In Your Face Jam - Sep 12, 2012

[CBR News]

Dark Horse Comics is introducing the first gay, male Slayer. SPOILER ALERT: Brett White praises this decision as a bold step towards gender inclusiveness and attempts to silence the haters.


Full article here.

[eavatar]

I read your article, and as representative of the pure evil, it means: White, male, heterosexual and a bourgeois, I must say it is good to see someone different than myself really speaking about how different the comics would be, but your column just made my eyes open for a real danger.

I think we are on the 70's again, but instead Black heroes now the trend are the gay characters. Yes my dear Beard brother, what I am saying must sound crazy now, but all the bells and whistles made by the companies just looked like: Hey Gals! Gay guys to you write fanfics! And nothing else. I don't think several of this characters will long till the end of the decade, I bet Bunker will be one of the first titans casualities at the next Teen Titans clean-up killing spree (the first one will be the bug girl if she isn't the killer) or he is going to find himself a closet straight guy because this version of titans get on TV and Momma Warner said there are no gay on her toons for kids. I know what I am saying is evil, but look above, what I said at the first line is true, I am evil by default.

Another element which made me think everything else is happening is just a trick was the spotlight which all this new characters got. I don't think any new character get this kind of attention anymore. I mean, when was the last time a straight guy character got this kind of attention? I bet Blackhawks comic or GI Combat would survive a bit more if DC wasted some PR money on that books. Or maybe they could made them gay books, so it would mean free advertise in several publications, and even some polemic ("What? They are saying a GI Sargent fighting in Afghanistan is gay! What the Heck Louise, let's set a protest right now! Comics should be something for kids and no kid is Gay! Let's boycott Amazon for this evil trade paperbacks!"). And we know there are no better advertise than a good polemic.

What I recommend to you, is ponder a bit. Do you think all this media barrage fire is a good thing for this characters? How long they will be relevant or will last once the trick doesn't work anymore? By the way, where are the black guys from the 70's? Or the Grunge heroes from the 90's? I think what we are seeing is just another trick. I am betting 2 cents the next Jump the Shark trick will be make a straight guy gay just to push the sales up.

My evil regards,
Eavatar, the evil guy next door
(just because he had born straight and white)

[BamaRainbow]

@eavatar: Well, about the "black guys from the 70s," there's Luke Cage (created in 1972) who's been quite a regular feature in Bendis's various Avengers books (oh wait--none of those are popular, are they?). And Blade (created in 1973), while he may not be as prominent, he was the focus of THREE films. Brother Voodoo (created in 1973) took the mantle of Earth's Sorceror Supreme just a few years ago. And while not "guys,"you've got Misty Knight (created in 1972) and Storm (created in 1975) who both continue to play key roles in the Marvel Universe.

At DC, you've got Black Lightning (created in 1977) who was a member of the Justice League and the Outsiders before the New52 (and he's getting ready to show up in the New52, teamed up with Blue Devil in DC Comics Presents). Tyroc (created in 1976) was part of the Legion for a short time in the 1970s and is part of the New52's Legion Lost. John Stewart (created in 1971) became one of Hal Jordan's replacements in the Green Lantern Corps and currently, in the New52, stars as a full-fledged GL in his own right in the current Green Lantern Corps series. (And, while her first appearance didn't officially come until 1981, Vixen was supposed to debut in her own series in 1977 or 1978 but that was put on hold due to the DC Implosion. Her most recent appearances were in the New52's Justice League International.)

I must admit I'm not familiar with any "Grunge heroes from the 90's." I don't recall any heroes who wore flannel and had greasy hair and largely mumbled their way through dialogue. (Yes, there was the Gen13 character named Grunge, but I don't think he was really "grunge" in the conventional sense.) The 90s characters I recall tended to be of either the "dark and gritty" variety or the "oversteroided males and helium-boobed females carrying arsenals that were the envy of most 3rd world countries" variety.

[bubble_chunks]

Those black guys are still around. They weren't a gimmick or a 'trick'. They were created to meet a need for more representation of minorities at the time when comic book companies started to realize it wasn't just white dudes reading comics.

Thanks for the awesome article. I appreciated how you reflected on your own knee-jerk reaction to the flamboyant Bunker. I too was a bit worried at first he might just be a joke character, but was quickly won over by his enthusiasm and quirky fashion-sense. Gays come in all shapes and flavours so it's fun to see more than just the butch square-jawed type in a comic book.

I haven't read the Buffy comic in awhile, but I'll check it out for this storyline. (and Andrew seriously never came out?! That's nutbar.)

[jdviant]

By the way, where are the black guys from the 70's?

They're there, just largely relegated to the sidelines mostly since most can't support books long-term on their own. The successful ones have moved away from headlines that would read 'Black man joins Avengers'.

Except Voodoo, who is dead.

[JokersNuts]

Great article! I fully support the push for more diverse characters and am excited about this! - my only complaint is when Spoilers for comics that aren't out yet become news items...