There’s
nothing wrong with Gay superheroes.
Except
how the Comic book industry executes the concepts for them.
In
1992, Marvel comics announced that Alpha Flight’s Northstar was coming out of
the closet in its 106th issue. It got huge press in the national
mainstream media.
Alpha
Flight was soon cancelled in 1994 with the 130th issue. Not because
Northstar was gay, but because the book was a poor-selling fourth-tier title
with next to no readers. The book had been garbage since John Byrne abandoned
it around the 24th issue.
In
2004, Marvel Comics announced the Rawhide kid was gay. Again it got huge press
in the national mainstream media.
The
Miniseries came and went. Again, the Rawhide Kid was never a big player in the
Marvel Universe so his coming out had a marginal impact on readers. Currently
his comics can be found in a quarter bin at most comic shops.
In
2008, DC Comics announced that Batwoman was a lesbian. She got her own
critically acclaimed comic. Not a top 10 seller, but it’s got a small following
among the over 35 white male comic fans.
A
few years later DC Comics introduced two more lesbian superheroes, The Question
and Scandal Savage. They also had small cult followings in the small group of
comic book fans.
In
2010, Archie Comics announced it was introducing Kevin Keller, it’s first gay
character.
His
first appearance in an issue of Veronica Sold out.
In
2011, they announced that Kevin would participate in comics first gay wedding
to huge national press.
The
book sold out.
Leaving
Marvel and DC with egg on their faces.
Not
to be upstaged by Archie, in 2012 Marvel Comics Northstar’s is getting married
to his longtime boyfriend Kyle in the pages of Astonishing X-Men.
And
now DC Comics is announcing another one of its major iconic characters is going
to come out of the closet to huge national press in the mainstream media.
Big
deal.
The
editors at Marvel and DC still don’t get it. And that’s why they look like they’re
jumping on a bandwagon instead of reaching an audience of new readers.
Which
is why there are next to no new gay readers flocking to Marvel or DC comics
after a comic book character comes out of the closet in one of their titles.
There
have been gay and lesbian characters in comics for years like Obsidian in
Infinity Inc. and Maggie Sawyer in the Superman comics. When they’re written
well the reader doesn’t notice their sexual orientation.
Nor
does the reader care. There’s no need for all the fanfare.
This
kind of gimmick shows how out of touch DC Comics editors actually are at
publishing and promoting comics. It’s the kind of silly shock marketing that
should have stopped in the 1990’s when Northstar came out of the closet.
Over
the past 20 years comic book publishers have exploited homosexuality as a
gimmick to get some cheap press in the national news media. Usually it leads to
a lot of controversy in the beginning, but at the end of the day it doesn’t’
have new readers picking up comics.
Why?
Instead of creating a new character that gay readers can relate to and identify
with, like Archie did with Kevin Keller, they slap a gay label onto an existing
third or fourth-tier character not realizing how offensive they are to gay and
lesbian readers.
Just
slapping that label onto an existing comic book character who was once straight
is a cop-out. It shows how ignorant comic book writers, artists, and editors are
about gay culture and gay lifestyles. No one who is straight just decides to be
gay out of thin air.
And
just slapping that label on said existing character shows that a comic book
publisher just doesn’t CARE about gay readers, just making a few quick bucks off
them.
Who
wants to read the adventures of a second rate version of a fourth-tier
character? Don’t gay and lesbian readers deserve a first-tier original
character? Don’t homosexuals deserve a book all their own? After all, their
money is the same color as everyone elses.’ Why should they have to pay for team
books featuring second or third tier characters so they can read about a hero
that is just like them?
This
latest stunt by DC comics is another half-assed attempt at diversity. just like
DC’s Latino Blue Beetle, it’s Black Firestorm or its Asian Atom, this “iconic”
“Formerly straight” character coming out of the closet is just going to be a token
character just meant to make it look like DC is doing something groundbreaking
when they’re actually just patronizing gay and lesbian readers.
What
would get new readers interested is creating a new gay character from the
ground up and letting the audience discover them.
Which
is why Archie Comics is successful and Marvel and DC are playing catch-up.
The
reason why that issue of Life With Archie sold out was because Archie comics
made a serious effort to reach new readers. They didn’t just slap a gay label
on an existing character in the name of political correctness. No, they created
a new character (Kevin Keller) from the ground up with traits readers could
relate to and identify with. Then after his debut, they gave him his own
series. Archie Comics supported the title and allowed the readers to form a
relationship with him. It took them two years to build to that wedding issue
and its success.
It’s
not the idea, but the execution. I know this from personal experience.
I'm a heterosexual Black man and I’ve
written gay characters. (A Recipe For $ucce$$/The Cassandra Cookbook ) And I
know from personal experience most readers don’t care about a characters’
sexual orientation. If a character is interesting they’re going to grab the
reader from the first page whether they’re gay or straight. People who read A
Recipe For $ucce$$/The Cassandra Cookbook loved the story not because the
villain was gay, but because he was a lying cheating misogynistic bastard. It always made me
proud that most people who read the story never saw Gerald’s sexual orientation
when they read the story, but his dishonesty. Readers were more angry over his
cheating and scheming than the fact he was gay.
If
the White Males at Marvel and DC would put the kind of effort I put
into Gerald Davis from A Recipe For $ucce$$/The Cassandra Cookbook into
developing its gay characters it’d have an audience of new lesbian and gay
readers. There’s nothing wrong with a gay superhero. There’s just something
wrong with the way White male comic book publishers like Marvel and DC execute
the concept. Gay and lesbian readers deserve better than second best treatment
and fourth-tier characters.
Though I'm not a terribly huge super hero fan (though an Archie fan), I can relate to this. In the Harry Potter series, the author J.K Rowling announced one of the main characters was gay. However, since he was a major character, did great things and had such a large fan base, everyone was okay with it. They didn't care nor think about it until one curious person asked. That tells me straight away that a character's orientation isn't defined by good writing, unless it is wanted by the author of course.
ReplyDeleteYou said long ago that you implied to me that you knew gay characters were not right. But here you there is nothing wrong. Let me be clear social justice or not LGBT characters particularly superheroes are wrong.These characters are just solid proof that that superheroes are even more unworthy of the title hero. And LGBT characters superheroes in particular all they do is be one of mankind's biggest attempts to justify sin no matter what the cost. And look at what it has done people now go around trying to make God's order subjective. I see that you don't know anything about the Bible or God if you are going to make such articles instead of exposing the blatant lies for what they are.
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