CBR: GLAAD's Unsung Heroes of 2012

[CBR News]

Brett White returns to look at this year's nominees for GLAAD's Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book, suggestion the addition of an "Outstanding Single Issue" category with a nominee that might surprise you.


Full article here.

[thespianphryne]

Content aside, I'm all about Batwoman because of the mind blowing colours and art.

Of course, also Archie. Archie! Quietly moving forward the cause of civil rights in the USA, and thereby the world. Because you dudes here don't know how extremely popular that book is in the rest of the world.

[JimmyDee]

This is a great article - thanks, Brett!

[Disco_Magic]

2012 is already shaping up to be a good year for LGBT awareness.

Christos Gage, on Avengers Academy, has been doing a fantastic job dealing with Lightspeed's bi orientation and Striker's struggle with being in the closet & possibly coming out.

Plus Northstar is moving back in with the X-Men and bringing his BF Kyle along. It's been hinted that their relationship will be a subplot in Astonishing when Marjorie Liu takes over.

[forwardnotion]

I've been a fan of the way Marvel writers have chosen to reveal certain characters' sexual orientation. I think the same way Max Modell's sexuality was "revealed" was handled just as well in Dark Avengers when Bendis revealed Hand's orientation just as quietly.

It's things like this that convince me that things are getting better for me all the time.

[Leocomix]

How did Bendis do it? I didn't pick on it.

[0bsessions]

A true testament to the way Waid handled the Daredevil one is that I'd completely forgotten it. It was basically a footnote to the storyarc. No knocking you over the head yelling "Look at this guy, look at how progressive we are, PAT US ON THE BACK LEST WE PAT OURSELVES," as pretty much every other form of media falls over itself to do. It's just a natural and organic matter-of-fact part of the story the same as it would've been had Waid and Rivera thrown a heterosexual couple in there instead.

Honestly, though, the comic book industry has been way ahead of these sort of things for ages. By the time television and film were tackling this "edgy issue," Northstar had been out for years.

[poneley]

Great article! I wasn't aware of the more "subtle" depictions of LGBT individuals in these other books. It made me smile. :)

And 0bsessions, I would not call our industry cutting edge at all. While things may look very bright for the current depiction of LGBT characters, these characters were non-existant or completely invisible not that long ago. It is awesome that we have two books with lead characters who are gay but all of this is a recent change in the medium. Kudos to the publishers who give us these characters nonetheless.

[NexusTenebrare]

Great article.
I completely agree on things like the amazing iZombie or the random appearance of gay 'extras' like in Daredevil.

However I find myself disagreeing with the gay characters in Children's Crusade not getting a chance to shine.
Billy has easily been the most relevant Young Avenger in the whole series and aside from Wanda, the most important character full stop.
And it's not like he featured without his sexuality ever being brought up. The first few issues very clearly showed his relationship with Teddy.

I'm also not so sure how common it is for people to out themselves the way Max Modell did.
It seems to me coming out is still generally a more stressful experience for most people. A whole confessional thing, rather than making some offhand remark about a present.

[LooneyKoala]

This was a great article. And with comics like Daredevil being more realistic the future looks bright

[stvnhthr]

"It's like, if ten percent of the population is gay, then one in ten people harassed by super-beings should be gay too!"

Actually it is closer to 3 out of 100. 1 out of 10 is a common myth.

[Chris McFeely]

Ha! I'd totally forgotten about that bit in Daredevil! I was thinking, "Daredevil? Why should Daredevil get a nomin--ohhhh yeah!" That casualness is, indeed, true testament to why it was as good as it was, and Modell's "coming out" this week was just as good.

[LorrieK]

I'm also not so sure how common it is for people to out themselves the way Max Modell did.
It seems to me coming out is still generally a more stressful experience for most people. A whole confessional thing, rather than making some offhand remark about a present.

I haven't read it, but it doesn't sound like Max Modell was "coming out". I'm guessing he was already out (although perhaps not every acquaintance or co-worker knows). He was only outed in the sense that Slott was letting the readers know Max is gay. I could be wrong, of course, since I haven't read the issue, but that's how I interpreted the article.

[twincast]

Writer Chris Roberson has managed to tell Spot's story realistically without feeling Northstar-y (new verb, adopt it).

That's an adjective, not a verb.

Anyway, the five actual nominees, Teen Titans and the suggestions (I've been largely unaware of) in the article are all valid choices (Well, ASM maybe not so much and since I'm at it, neither would be WatXM and Avengers Academy.), but GLAAD should really start broadening their scope beyond the big headlines of the year someday soon. Would keep them from feeling so fake and empty. (TBH they should have awards for Outstanding Superhero Comic, Outstanding Romance Comic, Outstanding Comedic Comic and Outstanding Mature Comic, but c'est la vie.)

[dupersuper]

Brett White returns to look at this year's nominees for GLAAD's Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book, suggestion the addition of an "Outstanding Single Issue" category with a nominee that might surprise you.


Full article here.

Which of these is supposed to surprise me?