Coming (out) soon: the world's first gay superhero

The Independent (U.K.) ^ | 12/15/2002 | David Randall

[Revolting cat!]

A gay superhero needs a gay superwoman somewhere over the rainbow!

[Nephi]

The relationship bewteen Batman and Robin was always a bit strange wasn't it?

Not at all. Do you think the same thing of the participants in the Big Brother program?

I always viewed Robin as a Batman in training, but Robin was a stand in for every young boy who wished he could tag along with Batman. Robin was also a sort of literary device - Batman explained things to his readers by explaining them to Robin.

[Revolting cat!]

The relationship bewteen Batman and Robin was always a bit strange wasn't it?

Yeah, and what about the relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Now, that's a flaming duo!

[Caesar Soze]

But 18-year-olds? Reading comic books???

I think 18-year-olds are old enough to read comic books. Depending on the maturity of the 18-year-old, it might be best to keep him away from some of the harder stuff, but most kids can handle fiction pretty well.

[Caesar Soze]

He's not the first gay superhero. If the article is correct, he is the first gay title superhero. The spandex is a throwback to 1930s acrobats, whose influence on superhero design never really died out.

[Savage Beast]

Okay okay okay. Everybody needs to turn off his mind from time to time. And who knows? Maybe comic books morphed into a fine art form when I wasn't looking. It just came as a shocker--and I thought I was unshockable.

[Ajnin]

I bet ya they end up shooting each other in the ass.

[Clemenza]

You beat me to it. I was going to say that DC was way ahead of this bobbin' buckaroo, with Bruce Wayne/Batman and his "youthful ward"/"Boy Wonder" Dick Grayson.

[FormerLurker]

I bet ya they end up shooting each other in the ass.

Sorta gives a whole new meaning to the word, "cowpoke"..

[OKSooner]

Poof-ter Maaaan!

[Chi-townChief]

Man, that's even scarier than I remember!

[Question_Assumptions]

And who knows? Maybe comic books morphed into a fine art form when I wasn't looking.

I wouldn't go that far, though there is some fine storytelling and great art out there. Some of the best stuff (e.g., Astro City and Kingdom Come) may come close to being "fine art", especially since Kingdom Come is completely composed of paintings, not traditional comic book artwork. And Astro City manages to explore some controversial ideas without turning into politically correct mush.

If you don't like fantasy stories or the idea of superheroes, these stories probably wouldn't appeal to you. If you can enjoy the Spiderman movie or Lord of the Rings, you might find something worthwhile in the better comic books, which are usually available as "graphic novels" in book stores (you can usually find Kingdom Come in large book stores and often collections of Astro City, as well).

With respect to the original topic of this thread, there is a scene in one Astro City comic book where two female superheroes confront a hack comic book publisher and threaten him because he was implying they were lesbians in his comic books about them. There is no disclaimer that there is nothing wrong with them being called lesbians. They were not happy campers. So, no, not all comic books are infected with rampant political correctness.

[ErnBatavia]

I've always consider Liberace a gay superhero.

"Hey, Fatties! Don't forget about me!!"

[Blood of Tyrants]

And you thought Buttman was just satire.

[JZoback]

My kids tell me comic books are not "Comic Books" anymore but are now called:

Graphic Novels

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I thought THE SILVER SURFER was supposed to be gay.
The only comic books I used to buy and read were the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED and Combat.
Of course we read the others if we didn't have to buy them!

[Ajnin]

Cowpoke.....LOL