I feel like I'm running behind on a lot of stuff right now, so there will probably be a few posts this week to make up for it. Sorry about that,.
So June is typically considered Pride Month in the US, though local areas may have their own pride at different times. I'm going to start doing a series of posts on LGBTQIA comics that I recommend, but I'm going to do this a little differently. My idea is to break it down into parts, the first focusing on gay and bi men, then lesbians and bi women, then trans*, queer, intersex and asexual, then finally circle back and focus on books that do a bit of all of them well (namely team books). I want to do it this way for a couple of reasons. First, while LGBTQIA is a community for various reasons, each individual group has it's own wants/needs/desires, so a book with a lesbian lead may not speak to an asexual teen as well as another book. The second reasons is to highlight some of the areas where comics as a medium are lacking over all. I'm pretty sure you can see just by the grouping that there may be some areas that aren't as heavily represented as others. Let me also note that combining gay and bi men and women is not on any level an attempt to erase bi people. It is just easier to lump together the stories of potential male/male relationships and female/female relationships.
That said, as always, I don't read ever comic book out there and I don't know every comic book out there. I can only recommend what I am aware of and have read myself. So if I miss something you think is important, let me know.
So gay/bi male comics? Obviously Constantine or Hellblazer needs to be mentioned as Constantine is the only bisexual male lead at Marvel or DC right now and one of the few openly bisexual male characters from either major company. Sadly though, I'm not a huge fan of this character. He's a major huckster and swarmy self-interested bastard, which a lot of people love about him, but he doesn't really speak to me. Also for a good portion of Hellblazer it was assumed he was straight until he finally revealed a past relationship with a guy.
Midnighter vol 1: Out & Midnighter Vol 2: Hard by Steve Orlando and various artists- This series so much this series. Midnighter is essentially a suped up gay Batman. He is a genius tactician and can actually plan out numerous scenarios in his head on how a fight will go at once. This series is everything Midnighter.. it's violent, fun, and sexy. At the beginning of the series, Midnighter is single after breaking up with long time boyfriend, Apollo, so Midnighter begins dating again while looking for who he is and taking down the really bad people in the world. The series doesn't shy away from depicting Midnighter with his dates, he even takes one on adventures with him for a bit. It's really a great series for teens and adults, though it is definitely not for everyone. Some people will be turned off by the graphic violence and the glee Midnighter takes in beating the crap out of bad guys, but it's who he is. Also be on the look out for Steve Orlando's Midnighter and Apollo out in July. Picks up kind of where this series ends.
Young Avengers by Keiron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie - this comes in a couple formats. You can get the 3 individual volumes Style > Substance, Alternative Cultures, and Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space or in one large Omnibus edition titled simply Young Avengers by Keiron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I'm including this as a gay male/bi male entry even though just about every major character is gay or bi because the main story is focused around the relationship of Wiccan and Hulkling. Their relationship is what starts the ball rolling and it's really a major focus of the series while the queerness of other characters is mentioned just briefly.
Kaptara vol 1 by Chip Zdarsky and Kaga McLeod - This is billed as gay Saga at times or gay He-Man and while it bares some resemblance to the latter, it is really neither. Basically Kaptara is the story of Keith Kanga, a bored science specialist on a space exploration mission that goes horribly wrong and he crash lands on Kaptara, which is essentially a He-Man type world, with giant big muscular men (and women). Keith discovers himself embroiled in a plot that could mean the end of the Earth and so he has to decide whether or not to just sit back and enjoy the muscular scenery or set off with a good muscular prince and save the world. Along the way, well things get a tad weirder and the series honestly reads like a kid who has taken all his favorite toys and is trying to make them all work in the same universe. No seriously, there are Smurfs and Gargamel along with the He-man characters and oh look some GI Joe figures fell in to. Over all though, it's an interesting series and Keith is not your typical hero.
There is also the now digital only Kevin Kellar series by Archie comics, but I've honestly never been a huge fan of slice of life stuff, so I haven't read it.
And.. that's pretty much it. There are gay and bi male characters as side characters or supporting characters in a lot of series like Morning Glories and The Woods, they aren't really the focus of the series. Bunker plays a pretty big role in the recent Teen Titans series by Scott Lobdell and the following series by Will Pfeifer, but his backstory and personality aren't developed much over the course of the series. That doesn't mean these stories are bad or that they wouldn't speak to a gay male or bi male reader, but the story isn't focused around just these characters and they're in a sea of a bunch of other stories and characters that you need to sort through.
Up and coming, Iceman has a solo series, but I'm not sure how good that will be and there is a bunch of hype about the fact that he was straight once and how he'll deal with his ex girlfriends now.. which doesn't sound remotely interesting especially when you take into account that he was forced out (both times) in probably one of the worst coming out scenes in the history of coming out scenes..
Also Ray is a gay member of Steve Orlando's Justice League of America and his one-shot made it clear he was gay, but he's only one member of a team with a lot of big personalities and thus far, he hasn't gotten much time to develop relationships or anything.
The new Aqualad will also be gay in Teen Titans by Benjamin Percy, but this is a title I have 0 desires to read, so.. I'm not going to be recommending it anytime soon. Over all tho.. that's it kids. Sorry to say.
So June is typically considered Pride Month in the US, though local areas may have their own pride at different times. I'm going to start doing a series of posts on LGBTQIA comics that I recommend, but I'm going to do this a little differently. My idea is to break it down into parts, the first focusing on gay and bi men, then lesbians and bi women, then trans*, queer, intersex and asexual, then finally circle back and focus on books that do a bit of all of them well (namely team books). I want to do it this way for a couple of reasons. First, while LGBTQIA is a community for various reasons, each individual group has it's own wants/needs/desires, so a book with a lesbian lead may not speak to an asexual teen as well as another book. The second reasons is to highlight some of the areas where comics as a medium are lacking over all. I'm pretty sure you can see just by the grouping that there may be some areas that aren't as heavily represented as others. Let me also note that combining gay and bi men and women is not on any level an attempt to erase bi people. It is just easier to lump together the stories of potential male/male relationships and female/female relationships.
That said, as always, I don't read ever comic book out there and I don't know every comic book out there. I can only recommend what I am aware of and have read myself. So if I miss something you think is important, let me know.
So gay/bi male comics? Obviously Constantine or Hellblazer needs to be mentioned as Constantine is the only bisexual male lead at Marvel or DC right now and one of the few openly bisexual male characters from either major company. Sadly though, I'm not a huge fan of this character. He's a major huckster and swarmy self-interested bastard, which a lot of people love about him, but he doesn't really speak to me. Also for a good portion of Hellblazer it was assumed he was straight until he finally revealed a past relationship with a guy.Midnighter vol 1: Out & Midnighter Vol 2: Hard by Steve Orlando and various artists- This series so much this series. Midnighter is essentially a suped up gay Batman. He is a genius tactician and can actually plan out numerous scenarios in his head on how a fight will go at once. This series is everything Midnighter.. it's violent, fun, and sexy. At the beginning of the series, Midnighter is single after breaking up with long time boyfriend, Apollo, so Midnighter begins dating again while looking for who he is and taking down the really bad people in the world. The series doesn't shy away from depicting Midnighter with his dates, he even takes one on adventures with him for a bit. It's really a great series for teens and adults, though it is definitely not for everyone. Some people will be turned off by the graphic violence and the glee Midnighter takes in beating the crap out of bad guys, but it's who he is. Also be on the look out for Steve Orlando's Midnighter and Apollo out in July. Picks up kind of where this series ends.
Kaptara vol 1 by Chip Zdarsky and Kaga McLeod - This is billed as gay Saga at times or gay He-Man and while it bares some resemblance to the latter, it is really neither. Basically Kaptara is the story of Keith Kanga, a bored science specialist on a space exploration mission that goes horribly wrong and he crash lands on Kaptara, which is essentially a He-Man type world, with giant big muscular men (and women). Keith discovers himself embroiled in a plot that could mean the end of the Earth and so he has to decide whether or not to just sit back and enjoy the muscular scenery or set off with a good muscular prince and save the world. Along the way, well things get a tad weirder and the series honestly reads like a kid who has taken all his favorite toys and is trying to make them all work in the same universe. No seriously, there are Smurfs and Gargamel along with the He-man characters and oh look some GI Joe figures fell in to. Over all though, it's an interesting series and Keith is not your typical hero.
And.. that's pretty much it. There are gay and bi male characters as side characters or supporting characters in a lot of series like Morning Glories and The Woods, they aren't really the focus of the series. Bunker plays a pretty big role in the recent Teen Titans series by Scott Lobdell and the following series by Will Pfeifer, but his backstory and personality aren't developed much over the course of the series. That doesn't mean these stories are bad or that they wouldn't speak to a gay male or bi male reader, but the story isn't focused around just these characters and they're in a sea of a bunch of other stories and characters that you need to sort through.
Up and coming, Iceman has a solo series, but I'm not sure how good that will be and there is a bunch of hype about the fact that he was straight once and how he'll deal with his ex girlfriends now.. which doesn't sound remotely interesting especially when you take into account that he was forced out (both times) in probably one of the worst coming out scenes in the history of coming out scenes..
Also Ray is a gay member of Steve Orlando's Justice League of America and his one-shot made it clear he was gay, but he's only one member of a team with a lot of big personalities and thus far, he hasn't gotten much time to develop relationships or anything.
The new Aqualad will also be gay in Teen Titans by Benjamin Percy, but this is a title I have 0 desires to read, so.. I'm not going to be recommending it anytime soon. Over all tho.. that's it kids. Sorry to say.
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