Okay, let’s put this into perspective for those who are a little
confused. CBO used -USED- to carry Archie Comics news and you’ll find
the odd item still on the blog about the time Archie launched it’s first
gay character -Kevin Keller.
It was a big publicity boost for Archie and the financial rewards for
the company were no doubt good. So, in January of this year, Kevin
Keller married his partner. Yes, a gay black man and marrying a white
man in a gay ceremony. Boy, the South and Right Wing must
have…well…blown a blood vessel or two.
Dan Didio, the man who has helped lead DC into oblivion both morally and creatively must have bounced around the room drooling and yelling “We got to get us a gay character -not like lesbian Batwoman…or lesbian Question or…” Well, they needed a gay with shock value. So they “re-booted” (that’s comic company speak for killing a loved character and making him what he never was…for a few extra dollars. Yes, Didio is a pimp). So, we get the shock of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, kissing his boyfriend…news headlines follow.
But they (DC) managed to “reboot” with the 52 crap which saw Alan Scott’s gay son…uh, not existing. But there was no money or news-spin in gays then.
Then we have Northstar, the character created by John Byrne for his Alpha Flight series. Byrne had a LOT of pressure from marvel Comics in the 1980s when he announced Northstar was gay. We all know the story -just look online if you don’t.
Now, under Joe Quesada, the man who has guided Marvel Comics to the brink of oblivion (there is an unwritten law in comicdom that under no circumstances what-so-over must Quesada and Didio be in the same room as the universe could end…and get “rebooted”) Northstar is allowed to not just be gay but…marry his partner!
Sorry…thought for a second there the bile was going to make me vomit….
When I was producing Black Tower Comics as Small Press books I had a few gay characters BUT the fact that they were gay never mattered. They are still there. Will I be sending out a Press Release: “UK Comic Company To Have Red Hot Lesbian Wedding”? No.
Do the brilliant Los Bros Hernandez get lots of press because of their gay characters? No. I don’t even think that they would want to. And Maggie and Hopey were openly gay in the 1980s (though I recall the British fanzine Fantasy Advertiser running a review which proclaimed “Maggie and Hopey have sex!”
Harrier Comics also had gay characters.
You see, unless you are Marvel or DC and desperate to whore your product for more money with a big t-shirt slogan of “F*** The Fans!” you don’t get any publicity. But DC and Marvel have Superman, Batman, Captain America, Iron Man and other well known movie characters.
But kids -yes, kids!!!!- see the movies and collect the toys. They see this news in the newspaper. How long before some parent turns to their child playing with his action figures and says: “You’re very quiet -have they given up battling now?” And the child turns and looks up with a drooling grin on his face: “Oh yes, mother. They’ve finished fighting….and Green Lantern is bumming Batman!”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!!
Drum-roll. Fade to black.
So now every Catholic priest caught out can declare -”But I was only playing Green Lantern with the boy!”
It’s sickening. It’s pure exploitation. Does it make a difference if someone is gay? Then, having said that, we have to remember that women in the US Armed Forces still receive horrific treatment from their superiors. And this is aimed at the US were all the nuts will start screaming “This is turning our children into Satanic homosexuals!” and the TLG & B community will be explaining why the Green Lantern costume is “soooo un-colour coordinated and tame”
Me? I was a big fan of the original Green Lantern and luckily I can relax and get to it because this is not the Golden Age GL. It’s more DC shit.
Dan Didio, the man who has helped lead DC into oblivion both morally and creatively must have bounced around the room drooling and yelling “We got to get us a gay character -not like lesbian Batwoman…or lesbian Question or…” Well, they needed a gay with shock value. So they “re-booted” (that’s comic company speak for killing a loved character and making him what he never was…for a few extra dollars. Yes, Didio is a pimp). So, we get the shock of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, kissing his boyfriend…news headlines follow.
But they (DC) managed to “reboot” with the 52 crap which saw Alan Scott’s gay son…uh, not existing. But there was no money or news-spin in gays then.
Then we have Northstar, the character created by John Byrne for his Alpha Flight series. Byrne had a LOT of pressure from marvel Comics in the 1980s when he announced Northstar was gay. We all know the story -just look online if you don’t.
Now, under Joe Quesada, the man who has guided Marvel Comics to the brink of oblivion (there is an unwritten law in comicdom that under no circumstances what-so-over must Quesada and Didio be in the same room as the universe could end…and get “rebooted”) Northstar is allowed to not just be gay but…marry his partner!
Sorry…thought for a second there the bile was going to make me vomit….
When I was producing Black Tower Comics as Small Press books I had a few gay characters BUT the fact that they were gay never mattered. They are still there. Will I be sending out a Press Release: “UK Comic Company To Have Red Hot Lesbian Wedding”? No.
Do the brilliant Los Bros Hernandez get lots of press because of their gay characters? No. I don’t even think that they would want to. And Maggie and Hopey were openly gay in the 1980s (though I recall the British fanzine Fantasy Advertiser running a review which proclaimed “Maggie and Hopey have sex!”
Harrier Comics also had gay characters.
You see, unless you are Marvel or DC and desperate to whore your product for more money with a big t-shirt slogan of “F*** The Fans!” you don’t get any publicity. But DC and Marvel have Superman, Batman, Captain America, Iron Man and other well known movie characters.
But kids -yes, kids!!!!- see the movies and collect the toys. They see this news in the newspaper. How long before some parent turns to their child playing with his action figures and says: “You’re very quiet -have they given up battling now?” And the child turns and looks up with a drooling grin on his face: “Oh yes, mother. They’ve finished fighting….and Green Lantern is bumming Batman!”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!!
Drum-roll. Fade to black.
So now every Catholic priest caught out can declare -”But I was only playing Green Lantern with the boy!”
It’s sickening. It’s pure exploitation. Does it make a difference if someone is gay? Then, having said that, we have to remember that women in the US Armed Forces still receive horrific treatment from their superiors. And this is aimed at the US were all the nuts will start screaming “This is turning our children into Satanic homosexuals!” and the TLG & B community will be explaining why the Green Lantern costume is “soooo un-colour coordinated and tame”
Me? I was a big fan of the original Green Lantern and luckily I can relax and get to it because this is not the Golden Age GL. It’s more DC shit.
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