A Comic Book Gets Serious on Gay Issues

New York Times ^ | 08/13/02 | Geroge Gene Gustines

[poet]

When he comes out, will he "blow" Kyle away?

[who knows what evil?]

Man, did the new DK series SUCK or what?

I've browsed through it, but I haven't sat down and read it yet. Based on what I picked up by browsing, I don't think this series will even approach the quality of the first. We'll see...

[GBA]

"Beast "outed" himself to an old girlfriend in a recent issue of "New X-men" written by British creator Grant Morrison"

I must have missed that one. In the Ulitmate X Men, Beast and Storm are a couple, though at one point he is all bummed and he doesn't understand how she can love him, seeing how he's a big, blue furred beast and Ororo is an absolute babe.

[techcor]

Beast and Colussus?! No, way. You'll have to provide a source on those. Why do comic book writers/creators feel obligated to put their P.C. crud into everything? What next? Beasteality? Well, come to think of it....

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Yes, I remember DC stripping away all the things that made Green Lantern so special to me...I stick to buying Silver Age back issues these days. I did like Guy Gardner, though!

[Polonius]

Man, did the new DK series SUCK or what?

Tell me about it! After reading #3, I wondered what the hell Frank Miller did during the multi-month delay ... it was horrible on so many levels.

[Freemeorkillme]

"To the Rim Runner, Terry! We've got to prevent this epidemic of fisting that is sullying the city!"

/vulgarity

(wiping the tears of side splitting laughter from the keyboard)

[B-Chan]

I wrote & drew for the industry for several years. Samples of my oeuvre are available at comics shops around the world. Look in the 25¢ bin...

I am a partner in a comics publishing company now, but we are not a part of the mainstream comics industry. Our books are books (i.e. they have an ISBN number and can be purchased at Amazon.com instead of the local comics shop) and are a much better value than those thin-ass comics (our latest release is 244 pages long -- all comics, no ads or filler copy -- and costs five bucks.) Compare that to the average comic "book" today, which has only 24-32 pages (of which 4-8 pages is ads/copy/etc.) and costs $3.95.

You can check out our comics at our website.

I am also a working artist, specializing in ilustration, sports marketing, sportswear and commercial print advertising design.

The American comics industry is essentially dead. Most of the people I worked with in the comics biz are outside of the art business today. With a few exceptions, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of people.

B-chan

[Spiff]

[MEGoody]

Nah, too many girls in Batman's life for him to be gay, or even bisexual. No energy left for playing around with Robin after all the crime fighting and women.

[FormerLib]

Nothing is safe from the machinations of the Gaystapo. Sieg homo!

[HELLRAISER II]

Man you sure like to pick don't you? Just what do you consider being a loser? Perhaps somebody that lives in a $300,000.00 house is a loser, No? Perhaps it somebody that collects vehicles for fun, No? Perhaps it is somebody that calls others losers because of his own inadequacies, yeah probably.

[Spiff]

[who knows what evil?]

Look in the 25¢ bin...

In case you haven't noticed, nearly EVERYTHING published in the last twenty years is in the quarter bin. :-)

[Future Snake Eater]

You're kidding me! Beast is gay? He always seemed a little fruity in the X-Men series, but I thought that was just b/c he was well-read...

[Spiff]

Read my original post. Notice that I was calling the people I had observed in a particular comic book store losers. I did not call everyone who had ever read or purchased a comic book as an adult a loser. It was you that took that label upon yourself and took offense. Now, why would that be?

[Future Snake Eater]

Is Spider-Man next?

Ha! I dare 'em to make a major superhero like Spiderman come out as a homo. Marvel thinks they've seen tough times before...? D.C. had better be careful with this crap. I love Batman, but if they open that can of worms, it's on!

[AD from SpringBay]

The other would focus on Terry as he coped with his confused feelings about his sexuality...

I wonder if future story lines will deal with Terry's confused feelings about contracting AIDS? Or maybe he'll have some confusion with thoughts of suicide. Other possible sources of confusion: being the target of the evil nemisis Chickenhawk, an ever growing desire to molest children, and being abused by his partners.

I won't hold my breath. It's not always the evil straighties who cause so much anguish in the lives of the sodomites but we are supposed to ignore this.

[Timesink]

He uses it to right wrongs and keep the residents of New York City safe.

Gee, he seems to have missed a spot. Did he spend the evening of 9/10 in a gay sex club drinking and doing poppers? He must have had one hell of a hangover when he finally woke up around 3:30pm the next day and wondered why the streets in the Village were empty except for a few people covered in soot giving him dirty looks.

[HELLRAISER II]

Well Spiff this is what I read "If by intelligent adults you mean losers, then I agree with you." "I can tell you from 1st hand experience that the kind of adults that come into a comic book store have a big fat neon L on their foreheads. These people are so disfunctional." Now it is possible that I misread this statement in all honesty I did leave out one line that you mentioned taking your kid into a local store, but from what I read it seemed like it was your general concensus that we are all losers. Then I get the Loser picture on a post to me. Maybe I misunderstood, but maybe you need to re-read your own posts.