CLOSE ALLI, AND AFTER JOG THE AUTHORY A FEW YEARS LATER, THEY SHARED A KISS THAT REVEALED THE TE NATURE OF THEIR RELATNSHIP. ANYONE WHO EVER WONRED WHAT A ROMANTIC KISS BETWEEN BATMAN AND SUPERMAN WOULD LOOK LIKE FALLY HAD THEIR ANALOGUE. WELL, ASI OM GOOGLG ‘BATMAN SUPERMAN RULE 34,’ BUT HONTLY, I REMEND AGAST THAT, PECIALLY IF YOU’RE READG THIS WHILE AT WORK. THE BT PART ABOUT APOLLO AND MIDNIGHTER IS THE ANTICLIMACTIC UNVEILG OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, AND THE NORMALCY THAT THE UPLE SHARED. THEIR RELATNSHIP ALLOWED FANS TO SEE THEM AS CHARACTERS FIRST, HOMOSEXUALS SEND.WHEN MOVG FORWARD, THE OCSNAL BACKSLI IS BOUND TO HAPPEN. 2003 GAVE MARVEL’S THE RAWHI KID, WHICH ATTEMPTED TO REVAMP THE TULAR CHARACTER AS A HOMOSEXUAL AS AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK DOWN THE ‘MAN’S-MAN’ STEREOTYP OF HERO AND WBOYS. A NOBLE GTURE, BUT THE LIVERY WAS LS THAN SUBTLE. CONJURG THE GHOST OF EXTRAñO , THE RAWHI KID WAS AN OVER-THE-TOP STEREOTYPE OF GAY CULTURE. HE WAS FOPPISH, FLAMG, AND EFFETE, DISHG OUT FASHN ADVICE AND SNARKG UP. THE RAWHI KID IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A HOMOSEXUAL WRTEN BY WRERS WHOSE ONLY AME OF REFERENCE WAS ‘WILL & GRACE.’LGBT ISSU COMICS TODAYALL OF THE CHARACTERS LAY THE FOUNDATN FOR THE CURRENT CULTURE OF ICS. IN RECENT YEARS, THE LGBT MUNY HAS BEEN ABLE TO UNT AMONGST OUR RANKS GREEN LANTERN ALAN STT, BATWOMAN, YOUNG AVENGERS HULKLG AND WICN, TEEN TAN BUNKER, RICTOR AND SHATTERSTAR OF X-FACTOR, MORPH OM THE UNNNY X-MEN, AND RIVERDALE RINT KEV KELLER, AMONGST OTHERS.Y, A FUCKG ARCHIE CHARACTER IS GAY, AND THE ARCHIE ICS ARE HANDLG THE CHARACTER WH MORE POISE AND RPECT THAN MANY GAY CHARACTERS HAVE SEEN THROUGH THE HISTORY OF ICS. KEV KELLER MA HIS FIRST APPEARANCE 2010, AND HAS BEEN VELOPED AS A NUANCED CHARACTER WH CLOSE IENDSHIPS TO ARCHIE AND HIS CREW, AN TERT STUNT ERNMENT, AND LATER, AS A MEMBER OF THE UNED STAT ARMY. HE EVEN GOT MARRIED TO BOYIEND CLAY 2012, WHICH NATURALLY DREW PLENTY OF MEDIA ATTENTN.KEV AND CLAY WEREN’T THE ONLY ON EXCHANGG WEDDG VOWS 2012, THOUGH. NORTHSTAR AND HIS BOYIEND KYLE WERE MARRIED ASTONISHG X-MEN #50, RIGHT ON THE HEELS OF NEW YORK STATE’S LANDMARK CISN TO ALLOW SAME-SEX MARRIAG. MARVEL HYPED THE EVEN WH A SERI OF ‘SAVE THE DATE’ ANNOUNCEMENTS, AS WELL AS AN TENSE MEDIA MPAIGN THAT LAND NORTHSTAR ON THE HOME PAGE OF MANY NEWS OUTLETS THAT MONTH.OF URSE, YOU N’T HAVE THE EMERGENCE OF A MORY GROUP TO THE SPOTLIGHT WHOUT TRACTORS. TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT-WG GROUP ONE MILLN MOMS, WHO LNCHED A SERI OF PROTTS AND BOYTTS AGAST MARVEL AND DC BEE OF THE RISE OF LGBT CHARACTERS ICS. THEIR CLAIM WAS THAT ADULT GAY MAL ARE TRYG TO ‘DOCTRATE IMPRSNABLE YOUNG MDS’ TO ‘THKG THAT A GAY LIFTYLE CHOICE IS NORMAL AND SIRABLE.’ OF URSE, THE ONE MILLN MOMS GROUP IS TERRIBLE AT MATH, NUMBERG ROUGHLY 70,000 MEMBERS AT THE TIME OF THIS WRG, SO HOW MUCH SWAY N THEY HAVE ANYWAYS?COMIC BOOK CREATOR ROB LIEFELD, FAMO FOR CREATG A SLEW OF UBER-MASCULE, GUN-TOTG MACHO MEN AND SNTILY CLAD FEMALE ASSASSS WH IMPOSSIBLE ANATOMY THE 90S, WEIGHED ON THE ISSUE WH TYPIL LIEFELD CLASS. LIEFELD WAS THE ORIGAL CREATOR OF SHATTERSTAR, WHO WAS RECENTLY WRTEN AS PART OF A HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH X-FACTOR’S RICTOR. SAYS LIEFELD, “AS THE GUY THAT CREATED, SIGNED AND WROTE HIS FIRST DOZEN APPEARANC, SHATTERSTAR IS NOT GAY. SORRY. CAN’T WA TO SOMEDAY UNDO THIS… SHATTERSTAR IS AK TO MAXIM GLADIATOR. HE’S A WARRR, A SPARTAN, AND NOT A GAY ONE.” IN RPONSE, X-FACTOR WRER PETER DAVID PROVID PERHAPS THE BT RPONSE I’VE EVER READ: “I UNRSTAND THAT SOME PARENTS HAVE THE SAME REACTN. THEY WERE RPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN’S FIRST APPEARANC AND, WHEN RMED OF THEIR SEXUAL PERSUASN, FIRMLY CLARE ’S IMPOSSIBLE, THEY N’T BE GAY.” HERE’S A LK TO 40 OF THE WORST ROB LIEFELD DRAWGS, BEE FUCK THAT GUY, THAT’S WHY.WHICH BRGS TO ORSON STT CARD, THOR OF THE ENR’S GAME SERI OF SCI-FI NOVELS, WHICH ARE GENERALLY WELL-RPECTED WH THE GENRE. CARD IS ALSO WELL-KNOWN AS A VOL SUPPORTER OF THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT. IN 2008, HE WROTE THE FOLLOWG AS PART OF AN EDORIAL THE DERT NEWS: “HOW LONG BEFORE MARRIED PEOPLE ANSWER THE DICTATORS TH: REGARDLS OF LAW, MARRIAGE HAS ONLY ONE FN, AND ANY ERNMENT THAT ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE IS MY MORTAL ENEMY. I WILL ACT TO STROY THAT ERNMENT AND BRG DOWN, SO N BE REPLACED WH A ERNMENT THAT WILL RPECT AND SUPPORT MARRIAGE, AND HELP ME RAISE MY CHILDREN A SOCIETY WHERE THEY WILL EXPECT TO MARRY THEIR TURN.”WHAT DO THIS HAVE TO DO WH IC BOOKS? WELL, 2013, DC HIRED ORSON STT CARD TO WRE THE DIGAL ADVENTUR OF SUPERMAN ICS, AND THE ONLE FANDOM WAS IMMEDIATELY WHIPPED TO A ENZY. CAVG TO TENSE PRSURE, DC SHELVED THE ORSON STT CARD STORY AND BROUGHT A NEW CREATIVE TEAM FOR ADVENTUR OF SUPERMAN.OKAY, SURE… BUT WHY NOW?
• TOP 10 BT GAY COMICS 2023 – LGBTQ+ MANGA & GRAPHIC NOVELS
• THE STATE OF GAY CHARACTERS COMICS
• GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS
• POW! GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS ZAP STEREOTYP
• DC COMICS TO INTRODUCE FIRST GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTER

10 IMPORTANT GAY MOMENTS COMIC BOOK HISTORY

Required absolutely no mentn of homosexualy until they lifted that ban 1989, and as the untry beme more progrsive s unrstandg and acceptance of the LGBT muny, creators ntued to buck the system and troduce pellg characters that were relatable to more people. The inty of Hood Jtice is never fully explored, but Hollis Mason’s book, Unr the Hood, which is referenced throughout the ics, he expos Hood Jtice as havg approved of Hler’s actns durg World War II, which he nsired odd bee of Hler’s attu towards homosexuals, makg him a hypocre.

The uple are the first openly gay superhero power uple ics and their recent foray to a duo seri wh “Midnighter and Apollo” #1, wrten by Steve Orlando and penciled by Fernando Blan, buted wh the uple dog the same thg pretty much any uple do: they do the dish together, have a nice chat, and get down and dirty right there the kchen. Brian Falsworth has been a mastay ics sce he first appeared “The Invars” #18, wrten by Roy Thomas and penciled by Gil Kane, all the way back 1977, but wasn’t until recently that the character was revealed as gay. We’ve put together this list to troduce some of the most fluential gay superhero, rangg om groundbreakg figur like Marvel’s Northstar to characters like Harley Qun who only me out the past few 12 most inic gay superhero1) Wonr WomanDiana of Themyscira has a long and storied history as a queer in.

Thanks to the X-Men ics’ love of time travel hijks, there are actually two versns of this character at the moment: A teenage Iceman who realized he was gay after Jean Grey read his md, and an adult versn who stayed the closet and dated women for years, but me out after beg nonted by his younger self.

A CHRONOLOGY OF GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS

The recent Iceman solo seri foced on his life after this revelatn, earng a mixed rponse bee while ’s great to see a gay character gettg their own ic, his emotnal arc is a rather old-fashned g-out story. In recent years she was rewrten to be gay herself, a ntroversial cisn that led to some problems of s her ic’s creators wanted her to marry her girliend, DC nixed the cisn by sayg hero “shouldn’t have happy personal liv, ” a dub statement that sounds pretty ridiculo the ntext of, say, Superman. — Theo Foxx (@FoxxDoThgs) July 14, 2023throwg love at tom holland, bee my man do not serve the homophobia that's beg thrown his way rn — pla ? || is gog to afhf & eras tour (@lilysdreamworld) July 15, 2023The homophobia directed at Tom Holland is sickeng, pathetic, and utterly unsurprisg.

— ⑅ j (@purwntr) July 15, 2023Many of his fans also seemed perplexed over the backlash, nsirg that former “Spir-Man” actors Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield have each portrayed gay characters as homophobia spewg om ic book fans bee Tom Holland played a character on TV while simultaneoly puttg the other two Spiys on a pestal as if they haven't done gay scen before too is somethg. Jackson - a fan-favore character sce his simultaneo but DC ic books and on the Young Jtice animated seri - has bee somewhat emblematic of the rise of characters wh queer inti morn ic books, now g full circle to the role of Aquaman as one of DC's most unique legacy Stt(Image cred: DC)The origal Green Lantern Alan Stt has been ic books sce 1940, but 's only been sce 2012 that he's been out as a gay man. Intertgly, Alan Stt's son Obsidian has been out as a gay man sce 2004, beatg his dad to the punch and reflectg a rare, but very real experience shared by many rears who have multiple fay members - even parents - who are (Image cred: Marvel Comics)Beg magil nature has lent Loki the abily to take on many different forms and those forms display many different forms of attractn.

Northstar(Image cred: Marvel Comics)Jean-Pl Bebier buted 1979 at a time when both the Comics Co Authory and Marvel's edor--chief Jim Shooter were opposed to openly gay characters, acrdg to thor Shirrel Rhoas 2008's A Complete History of Amerin Comic Books. "Dpe not utterg the words "I am gay" until 1992's Alpha Flight #106, Northstar has long been accepted by X-Men fans and ic book fans at large who picked up Byrne's nods as one of the first nonilly gay superhero sce his ceptn. Endurg Civil Wars, Secret Invasns, Origal Ss and every event between, openly-gay wrer Allan Heberg created the pair 2005's Young Avengers #1 and remd rears that Marvel's "world outsi your wdow" clud more than jt the fns of love that had been portrayed to that two also enabled other wrers to create more realistic portrayals of sexualy their team books as evinced by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's Young Avengers volume that also featured queer characters Miss Ameri, Prodigy, and Loki.

15 OPENLY GAY MARVEL CHARACTERS THAT MIGHT BE COMG TO THE MCU

Inially rejected by the Jtice League, Coagula found a home wh the Doom Patrol, though she's rarely been seen recent (Image cred: Marvel Comics)In 2015’s All-New X-Men #40, the younger Bobby Drake was psychilly outed as homosexual by Jean Grey, retroactively makg the foundg member of the X-Men Marvel's hight-profile queer mutant. Midnighter and Apollo(Image cred: DC Comics)Created as analogs of Batman and Superman, Apollo and Midnighter were among the first openly gay superhero ic books and were certaly the most visible gay superhero uple the late '90s and early '00s. When Jordan’s Green Lantern buted 1959, Stt was relegated to an alternate universe and, over the s, he’s retired, returned to crime-fightg, been tossed limbo, bee an elr statman, and been rebooted as a young gay crimefighter on yet another alternate Earth.

This year, Green Lantern Alan Stt returned to his roots as an olr WWII-era hero who has “walked this Earth for a long time, much longer than should have been allotted, ” as he said March’s “Infe Frontier” the same issue, penned by bisexual wrer Jam Tynn IV, the gray-haired rg-slger out as gay to his adult children, the superhero duo Ja and Obsidian. ”Capta Ameri"The Uned Stat of Capta Ameri" ic book verMarvelIn June, Marvel’s “The Uned Stat of Capta Ameri” miseri hs stor, troducg rears to a variety of everyday people om all walks of life who’ve taken up the mantle of Capta Ameri to fend their is gay teenager Aaron Fischer, “the Capta Ameri of the Railways, ” scribed a release as “a fearls teen who stepped up to protect fellow naways and the unhoed. Thk about and Shatterstar may be gettg all the gay mutant attentn the days, but before the two were out and proud, Marvel mutants Phat and Vivector were proudly announcg their queer stat to the world back '03.

LOOKG BACK AT THE MISTREATMENT OF MARVEL’S FIRST GAY COMIC SUPERHERO

Not to mentn proclivi for stum, drsg up, and fantasy role play; secretive behavr and double-liv; ltle tert women; and of urse, pictns of Batman and Rob were equently homoerotic, visually emphasizg Batman's physique and Robs bare legs and short pants. Mastream ics have had more than their fair share of homosexual subtext almost sce their ceptn — look no further than Wonr Woman’s all-female homeland of Paradise Island or Bce Wayne’s overly fortable relatnship wh his ward Dick Grayson.

Although some of the scen centerg around their relatnship seem a ltle tone af by today’s standards, Midnighter and Apollo broke new ground as the first ma characters of a mastream ic to publicly portray a gay Pied PiperThe Pied Piper, a mic-themed Flash rogue wh a hypnotic flute, is one of the first openly gay supervillas to not be played for lghs — we’re lookg at you, Estraño.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS?WILLIAM LD·FOLLOW11 M READ·MAY 13, 2015--LISTENSHAREA IEND OF ME, A FELLOW IC BOOK LOVER, RECENTLY REACHED OUT TO ME WH A SIMPLE QUTN: WHY DO SEEM LIKE THERE ARE THERE SO MANY GAY CHARACTERS POPPG UP IC BOOKS THE DAYS? FRANKLY, I WAS HONORED TO BE CHOSEN AS THE SPOKMAN FOR ALL OF GAYKD, AND TOOK MY NEWFOUND ROLE TO HEART. AFTER ALL, I AM A HUGE FAN OF IC BOOKS, AND DO SEEM AS THOUGH LGBT ISSU ARE BEG MORE OF A STAPLE MASTREAM ICS THAN EVER BEFORE. BUT WHY? HAS SOMETHG CHANGED WH THE IC BOOK DTRY, OR HAS SOCIETY SHIFTED S PERSPECTIVE? THIS NERDY GAY DU THKS THE TTH LI SOMEWHERE BETWEEN.THE HISTORY OF LGBT CHARACTERS COMICSBEFORE WE N REALLY LOOK AT THE STATE OF IC BOOKS TODAY, WE NEED TO SET OUR WAYBACK MACHE TO THE 1950S TO EXPLORE THE LONG AND TRAGIC RELATNSHIP BETWEEN GAYS AND IC BOOKS. IN 1954, DR. FRERICK WERTHAM PUBLISHED SCTN OF THE INNOCENT, WHICH LLED OUT IC BOOKS AS A BAD FLUENCE ON CHILDREN DUE TO PERCEIVED SEX APPEAL, RAMPANT VLENCE, AND SUGGTIVENS REGARDG HOMOSEXUALY. DR. WERTHAM BELIEVED THAT BATMAN AND ROB’S PICTN OF A YOUNG WARD BEG RAISED BY A SGLE, OLR BACHELOR WAS APPROPRIATE. ROB’S FLAMBOYANT STUME, ACROBATIC PROWS, AND EXTENSIVE LLECTN OF SCISSOR SISTER ALBUMS ONLY ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE. THE ENZY THAT DR. WERTHAM STIRRED UP WAS ENOUGH TO MAKE CONGRS TAKE NOTICE. THIS SRED THE IC BOOK PANI TO CREATG THE FAMO COMICS CO AUTHORY, WHICH PROHIBED ‘SEXUAL PERVERSN’ AND KEPT GAYS OUT OF IC BOOKS FOR A LONG TIME. THE CCA’S STRANGLEHOLD ON ICS LASTED FOR S, BUT BY THE MID-90’S, MOST IC BOOK PANI WERE WORKG AROUND THE SEAL, AND BY 2001, MARVEL WAS THE FIRST OF THE MAJOR PANI TO SCRAP THE CCA ENTIRELY.LET’S TAKE A JUMP FORWARD TO 1979, WHERE WE WERE FIRST TRODUCED TO ONE OF THE MOST PROMENT HOMOSEXUALS IC BOOKS TODAY: NORTHSTAR. ORIGALLY CREATED 1979 BY WRER JOHN BYRNE AS PART OF THE CANADIAN SUPERHERO TEAM ALPHA FLIGHT, NORTHSTAR WAS ALWAYS TEND TO BE GAY. UNFORTUNATELY FOR NORTHSTAR, MARVEL’S EDOR-IN-CHIEF AT THE TIME, JIM SHOOTER, WOULDN’T ALLOW ANY REFERENC TO NORTHSTAR’S HOMOSEXUALY TO APPEAR ICS. Y, HE WAS STILL ALLOWED TO WEAR BLACK AND WHE SK-TIGHT SPANX, BUT I GUS THAT WASN’T ENOUGH TO TRIP SHOOTER’S GAYDAR. DPE BEG FORCED TO KEEP NORTHSTAR THE CLOSET, BYRNE DROPPED HTS HERE AND THERE THAT NORTHSTAR WAS A IEND OF THE CANADIAN EQUIVALENT OF DOROTHY.NOT TO BE OUTDONE, DC COMICS TRODUCED TO THE SHORT-LIVED CHARACTER EXTRAñO 1988. EXTRAñO WAS A FLAMG, EFFEMATE PEVIAN SORCERER WHO WORE OUTRAGEO CLOTHG AND MA THIS TEAM MAT REFER TO HIM AS ‘AUNTIE.‘ HE WAS ALSO DIAGNOSED AS HIV-POSIVE, BEE WALKG STEREOTYP THAT MAKE LIGHT OF A SER CRISIS ARE APPARENTLY EASIER TO WRE THAN CHARACTERS WH NUANCE. INSULTG TO DIENC OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE, EXTRAñO HAS NOT MA MUCH OF AN IMPACT ON MORN DIENC SPE BEG THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SUPERHERO.IN 1992, WRER STT LOBLL WAS GIVEN EEDOM TO OUT NORTHSTAR AS GAY ISSUE #106 OF ALPHA FLIGHT. OF URSE, THE STORY FEATURED NORTHSTAR G OUT , WHAT ELSE, A STORY ABOUT A BABY WH HIV, BUT WAS STILL FORWARD MOMENTUM. IRONILLY, NORTHSTAR’S POWERS CLU SUPER SPEED AND FLIGHT, SO WHO BETTER TO PROPEL THE ISSUE OF GAYS ICS FORWARD? THE NEW YORK TIM LLED NORTHSTAR’S G OUT STORY A ‘WELE DITOR OF SOCIAL CHANGE,’ AND THE MEDIA’S LOVE AFFAIR WH LGBT ISSU IC BOOKS BEGAN.THE 90S GAVE A STRG OF CHARACTERS HTG ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY AND ORIENTATN NFN, ALL THANKS TO THE (MOSTLY) POSIVE RECEPTN THAT NORTHSTAR HAD RECEIVED. HOWEVER, MOST OF THE STORI ME AND WENT, AND FEW OF THE CHARACTERS END UP STANDG THE TT OF TIME. THE NEXT MAJOR STORY THAT UGHT THE ATTENTN OF THE PRS, THOUGH, WAS GREEN LANTERN KYLE RAYNER’S IEND AND ASSISTANT TERRY BERG. EIGHT MONTHS AFTER FIRST APPEARG THE GREEN LANTERN IC BOOKS, TERRY ME OUT TO THE ACCEPTG RAYNER. SHORTLY AFTER G OUT, BERG AND HIS BOYIEND DAVID WERE ACSTED BY A GANG OUTSI OF A GAY CLUB, AND TERRY WAS LEFT ATOSE AFTER A BTAL BEATG. THE STORY WAS SPIRED BY WRER JUDD WICK’S REACTN TO THE ATH OF MATTHEW SHEPARD A FEW YEARS EARLIER, AND STCK A NOTE WH FANS.IF NORTHSTAR HELPED MAKE GAYS MASTREAM, APOLLO AND MIDNIGHTER HELPED MAKE GAY RELATNSHIPS MORE ACCEPTABLE. THE PAIR BUTED THE PAG OF STORMWATCH AS TRANSPARENT HOMAG TO BATMAN AND SUPERMAN. THE TWO WERE CLOSE ALLI, AND AFTER JOG THE AUTHORY A FEW YEARS LATER, THEY SHARED A KISS THAT REVEALED THE TE NATURE OF THEIR RELATNSHIP. ANYONE WHO EVER WONRED WHAT A ROMANTIC KISS BETWEEN BATMAN AND SUPERMAN WOULD LOOK LIKE FALLY HAD THEIR ANALOGUE. WELL, ASI OM GOOGLG ‘BATMAN SUPERMAN RULE 34,’ BUT HONTLY, I REMEND AGAST THAT, PECIALLY IF YOU’RE READG THIS WHILE AT WORK. THE BT PART ABOUT APOLLO AND MIDNIGHTER IS THE ANTICLIMACTIC UNVEILG OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, AND THE NORMALCY THAT THE UPLE SHARED. THEIR RELATNSHIP ALLOWED FANS TO SEE THEM AS CHARACTERS FIRST, HOMOSEXUALS SEND.WHEN MOVG FORWARD, THE OCSNAL BACKSLI IS BOUND TO HAPPEN. 2003 GAVE MARVEL’S THE RAWHI KID, WHICH ATTEMPTED TO REVAMP THE TULAR CHARACTER AS A HOMOSEXUAL AS AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK DOWN THE ‘MAN’S-MAN’ STEREOTYP OF HERO AND WBOYS. A NOBLE GTURE, BUT THE LIVERY WAS LS THAN SUBTLE. CONJURG THE GHOST OF EXTRAñO , THE RAWHI KID WAS AN OVER-THE-TOP STEREOTYPE OF GAY CULTURE. HE WAS FOPPISH, FLAMG, AND EFFETE, DISHG OUT FASHN ADVICE AND SNARKG UP. THE RAWHI KID IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF A HOMOSEXUAL WRTEN BY WRERS WHOSE ONLY AME OF REFERENCE WAS ‘WILL & GRACE.’LGBT ISSU COMICS TODAYALL OF THE CHARACTERS LAY THE FOUNDATN FOR THE CURRENT CULTURE OF ICS. IN RECENT YEARS, THE LGBT MUNY HAS BEEN ABLE TO UNT AMONGST OUR RANKS GREEN LANTERN ALAN STT, BATWOMAN, YOUNG AVENGERS HULKLG AND WICN, TEEN TAN BUNKER, RICTOR AND SHATTERSTAR OF X-FACTOR, MORPH OM THE UNNNY X-MEN, AND RIVERDALE RINT KEV KELLER, AMONGST OTHERS.Y, A FUCKG ARCHIE CHARACTER IS GAY, AND THE ARCHIE ICS ARE HANDLG THE CHARACTER WH MORE POISE AND RPECT THAN MANY GAY CHARACTERS HAVE SEEN THROUGH THE HISTORY OF ICS. KEV KELLER MA HIS FIRST APPEARANCE 2010, AND HAS BEEN VELOPED AS A NUANCED CHARACTER WH CLOSE IENDSHIPS TO ARCHIE AND HIS CREW, AN TERT STUNT ERNMENT, AND LATER, AS A MEMBER OF THE UNED STAT ARMY. HE EVEN GOT MARRIED TO BOYIEND CLAY 2012, WHICH NATURALLY DREW PLENTY OF MEDIA ATTENTN.KEV AND CLAY WEREN’T THE ONLY ON EXCHANGG WEDDG VOWS 2012, THOUGH. NORTHSTAR AND HIS BOYIEND KYLE WERE MARRIED ASTONISHG X-MEN #50, RIGHT ON THE HEELS OF NEW YORK STATE’S LANDMARK CISN TO ALLOW SAME-SEX MARRIAG. MARVEL HYPED THE EVEN WH A SERI OF ‘SAVE THE DATE’ ANNOUNCEMENTS, AS WELL AS AN TENSE MEDIA MPAIGN THAT LAND NORTHSTAR ON THE HOME PAGE OF MANY NEWS OUTLETS THAT MONTH.OF URSE, YOU N’T HAVE THE EMERGENCE OF A MORY GROUP TO THE SPOTLIGHT WHOUT TRACTORS. TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT-WG GROUP ONE MILLN MOMS, WHO LNCHED A SERI OF PROTTS AND BOYTTS AGAST MARVEL AND DC BEE OF THE RISE OF LGBT CHARACTERS ICS. THEIR CLAIM WAS THAT ADULT GAY MAL ARE TRYG TO ‘DOCTRATE IMPRSNABLE YOUNG MDS’ TO ‘THKG THAT A GAY LIFTYLE CHOICE IS NORMAL AND SIRABLE.’ OF URSE, THE ONE MILLN MOMS GROUP IS TERRIBLE AT MATH, NUMBERG ROUGHLY 70,000 MEMBERS AT THE TIME OF THIS WRG, SO HOW MUCH SWAY N THEY HAVE ANYWAYS?COMIC BOOK CREATOR ROB LIEFELD, FAMO FOR CREATG A SLEW OF UBER-MASCULE, GUN-TOTG MACHO MEN AND SNTILY CLAD FEMALE ASSASSS WH IMPOSSIBLE ANATOMY THE 90S, WEIGHED ON THE ISSUE WH TYPIL LIEFELD CLASS. LIEFELD WAS THE ORIGAL CREATOR OF SHATTERSTAR, WHO WAS RECENTLY WRTEN AS PART OF A HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIP WH X-FACTOR’S RICTOR. SAYS LIEFELD, “AS THE GUY THAT CREATED, SIGNED AND WROTE HIS FIRST DOZEN APPEARANC, SHATTERSTAR IS NOT GAY. SORRY. CAN’T WA TO SOMEDAY UNDO THIS… SHATTERSTAR IS AK TO MAXIM GLADIATOR. HE’S A WARRR, A SPARTAN, AND NOT A GAY ONE.” IN RPONSE, X-FACTOR WRER PETER DAVID PROVID PERHAPS THE BT RPONSE I’VE EVER READ: “I UNRSTAND THAT SOME PARENTS HAVE THE SAME REACTN. THEY WERE RPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN’S FIRST APPEARANC AND, WHEN RMED OF THEIR SEXUAL PERSUASN, FIRMLY CLARE ’S IMPOSSIBLE, THEY N’T BE GAY.” HERE’S A LK TO 40 OF THE WORST ROB LIEFELD DRAWGS, BEE FUCK THAT GUY, THAT’S WHY.WHICH BRGS TO ORSON STT CARD, THOR OF THE ENR’S GAME SERI OF SCI-FI NOVELS, WHICH ARE GENERALLY WELL-RPECTED WH THE GENRE. CARD IS ALSO WELL-KNOWN AS A VOL SUPPORTER OF THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT. IN 2008, HE WROTE THE FOLLOWG AS PART OF AN EDORIAL THE DERT NEWS: “HOW LONG BEFORE MARRIED PEOPLE ANSWER THE DICTATORS TH: REGARDLS OF LAW, MARRIAGE HAS ONLY ONE FN, AND ANY ERNMENT THAT ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE IS MY MORTAL ENEMY. I WILL ACT TO STROY THAT ERNMENT AND BRG DOWN, SO N BE REPLACED WH A ERNMENT THAT WILL RPECT AND SUPPORT MARRIAGE, AND HELP ME RAISE MY CHILDREN A SOCIETY WHERE THEY WILL EXPECT TO MARRY THEIR TURN.”WHAT DO THIS HAVE TO DO WH IC BOOKS? WELL, 2013, DC HIRED ORSON STT CARD TO WRE THE DIGAL ADVENTUR OF SUPERMAN ICS, AND THE ONLE FANDOM WAS IMMEDIATELY WHIPPED TO A ENZY. CAVG TO TENSE PRSURE, DC SHELVED THE ORSON STT CARD STORY AND BROUGHT A NEW CREATIVE TEAM FOR ADVENTUR OF SUPERMAN.OKAY, SURE… BUT WHY NOW?

Later renamed the X-Statix, the team boasted a roster featurg no fewer than three gay characters: a mutant wh the power to alter his abili by changg the lor of his sk, an Emem pastiche who uld alter his nsy, size, and shape by manipulatg his own subcutaneo fat, and a werewolf. In the ntroversial 2003 miseri Rawhi Kid: Slap Leather, wrer Ron Zimmerman treated the readg public to a rebooted Rawhi Kid whose sexualy amounted to nothg more than a sprgboard for tired, stereotypil gay nuendo.

TOP 10 BT GAY COMICS 2023 – LGBTQ+ MANGA & GRAPHIC NOVELS

This distctn is all the more ironic nsirg that, when Batwoman was first troduced 1956 as Kathy Kane, Bce Wayne’s girliend, she was sentially a lerary beard for a character that had famoly been acced of homosexualy by the lik of Sctn of the Innocent thor Freric QutnRenee Montoya was origally troduced as an (ostensibly) straight policewoman Batman: The Animated Seri, but received a new sexual orientatn when she ma the transn om the small screen to the paneled page. The origal Green Lantern troduced 1940, Alan Stt, was reimaged 2012 as an out gay hero who ris an alternate universe known as Earth 2, where he riv his powers om a mystil elemental force named “the Green. The first superhero to utter the words “I am gay” the pag of a mastream ic (1992’s Alpha Flight #106) ma history once more 20 years later when he married his partner, Kyle, Astonishg X-Men #51 — the first same-sex weddg the Marvel Universe.

THE STATE OF GAY CHARACTERS COMICS

Created by ics legend Stan Lee 1955, the Rawhi Kid was reimaged by wrer Ron Zimmerman  the 2003 miseri Slap Leather and was picted as a mpy gay gunslger who viewed the Old Wt through a morn queer lens. A young Bobby Drake om the past, displaced time and fightg crime the prent day, was revealed to be gay after his psychic teammate Jean Grey read his md and nonted him about his sexualy All-New X-Men #40.

Though DC Comics was unable to explicly scribe Extraño as gay when he first appeared Millennium #2, the Hispanic magician was d wh many stereotyp that have been associated wh gay men to signal rears that the first gay hero the DC Universe had arrived.

Due to the Comics Co Authory's puranil l agast homosexual or bisexual ntent, Mystique creator Chris Claremont was not able to show their relatnship until many years after the fact, where is shown through flashbacks that Mystique urted the female Dty as a man. While many fans hope that Marvel Studs ntu to diversify the superhero they brg to live-actn, Eternals recently took a signifint step forward by prentg Phastos as part of the first openly gay superhero uple the MCU. Northstar was a landmark character for ic book history bee he was one of the first gay superhero, the first to e out a Marvel book, and 2012, he beme the first character to have a same-sex weddg a mastream ic.

GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS

Phastos may be half of the first openly gay relatnship the Marvel Cematic Universe, but Negasonic Teenage Warhead was part of the first gay superhero uple all of superhero cema several years earlier. In the 1980s he was portrayed as dismissive of women to the pot of misogyny, while the ghts, gay men were so often portrayed fictn as the gay bt iend that Northstar was portrayed almost solely the pany of women. This nerdy gay du thks the tth li somewhere History of LGBT Characters ComicsBefore we n really look at the state of ic books today, we need to set our Wayback Mache to the 1950s to explore the long and tragic relatnship between gays and ic books.

The CCA’s stranglehold on ics lasted for s, but by the mid-90’s, most ic book pani were workg around the seal, and by 2001, Marvel was the first of the major pani to scrap the CCA ’s take a jump forward to 1979, where we were first troduced to one of the most proment homosexuals ic books today: Northstar. Insultg to dienc of all walks of life, Extraño has not ma much of an impact on morn dienc spe beg the first openly gay 1992, wrer Stt Lobll was given eedom to out Northstar as gay issue #106 of Alpha Flight.

POW! GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS ZAP STEREOTYP

The New York Tim lled Northstar’s g out story a ‘wele ditor of social change, ’ and the media’s love affair wh LGBT issu ic books 90s gave a strg of characters htg about homosexualy and orientatn nfn, all thanks to the (mostly) posive receptn that Northstar had received. The story was spired by wrer Judd Wick’s reactn to the ath of Matthew Shepard a few years earlier, and stck a note wh Northstar helped make gays mastream, Apollo and Midnighter helped make gay relatnships more acceptable.

In recent years, the LGBT muny has been able to unt amongst our ranks Green Lantern Alan Stt, Batwoman, Young Avengers Hulklg and Wicn, Teen Tan Bunker, Rictor and Shatterstar of X-Factor, Morph om the Unnny X-Men, and Riverdale rint Kev Keller, amongst, a fuckg Archie character is gay, and the Archie ics are handlg the character wh more poise and rpect than many gay characters have seen through the history of ics. Had this book buted a few years ago, much would be ma of the sexual fluidy of the characters the prs; Tumblr would champn for s diversy, the prs would n headl like ‘Comic Book Wrer Imag Gods as Gay, ’ and anti-gay groups would sound the alarms and beg the prott. Even though no long-standg US ics pany has been unsthed by prev homophobic polici and cisns, nowadays, the larger ic book pani seem to be takg a more ut and progrsive approach by cludg LGBTQ+ characters.

In light of Marvel’s big same-sex weddg announcement for Northstar and his longtime partner Kyle (read our review of the issue here), as well as DC teasg that an “inic” formerly straight character will be re-troduced to the New 52 as gay, we cid to take a look at the current state of gay characters ics.

DC COMICS TO INTRODUCE FIRST GAY COMIC BOOK CHARACTER

In the gay muny, some people believe that is more sirable to be “straight-actg, ” but Bunker a purple psnic brick-fist to smash that stigma to Teen Tans wrer Stt Lobll should be ngratulated for how Bunker exprs himself, there is issue wh how the Teen Tans treat their gay teammate -- but not the way you’d thk.

Bunker has proven to be a ee spir who always stays posive and never giv up hope, so would be sightful to watch him challenge his teammat by reactg to the ntroversial opns his own unique Tans need not bee a fol pot for the Gay Rights Movement, but anilly velopg Bunker to a fully fledged person while addrsg some gay-related tensns would work towards makg him a more thentic gay character. Every now and then, one of the other members will ment on their ls than subtle buddg romance, but always a kd-hearted Pl Cornell gets props for creatg a gay romance wh the nf of a superhero team fightg for good, but lacks one thg: drama.