GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLES July 7, 2000
eveningsout
We're here, we're queer, we leap buildings in a single bound
by Anthony Glassman
Comic books are no longer just for kids. The couples are no longer simply Superman and Lois Lane or Batman and Catwoman. Nowadays, sometimes Batman and Superman are the World's Finest Couple, not just the World's Finest Team.
Until recently, gays were not something seen in the mainstream of comic books. To seriously suggest that Batman and Robin had something going on in the Bat Cave was almost heretical, the stuff of underground or independent comic books. None of the major companies like Marvel or DC would touch a topic like that with a forty-foot Kryptonite pole.
Things have changed.
To touch on a few of these changes, let's take a look in chronological order.
In 1991, comic book super-scribe William Messner-Loebs was writing The Flash, a super-fast hero played on television by openly-gay actor Wesley Alan Shipp. One of the supporting characters, a former villain who became a good guy named the Pied Piper, came out of the closet.
It wasn't trumpeted from the walls, it wasn't spread across the front page of every newspaper in the country, but there it was. And they haven't forgotten about him, either. He is a regular character in the book, and they make references to his sexuality regularly. DC gets two points.
The next year, Marvel Comics' Scott Lobdell, in the pages of Alpha Flight, wrote in the colorful fact that Northstar, one of the Canadian super-team's members, was also gay.
They couched his coming out story in terms of the AIDS crisis, and his homosexu-
ality was never again mentioned in the book. There was a brief reference to it later on in another title, but it was one frame of a page. Not much of a sex life for the last eight years, apparently.
Later on, Alpha Flight's newer writers decided that Northstar and his sister were descended from elves. As Peter David, a prolific author who wrote Northstar's other brief gay appearance, said, "That's right, Northstar's not gay, he's just a fairy. That's much better."
We'll give Marvel half a point for effort, and Peter David three points for wit. That brings things to about 1996. Back at DC, in the pages of Justice League America, there were two female superheroes, Fire and Ice. They had been friends since before their old team, the Global Guardians, had disbanded.
Then Ice died, and Fire replaced her with Ice Maiden, a similarly cold-seeming heroine. Ice Maiden, however, eventually admitted that, in addition to trying to help Fire get over Ice's death, she was there for more than just sympathy; she was attracted to women.
The series didn't last very long after that, not because of the lesbian content (which was really minimal) but because the book's sales had already slumped badly. Another two points for DC.
Later in the nineties, Image Comics' Wildstorm Studios was attracting great young writers with the promise of creatorownership, where the person who creates the character owns the rights to it, instead of forfeiting rights to the company publishing the book. Out of this milieu emerged one of the best examples of gay superheroes to date: Apollo and the
CULTURE CLUB
MARVEL
Midnighter. They debuted late in the run of the book Stormwatch, as writer Warren Ellis was replacing all of the old heroes with ones he had created.
AUTHORITY
AUTHORITY
*
They are first seen nude, waking up in a warehouse together during a stake-out. As time goes on, the reader learns, though not vulgarly, that they are, in Ellis' own words, "up each other." Ellis had originally implied that it was no big deal; he later reversed that decision and admitted that with what was out there, or rather, not out there, it is a big deal.
They are classic archetypes: Apollo is solar-powered, super-strong, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Midnighter is the paragon of human achievement, the world's greatest detective. Seeing Midnighter scowling while Apollo gives him a peck on the cheek tells the audience exactly what it would be like if Superman and Batman decided to date.
100 points to Warren Ellis, and reading
ON
Sprach
The Authority, the book that Warren built, will tell you why.
This isn't a complete list by any means. It doesn't touch on the wonderful work of the underground comics' artists like Donna Barr or Diane DiMassa, or even scores of lesserknown characters who have come out only to fall by the wayside. For more on this, see Beek's Books at http://www.rzero.com/ books/gaysuper.html.
But the doors are opening. As the years roll slowly by, more and more valiant men in tights and women with big ... guns shout out, "We're here, we're queer, and we're in full color, monthly."
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Continued from page 13
and other e-activist efforts] is the vanguard of a new generation of cyber-activism. But I try to do my part with the “Real Superhero/ Real Villain of the Week" feature of the comic.
Dealing with our issues in the fantasy world of the Queer Nation comic is not enough; we have to take action in the real world to make life better for ourselves and the next generation of queers. And besides, it gives me a chance to sound off on the issues of the day, call attention to deeds fair and foul.
How did the book come about? Sharon Cho, a lesbian comic book goddess, knew I had a queer superhero comic in mind and sent [artist] John Dennis my way. That was the key, because I'm not an artist, just a writer and you can't make a comic without art!
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Once I got laid off from Marvel as it slid towards bankruptcy, it untied my hands on this project. Marvel had strict rules that, if you're on staff at Marvel, you can only do comics work for Marvel.
It's been a while, so could you refresh my memory on the whole Marvel bankruptcy scenario?
Ugh. The whole comic book industry entered a downturn, and the clueless owners of Marvel-suit-and-tie types who knew nothing about comics--had saddled the company with huge amounts of debt, for the first time in the company's history.
What are your goals for the future? Spend more time writing, less time doing boring things to make money.
How long do you intend to continue Queer Nation? Indefinitely, or do you have an end in sight, and new projects looming on the horizon?
Queer Nation has a definite end already envisioned; it's not an open-ended tale. But it'll be a long time before we get to the climactic finish. The story is in four parts, and we're just now finishing Part I. I do have new projects in the works, but nothing I can disclose at this point. But keep watching the Queer Nation site. As soon as I can announce things, I'll do it there, for sure!
Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic is online at www.queernation.com.