The 10 Most Important Gay Moments in Comic Book History
source: http://www.ranker.com/list/the-10-most-important-gay-moments-in-comic-book-history/eric-diaz...
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- remanns
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From perhaps "the worst" . . .
One step forward, two steps back.
In 2002, Marvel decided to dig up one of their old 50’s Western heroes, probably just to keep the copyright. Thing is, nobody really cares about Western comics anymore.
“So how do we make it interesting?” they must have thought “I know! Let’s make him a big flaming homo!”
And with that, the Rawhide Kid (get it? get it? Raw Hide?? *sigh*) became the first gay lead character to get his own comic book from either Marvel or DC.
The book was filled with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy style stereotypes, and an actual caption from the first issue which had the Kid thinking about the Lone Ranger along the lines of this:
"I think that mask and the powder blue outfit are fantastic. I can certainly see why the Indian follows him around!" In the spirit of the Old West, please just shoot me now.
Now, I don’t mind making fun of stereotypes (God knows they exist for a reason), but when they come entirely from the minds and mouths of a bunch of straight guys in an office in New York, it might as well be a bunch of white guys who think it's ok for them to use the N word because they have black friends.
In any event, this gave Marvel about five minutes of free publicity, even trotting out good old Stan Lee on to Larry King on CNN to talk about it - even though in all likelihood he didn’t even know there was a gay Rawhide Kid 'til sometime that morning.
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http://www.ranker.com/list/the-10-most-important-gay-moments-in-comic-book-histo...
Graphic
http://img1.ranker.com/user_node_img/5903/1000020223/250/u1.jpg
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bike10
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Always knew there was something special of Bat man and Robin.
- 1 year ago
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bike10
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remanns
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- a look at "tha Kid" that dont make you wince quite as much !
- 1 year ago
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remanns
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remanns
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Personally, I thought the whole "Young Avengers" bit was reasonably well handled,....and I even actually like the characters.
( there are some inter species "Skrull love" issue entangled in this.... )
- 1 year ago
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remanns
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remanns
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To the best . . .( arguably )
Batwoman - No Longer Just Batman's Beard
-I might have been heavy on the gay boys and light on the lesbians on this list, but the #1 slot goes to none other than DC's Batwoman, so I hope that makes up for it. Why #1? Because she's an out character who wears the symbol of DC's most popular hero, a cultural icon no less, and has headlined the book that DC Comics is named after (Detective Comics) for a year now.
AND she's proven to be a kick ass character to boot. All of this would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.
DC had a Batwoman before; back in the 1950’s, to rebuff notions that Batman and Robin were a gay couple, Batwoman was introduced as a "girlfriend” to Batman. Introduced in 1956, Kathy Kane was as sexist as comics could get in the day. Her entire reason for super heroing was merely to get Batman to marry her, and instead of a utility belt, she had a “utility purse” with gadgets that looked like lipstick and compacts. After the whole “Batman and Robin are gay” paranoia ended in the early 60’s, editor Julius Schwartz retired Batwoman for good. Eventually, a new female version of Batman was introduced in the form of Batgirl, a character that everyone loved and stood the test of time.
But in an effort to create some diversity (and sales) DC introduced a new version of Batwoman; this time Kate Kane wasn't merely Batman's "beard", but an out lesbian. Gone was the utility purse; this Batwoman was an ex military chick who could kick anyone's ass. Considering her comics origins, the irony is delicious. DC took out a press release in all the major newspapers to not only announce her existence to the world, but also the fact that this new heroine was a “lipstick lesbian”. A little over the top, but still better than Marvel's Rawhide Kid debacle. Comics readers felt cynical about the whole affair, but in time, writer Greg Rucka made her a fan favorite by virtue of solid writng and great characterization.
And thus, the arrival of Batwoman is the most important LGBT event in mainstream comics.
- 1 year ago
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remanns
