Not Buying The Hype

So by now you’ve probably have heard that Marvel’s Northstar is getting married and next month DC plans to out an “iconic” male character as gay in their revamped New 52 universe. A lot of people have been asking me about my take on both situations. Understandable, after all anyone who’s known me for five seconds knows that. Comic books + Denny = SIRIUS BIZNIZZ as such:

Nearly everyone and their grandmother has been asking my thoughts on both DC’s gay reveal and Marvel’s gay wedding and many have expected me to be excited about these events. My response to both:

First and foremost, I HATE Northstar with the fury of 1,000 suns. For nearly 3 decades he has personified every negative stereotype concerning gays and has served as nothing more than an avatar of straight privilege and a walking queer minstrel show. On my list of All-Time Most Hated Comic Book Characters, this piece of shit actually surpasses Damian Sue Wayne, Stephanie War Games Brown and Tony Civl War Nazi Stark.

Secondly, let’s keep it 100 here people. The primary reason Marvel and DC are even engaging in these cheap publicity stunts is to cash in on the success of Archie’s Kevin Keller: a character who is gay who has been well developed and treated with RESPECT. Make no mistake about it, this is a cheap publicity stunt right in time for Pride. It’s also a stunt we’ve seen before.

Both companies pulled this shit before back in the early 2000s along with the rest of society when they suddenly realized the obvious that gays had disposable income. Groundbreaking shows like Queer As Folk was on Showtime and was a major hit. During that time, Marvel touted how it was a brand new day at their company and they were going to strive to be more inclusive by featuring queer characters and giving some their own titles.

Unfortunately, what we got was the Rawhide Kid a walking queer minstrel show and Freedom Ring: an excellent character (Marvel’s answer to Kyle Rayner) who could’ve carried his own series but instead was the victim of one of the worst homophobic murders/gaybashings in comic book history.

Freedom Ring’s demise occurred exactly one month to the day after Doyle was being promoted as Marvel’s new gay superhero by Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada in interviews, as part of a brand new day of diversity at the House of Ideas. The story in which Freedom Ring was murdered had already been written and drawn when Quesada made the rounds in the media promo circuit.

As Ty Templeton stated, “It’s hard to believe they weren’t aware of the F*CK YOU involved when they quickly impale Freedom Ring dead, in one of the worst bait-and-switch messages since Bill Jemas’ MARVILLE was described as “readable”. Author Kirkman now claims he “didn’t mean it” to be so bluntly homophobic, it just sort of turned out that way… ”

Marvel certainly isn’t alone in the homophobic fail. DC has fucked up plenty themselves: Case in point allowing Bill Willingham, one of the most homophobic writers in the business, to use Obsidian as a gay punchline in one issue of JSA. Or Chuck Dixon’s homophobic treatment of Grace & Thunder and Midnighter. And WTF is up letting these homophobic bigots write gay characters? I suppose next they’re going to let David Duke pen the Black Panther. And let’s not forget the constant throwing of Renee Montoya under the bus, the walking joke that is Bunker, how Achilles was virtually retconned and portrayed as a genocidal madman in Outsiders, do I even need to continue?

Now to be fair, let’s give credit where credit is due, both companies have occassionally gotten it right over the years. DC gave us Batwoman for example. Marvel has given us Wiccan & Hulkling and Shatterstar and Rictor, Xavin, Daken and a few other characters. The difference however is that there wasn’t a tintilating media gimmick to boost sales and garner press, at least it wasn’t the primary intent. Rather the main goal was to to tell excellent stories with extraordinary characters who happened to be queer. I credit the writers, editors, and storytellers on those titles more than the companies themselves.

That’s why Kevin Keller has been a monumental success. The goal of Archie Comics wasn’t to garner publicity to sale more books but to be more inclusive and tell amazing adventures which featured a role model who happened to be a gay teen. And while intent isn’t magic, in cases like this, it does make all the difference.

But the main reason I’m not buying into the hype is that I see how Marvel and DC treats many of their current LGBTQ characters in their titles. Most of them are in marginal supporting roles at best and others………yeah I’m not holding my breath.

Anytime you treat a marginalization be it race, gender, orientation, etc. as a gimmick or a publicity stunt, disaster is imminent. So maybe I’ll be proven wrong and if so I’ll proudly stand corrected and will praise one or both companies.

However at this point: