Rictor & Shatterstar share a friendly embrace on the milestone X-Factor #50 Cover
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Now I know Peter David said he wasn’t writing the story to piss off Rob Liefeld. But this cover does seem like Peter David and Marvel giving him a visual Fuck You Rob I Don’t Give Two Shots What You Think! And I personally approve. How often do we see posed shots of super powered hetero couples? Most of the time, the woman is a scantily clad accessory draped over the guy so I don’t see anything wrong with this kind of affection, especially considering they’ve just been reunited. They would have posed like this back when we were just supposed to think they were “good friends.”
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I’m sure it will stir up more controversy. In fact it already has. There was an interesting comment to my article about Rob Liefeld wanting to undo the outing. It is a bit of a rant about marvel and DC outing old characters for “shock value” but then says “(Rictor and Shatterstar aside because they have BEEN gay).”
If not them, then I’m not sure which characters he’s talking about specifically… Daken? Batwoman maybe? Who else has been outed for “shock value?” But, I actually don’t think you can count any comic book lesbians on the shock value list – writers turn female characters lesbian because it’s titillating to the a perceived adolescent male audience. So it’s meant to be sexy not shocking, so lets stick to the boys… because THEY are more likely to shock even today’s jaded readership…
The only example I can REALLY come up with of a longtime straight character turned gay for “shock value” is Ultimate Colossus. Only other possible exception I have is Ramsey Spencer (Manhunter’s preteen son who was revealed to grow up to be gay in a story set in the future – but since he is a child – he wasn’t established as straight and in this case I think it was the writer trying to tell a planned story quickly because his book was canceled. Other characters revealed as gay: Anole (was fairly new and revealed as gay pretty quick), Graymalkin (new and revealed as gay pretty quick), Northstar (took awhile to out, but he’s been out so long he’s the now gay mutant poster boy). Wiccan and Hulkling (new and revealed as gay pretty quick), Apollo and Midnighter (kind of a shock value thing with the Superman/Batman similarities – but old news) and Obsidian (he existed for awhile before being outed – but again that was long ago) have I left off anyone recent?
via southern4life
07/31/2009 at 11:10 pm
Could have been referring to the Rawhide Kid fiasco of a few years ago? No point there but shock value, IMHO. Maybe the Flash's rogue, Pied Piper? Did he ever have a subtext-laden backstory? Out of cannon, there was Robin's revelation in the Dark Knight Returns miniseies. Shocking, but it was Frank Miller. What else would you expect?
07/31/2009 at 11:33 pm
I'm pretty sure he wasn't referring to Flatman from the GLA or Living Lightning from the Texas Rangers but that was another recentish outing.
I do think there has been an increased volume of representation of gay themes in all forms of media in recent years (Jack & Ianto, Tara & Willow) and this merely reflects the realisation that there are indeed gay people in society, in the same way the presence and portrayal of female and non-white figures changed over the last decades; so what can be perceived as shock value is really just an improvement in representation of the truth of the world we live in.
07/31/2009 at 11:54 pm
The guy closed out his comment with 'Straight Male and Proud!'
I'd say his points are a little invalidated by that.
08/02/2009 at 9:12 am
I agree that recent increases in representation are simply due to mainstream media catching up.
But I DO not think that being a "straight proud male necessarily negates anyone's opinion on gay issues. Living in San Francisco I have met a number of very cool stand-up 100% straight guys who still have valid opinions about gay issues that stem from somewhere besides the usual fear that a gay guy might notice them.
08/02/2009 at 12:31 pm
Well, I'm not saying that his being straight is what invalidates anything. It's the phrasing, really. 'Straight Male and Proud!' seems akin to commenting on an issue of race with 'White Male and Proud!'. It just seems daft and indicative of a lack of understanding/sensitivity to the issue at hand.
We have Gay Pride, we're Out and Proud because we -need- to be and because we've all fought hard to get to where we are today. Likewise for ethnic minorities, feminists and other oppressed groups. If you're a straight male, you're automatically accepted, approved and catered to by the majority of society, why do you need to state pride about that?
08/02/2009 at 9:01 pm
I entirely agree with Britboyblue. The convenience of being in the majority already ensures your demographic (straight, white males) are already going to be widely represented in all forms of entertainment from fiction to film. The idea that gay characters have been gradually more representative, and comic universes have become gradually more inclusive is enough to give people who cling to the status quo- like our "Proud" straight guy- reason to feel unjustifiably uncomfortable. At the end of the day, a visible gay characters (or people) shouldn't have much bearing on who he opts to have relationships with…unless of course he doth protest too much.
08/06/2009 at 2:23 am
Not really caring for either Rictor or Shatterstar, should I be buying these issues to "support the cause"? wait for the trade? not care?
I do my best to buy all the Young Avengers stuff they put out, bought Manhunter like a maniac and gave issues away to get other people hooked, and hold out hope that Obsidian will become a viable member of the JSA…
08/10/2009 at 5:38 pm
Hold up folks. You absolutely can not be invalidating the guy's opinion merely because he signed his post "Straight Male and Proud"! He has EVERY right to be proud of who he is just like we do. To say he doesn't merely because he's in the majority negates everything we as gay individuals fight for. Gay, Straight, or Other, we all want the same thing. EQUALITY. So treat it as such and comment on the content of the post, not the signature.