Both Marvel comics and DC’s “New 52″ show a commitment to inclusion of LGBT characters in some of their best titles. I’ll likely expand and update this post to include more titles, so leave a comment to point out any I left out. If it’s a DC title, sightings should be post relaunch.
DC’s New 52 line up of titles contains a number that prominently feature LGBT characters. Stormwatch chronicles the future relationship between gay Superman and Batman analogues Apollo and The Midnighter. Their story has been told, but never in the DCU proper. Teen Titans will introduce Bunker, a flamboyant gay teen hero. Batwoman follows the costumed adventures of lesbian socialite Kate Kane. The Shade is a new maxi-series set in Opal City and the cast includes bisexual blue alien Mikasl Tomas a.k.a. Starman. No sign of recently resurrected Aussi gay were-hero Tasmanian Devil.
Marvel may not have rebooted their entire universe recently, but nonetheless also have a number of high profile titles showcasing LGBT characters. The most popular LGBT characters of the Marvel U would be gay teen Young Avengers… Wiccan and Hulkling. A close second would be gay couple Rictor and Shatterstar from Peter David’s brilliant X-Factor. Daken Akihiro, the tattooed, bisexual bad boy son of Wolverine is fast becoming a fan favorite. Speaking of Wolverine, when he scooped up the X-kids and brought them back-to-school, he included Anole, Graymalkin and Bling. Karma has also stated Weschester is her destination.
If you think I forgot about Alpha Flight… not so fast. You may not have heard that news of it’s status as an ongoing title was premature. Alpha Flight is cancelled as of issue #8.
I know that writers of ongoing stories like comic books or soap operas tend to disrupt “Happily Ever After” as often as possible. But I would have enjoyed a few more happy moments before we started rocking the boat. In X-factor #226, we see both lovers expressing doubts. I could see how Rictor’s attraction/attachment to Shatterstar MIGHT have gotten a boost from his own feelings of powerlessness and Shatterstar’s bond in return could be affected by his feeling of being lost in a world that is not his.
I’m hoping this is a temporary setback. I think Rictor’s emotions are probably closer to romantic love than Shatterstar’s. Shatty’s warrior background and upbringing in Mojoworld didn’t prepare him for being part of a couple. I hope Peter David’s master plan is to show us readers as well as the pair of heroes that they belong together. And also hoping he keeps Layla’s ladyparts out of the equation. I’d rather see her get closer to her prophesied marriage to Madrox.
Posted in Comics, SFW on 02/07/2011 11:46 am by fanboi
Seems like Peter David is really stoking the sub-plot fires lately. We have Rhane’s baby (who grows up to be the killer ghost Sheriff/Despot that Darwin met), the Rictor/Shatterstar relationship, Layla’s motivations, the Layla/Madrox/Siryn triangle, whose pulling Pip’s strings and of course Darwin’s evolution into a death god. Also since when is X-Factor bi-weekly and how long will they be keeping that schedule? Issue 213 came out Jan 5, #214 on Jan 19th and 3 weeks later #215???
A man is dead, apparently the victim of a vampire attack. But is it truly some random crime of violence? Or is it, as his daughter believes, an elaborate ruse, designed to draw attention away from the real culprit? And can X-Factor separate fact from fiction?
Seems like the last time we had this much stuff going on, it led up to the big 50th/200th issue. Maybe he’s leading up to something big in #225?
Any relationship in fiction is liable to be fraught with complications… happily ever after only works at the END of a story. So it’s no surprise that Rictor and Shatterstar have a bumpy road ahead. The biggest of those is Rahne’s belly bump as she’s now convinced Rictor that he is the father of her baby. The real baby-daddy is now-deceased Asgardian wolf-prince Hrimhari, so he won’t be showing up to claim paternity. Can she break up RicShatty?
It may happen in Vegas, but it’s very likely not going to stay there as X-Factor in general–and Longshot in particular–are unleashed on the Las Vegas strip, determined to face down the goddess of death in her lair and save a very unusual client…
What will Rahne’s manipulations mean for the happy couple? Can a good christian werewolf like Rahne keep up a deception this vile? I don’t know, but we do get Longshot’s Vegas lucky streak and the beginning of the hunt for Hela this issue. More on Rahne and Rictor in #210 from the look of the cover. Never a dull moment in a Peter David book.
I’m trying to be better about calling out references (both positive and negative) to LGBT characters and issues as I come across them in mainstream comics. There have been a number if significant sightings recently. Hot on the heels of Captain America’s thoughtful support of Wiccan and Hulkling’s relationship and The Rawhide Kid swishing and shooting his was across the old west we have a major development in the fan favorite romantic relationship between Rictor and Shatterstar…
Now I don’t want to give the end of the argument away because i LOVE Peter David’s work, so I’ve just included part of it, and will keep this focused on what happens in these 2 pages. This is the first time I’ve ever seen 2 men discuss their relationship on this level in a comic book. And I’d put money on it being the first time 2 men have talked about having an “open relationship” in a comic book that didn’t come from Class Comics. While on some level, I’d have preferred a traditional monogamous relationship for the pair (as an example to readers both gay and straight), I think Peter David’s choice here is the right one. It fits the character and history of Shatterstar perfectly.
Shatterstar is a very athletic fighter bred for a single purpose that didn’t include knowledge of or preparation for sex or emotional relationships. Once he became aware of the physical act, a warrior such as him might embrace it and excel at it but not understand the feelings that may come along with it. Peter David as always has done an excellent job of logically expanding upon what has gone before while still managing to break new ground and keep his audience surprised. I’ve said it before, Peter David Rocks!!!
A SECOND COMING – REVELATIONS TIE-IN! You’re Bolivar Trask, the reanimated leader of the Mutant Response Division. Your mission: Kill every member of X-Factor. How to accomplish that without collateral damage?
Easy: hire the team for what seems to be a routine case that will send them into a certain death trap. Problem solved.
Um, that is unless you hand a gifted psychometric the cash. Madrox is smart. Longshot would know Absorbing Man was sending them into a trap. By the way why the fuck is Creel on the streets of New York anyway? He was taken down in Mighty Avengers.
Posted in Comics, SFW on 03/21/2010 02:44 pm by fanboi
It looks like there is a lot in store for X-Factor, but first Monet and Strong Guy are taking a detour deep into an unknown South American jungle in a desperate gambit to rescue Cartier St. Croix from a terrorist group.
And what exactly do the terrorists want? They want Monet, as it turns out. And you’ll never guess who’s behind it all.
After that it looks like we have some sort of government group in 204 and BASTION in 205!
Posted in Comics, SFW on 02/17/2010 01:48 am by fanboi
All the X-blogs are abuzz with talk of the the big X-Men Event to follow on the heels of Necrosha… Second Coming crosses over into X-Men (Uncanny & Legacy), X-Factor, X-Force and New Mutants. The X-Men have their hands full with the technarch-infected mutant-hating/hunting AI entity known as Bastion back yet again to bedevil them. PLUS it looks now that A Girl Named Hope is over and she and Cable are back from the future, the Phoenix is back too. but is Hope Summers really Jean? If so, what, reincarnated? Hope WAS born in Alaska… could she be Madelyne Pryor’s or some Summers/Grey genetic experiment of Mister Sinister’s – he DID come after her before Rogue killed him (and his seemingly short-lived return as Miss Sinister). And if the girl known as Hope Summers IS the Phoenix, does that mean Bishop was right to want her dead? Is she fated to save or damn mutankind? Only time and these stories will tell.
All will unite. One will rise. One will die. One will lead. One will sacrifice. Your thoughts? Mine after the Marvel teaser images…
All will unite – the disparate x-teams will come together. One will rise – will Hope be the return of Phoenix or Dark Phoenix (was Bishop right)? One will die – I’m guessing Cable. One will lead – not sure if it is Emma or Mags – I think Scott may be too broken by his son Nathan’s death (if I’m right) and need some time. One will sacrifice… hmmm Not sure what the sacrifice will be… Maybe Nathan gives his life to save Hope’s… any other theories?
With this crossover running through all the major X-Titles: Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy, New Mutants, X-Force and even the usually somewhat unplugged X-Factor, it is a MAJOR event. And with longtime x-foe Bastion as the big bad and specials showcasing the X-Men’s resident supergeniuses (X-MEN: SECOND COMING – REVELATIONS: BLIND SCIENCE #1) and a 3-issue miniseries chronicling an ill-timed side-battle in Limbo (X-MEN: SECOND COMING – REVELATIONS: BLIND SCIENCE #1), we may just have to wait awhile to find out if Hope Summer will we absolutely corrupted by her newfound power or not. See Shades of X to Come – May 2010 for more on those specials!
Posted in Comics, SFW on 02/17/2010 01:04 am by fanboi
Some fascinating hints of whats in store for the x-universe… BEWARE: Thar be spoilers below if you click the images and read the captions (including Pixie‘s daddy – and he was one of my listed possible baby batter doners) Lots going on in the XU this spring. We have the return of mutant Hope in the X-Event known as Second Coming running through X-Men (Uncanny & Legacy), X-Factor, X-Force, and New Mutants (more on that in just a sec). Dazzler (new tale with half-sis Lois London as the big bad) and Emma Frost (another origin) specials, cryptic hints on an upcoming X-death, Daken vs Wolverine vs Romulus in Dark Wolverine! and Wolverine #900? wait a sec, I’ll need some help on that math cause that plain seems wrong. Maybe if you add up every issue of every comic that Logan EVER appeared in?
I have to admit that being a HUGE fan of DC’s recent zombies, I was unimpressed by Necrosha (still awaiting the final chapter but, meh) The BL characters in DC were by definition NOT really the characters but former Black Queen and wanna-be-goddess Selene’s unexplained magic/tech and the stories of the Necrosha arc just weren’t that scary or as horrific. Sure I’m happy to have Doug Ramsey back but with this new interpretation of Cypher’s abilities he’s not the same cannon-fodder mutant he once was.
Posted in Comics, SFW on 02/08/2010 03:04 am by fanboi
In case you didn’t know, there was an X-Factor before Peter David and Madrox turned it into a Mutant Detective Agency… So Louise Simonson and Dan Panosian are here to remind us with a 5 issue mini-series.
If you were first introduced to the 5 original X-Men by X-Men: First Class, then you most likely weren’t even a gleam in yo daddy’s eye when Jean Grey was discovered in a cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay in 1986 and it was revealed she wasn’t actually the cosmic entity who died as the Phoenix. If so, you missed out on the original X-Factor, which reunited the 5 founding X-Men as a group of professional mutant-busters the public could call if they had a mutant problem. This era added many elements to the x-mythos, including the birth of Nathan Summers a.k.a. Cable and the sequence of events that sent him to the future.
Original X-Factor scribe Louise Simonson has teamed with artist Dan Panosian to bring us new adventures of the original dream-team as they return to fight the one threat that’s haunted them since the day they took on the X-Factor name. Join legendary X-scribe Louise Simonson as she reunites with the title and characters she made famous for an epic in the FOREVER tradition!
As with Chris Claremonts’ X-Men: Forever (a recent revisiting of his run on X-Men that might have been more interesting if confined to a mini), X-Factor: Forever picks up where the Simonson’s 5 year run on the title run left off. Evidently this is one of Marvel’s new traditions… Add a Forever to the title and let a former writer go wild.
Utopia. The sanctuary for mutants to escape a world that wants them extinct. So is it the ideal home for X-Factor? That’s what Cyclops believes when he invites the world’s only mutant detective agency to relocate to their floating island retreat and take up residence there. But will Madrox and his team believe that it’s the best place for them?
What old faces will pop up, and what old acquaintances will be renewed? And will there even be a Utopia left when the mysterious Crone shows up and threatens to bring the entire place crashing down into the Pacific?
Strange thing are afoot. Sue Storm is missing! Mister Fantastic is behaving like a cold calculating killer! Guido is making gladiator jokes! Shatterstar can kick the Thing’s ass? Siryn is banging Deadpool? Lalya Miller is in Latveria?
X-Factor has relocated back to New York, and their first client is a keeper: Franklin Richards, whose mom has disappeared and who figures that the premiere detective agency in the Marvel Universe has the best chance of finding her. Except Reed Richards doesn’t seem especially cooperative in helping them locate his missing wife. What is he hiding, and does it have anything to do with the coming Darkness?
Meanwhile, Val Cooper has some bad news for Monet: Her ambassador father has been taken prisoner by terrorists, and she has less than 24 hours to find him before he winds up getting his head cut off on video.
One thing that I thought was odd was the profile on Layla Miller doesn’t include any of the info we learned in X-Factor #50. She does NOT in fact have precognitive abilities. She went back in time after the Summers Rebellion and gave her younger self her accumulated memories. Her read super power is to raise the dead (sans soul – hence Trevor Fitzroy ends up the evil asshole Bishop eventually hunts to the past). But the profile says she “sees portions of possible futures.” Who wrote this and why didn’t an editor tell them about the big reveal last issue?
I love Peter David’s writing and with his milestone issue #50 he did an excellent job of tying up not only ALL the loose threads he’s been dangling not just for the past 8 issues or so (Summers Rebellion, unevil Fitzroy, Cortex, incontinent Doctor Doom), but also the ones that have been out there since the beginning of the series (finally the definitive answer to what IS the story with Layla Miller?). I don’t want to spoil anything, but I do wonder if that’s what happens to Layla, where does she go from there (or then)? I have to admit it felt a bit rushed and tidy to have it all dropped in our laps with a lovely anniversary bow on it, but I’m eagerly anticipating what happens next!
Worlds and times collide in this double-sized conclusion to the year long storyline that has revitalized X-Factor. Will the Summers Rebellion triumph as is supposed to happen…or will it be derailed? Will Madrox make it back to his own time? Will Siryn, Monet and the rest of the team have their final showdown with Cortex? Will we actually learn just how it is that Layla Miller knows stuff? Will someone die?
You probably remember the uproar the RicShatty kiss caused from character creator Rob Liefeld. At the time X-Factor writer Peter David handled Liefeld’s reaction with grace and aplomb. Peter David made a number of humorous comments aimed at Liefeld and he’s stuck to his guns on at least one of them.
In a discussion over at Robot6 (which by the way mentioned QueerSUPE yesterday!!!), Peter David decided that he would have Guido ask “Tell me Shatterstar… do you like gladiator movies?” as a reference to the classic film Airplane in which Captain Oveur makes similar suggestive remarks to the young boy visiting the cockpit. I suppose you should expect that when entering anyplace called “The Cockpit.”
In a preview of X-Factor #200 (due in December) which relocates X-Factor Investigations to NYC to find out why “the Invisible Woman has Vanished, he did just that.
Some fascinating hints of whats in store for the x-universe… The XU (X-Men Legacy, X-Force, New Mutants) is apoppin with zombies doing the bidding of wanna-be-goddess Selene in the first real X-Event of 2010… Necrosha. But its far from the last as Hope is still on her way back from the future and Nate Grey is back so there are all kinds of possibilities for mutants in 2010!
Stay tuned to the various X-Titles for further development…
I still have to stick my my assertion that at this moment Peter Davis can do no wrong. I love what’s been going on in X-Factor with the story, characters and especially the writers online comments and letter’s page responses. He rocks!
Cortex stands revealed! Or does he? The plan of the president’s science team threatens Madrox and Layla! Or does it? Shatterstar gets a milkshake! Or does he? It’s all going according to the plan of Doctor Doom! Or is it?
We found out last issue that Cortex is a Madrox dupe, right? Not to mention Trevor Fitzroy is on the side of the angels (for now). What more is in store for us as we approach the milestone issue #50? Oops, better make that #200 since the issue that follows #49 will be renumbered to #200 (the number the title would have been on if the current series had picked up where the oriinal series left off… at 151 instead of rebooting at 0).
I’m REALLY looking forward to this issue. From the solicit it looks like we’ll get more than 1 panel of Ric-n-Shatty snogging. I can’t wait to see what Peter David has in store for us on the bumpy road to issue #50. I’m eagerly anticipating Shatterstar‘s story.
Time is beginning to bleed. Sentinels are starting to pop up in the darnedest places, the Summers Rebellion is spilling over into modern day, Rictor and Shatterstar have a lot to sort out, and X-Factor finally finds itself face to face with Cortex.
I’m also looking forward to seeing what the story is with Ruby Summers‘ good buddy and trusted ally – Trevor Fitzroy!?!?!
Simultaneously telling 3 intertwined stories (RicShatty, Cortex and Madrox in the future) should draw the whole thing out to #50. I wonder what Peter David has planned to follow it up? I hope he sticks it our for at least a few dozen more issues.
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.”
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?
It honestly isn’t every week that I anticipate Wednesday and my comics as much as I am this week. Pretty much completely due to the arrival of X-Factor #46.
It’s Siryn in the fight of her life against the absolute last person that she would have expected to be battling. And Madrox, Layla and Ruby find themselves under assault by the Sentinels just when they’re on the verge of discovering the mystery behind Cortex!
As much as i love a good catfight, let’s hope we get a few pages of the unfolding homodrama going on in the present as well! As hooked as I ALREADY was on the Summers Rebellion future arc I’m now much more eagerly anticipating what happens AFTER Ric ‘n Shatty’s very warm greeting.
GayComicGeek was so livid about Rob Liefeld’s recent comments, that he resurrected his belligerent alter ego the AngryComicBookNerd and really says it best with this posts title.
And thanks for another Shout-out! Love your reviews! In case you folks hadn’t heard, apparently Rob Liefeld has locked down the threads on this topic at his own forum. I guess he was not getting the usual verbal handjob he has come to expect from his adoring fans. Anyone who runs a forum that way is just interested in hearing his own opinion echoed back.
I’ll keep covering the developing relationship between Rictor and Shatterstar (#46 is out NEXT WEEK!!!), but I’ve given homophobic hack Rob Liefeld too much press already. So feel free to pester him if you like, but barring further developments, I’m going to move on. There is just no sense arguing with a waste of human flesh.
Posted in Comics, SFW on 05/19/2009 08:44 pm by fanboi
It looks to me like the Black Queen is back. Selene graces the cover of X-Factor #44. But then again, I’ve been wrong before. Has Monet ever been known to wear a cape?
I’m loving Peter David‘s writing and really looking forward to seeing what Selene is up to – so I hope it IS her.
UPDATE: Comments suggest that this isn’t Selene but Monet. It would be easier to tell if we had the dialog too. But I just don’t see any reason that Monet would come on to Darwin – ick. I COULD see Selene attempting to seduce him for her own purposes, but I also don’t see Selene in a tube top and mini-skirt either (for that manner I don’t see a total snob like Monet in that outfit either – if it’s her, maybe she’s being controlled?). I find this preview confusing.
