The Hardcore Rant; They're Here… They're Queer… Deal With It!
By John Chihak on Feb 03, 2012 with Comments 0
Batwoman has been one of DC’s breakout characters of the past few years, for many reasons. Katherine Kane is one of a growing number of mainstream comic book characters to be openly gay. And with an industry that’s as cutting edge as comics has been, this is something to aspire to.
Another reason is, that while being openly lesbian, Kate Kane isn’t being sexualized in a lot of the ways that Hollywood and television such as HBO or Showtime would do. She’s also not being witch hunted within the DC Universe. In other words, Kane is Batwoman, who happens to be gay, and it’s not being done, at least in my opinion, to be trendy or try and cause an uproar.
I attended a panel at San Diego Comic Con International in 2010 called, “Gays In Comics: Year 23.” This panel was made up of writers and artists who have made it part of their mission and a regular part of the comic book industry to include the homosexual culture more openly into books. Some of the creators on panel were Geoff Johns, Gail Simone, Paige Braddock and Gilbert Hernandez. This coincided with me wanting to learn how to positively write an openly queer character in my own comic.
Now there’s probably a lot of people out there who think that seeing Kate Kane kiss another woman, or having sex, albeit artistically off panel, is going too far. Perhaps years ago, I may have felt the same way. Not for reasons of animosity or bigotry, but for the fact that when I was in high school, it became trendy for girls to experiment and go “bi.” On the reverse side, it was still very taboo for a guy to openly be gay. And I think the media, on a regular basis still makes that diagnosis today.
However, while Kane is a lesbian, this shouldn’t put off any new readers who might feel like they may not be able to follow her exploits. I think of it in these terms, if a gay reader has only heterosexual characters to follow and and read, does it and should it decrease their ability to follow the character or enjoy the stories? The answer to both the vice and the versa is, “NO.”
Katherine Kane aka Batwoman LESBIAN
Batwoman’s sexuality not withstanding, I mean, we’ve come from a history of having to at the very least be suspicious of the Batman and Catwoman trist, and in the pages of Catwoman (currently) we’ve seen their exploits in four colors. We’ve seen Wolverine, bed down Eisner knows how many women, including the underage Jean Grey in the pages of Ultimate X-Men. Not to mention Colosus and Kitty Pryde. That was statutory rape folks. Just like the Ultimate Wolverine and Jean. That’s a crime.
Being gay, last I checked wasn’t.
But the bigotry of same sex couples and ideology is growing to a fever pitch, so I better make this fast. Yeah right! So for those people out there, and there are close minded people reading comics, who wanna bitch and moan and say things like, “why do I have to see this in my comics?” I have a simple solution… DON’T read them. And as much as I was going to say that Kane’s homosexuality isn’t the main focus of Batwoman, it is a center piece. But why not. With some of the examples listed above, there is an aspect that is very sexual involving comics. Diversity in comics is becoming more and more prevalent. And it’s nothing but a good thing.
Back in the 1950′s when Fredric Wertham wrote “Seduction of the Innocent,” mainstream comics had to change. This all but killed the fast rising horror comic, and introduced a self governing board called “The Comics Code.” Romance comics exploded on the scene. So, it’s not like sexuality and relationships are a brand new thing in comics. Superman and Lois Lane, Superman and Lana Lang; Batman and Catwoman, Batman and Vicki Vale, Batman and Robin. C’mon, that was a strange coupling. Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy. Ultimate Spider-Man and the much older Black Cat…. hey women can be predators too folks. Moira McTaggart and Professor X. GASP! A Scotish woman and a cripple? And the list goes on and on. This is not even a drop in the bucket of character relationships that have been brought up in comics. I’m not even going to go into Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (hint, it was another criminal act). And they say that heterosexual marriages have sanctity!
Doop former member of X-Force and X-Statix BISEXUAL!
In addition to “Gays in Comics,” I also attended another LGBT Comics panel called, “Writing Queer.” It was here that I hoped to find ways to make a gay character in my comic part of the universe, and not just a punchline to some insensetive joke.
Gilbert Hernandez gave me some sound advice. He related a gay character being written by a heterosexual writer to writing a female character by a male. He said,
“just write them the same way you would write a more familiar character. And then add and subtract the things you feel would enhance or detract from this character working within the confines of your story universe.”
I later spoke with Paige Braddock who creates a comic called, “Jane’s World.” I asked her about introducing my character as being queer to my universe of readers in a manner that would be more familiar to myself, which of course included biting sarcasm and posibly Grrry being drunk. Braddock felt that, so long as it did not detract from the character’s true self that how she is “outted,” should not actually matter. That story has been written and penciled, but still needs to be inked and have the epilogue drawn.
There are some great resources out there to identify LGBT characters in comics. Whether they wear spandex and a cape or they’re just plain old humans, there are lots of characters out there. A lot of mainstream characters.
Hopey Glass from Love and Rockets fame. Felicia Hardy, The Black Cat from Spider-Man, even a Greek God from the pages of Wonder Woman, Achilles are part of the LGBT community in comics.
This website lists hundreds of characters who are among the LGBT core of characters in comics of today and yesterday. http://queersupe.com/a-z-lbgt-comic-book-character-superlist/ And the list is gonna get bigger. And why? Cause it’s an imperative.
To have queer characters as it is to have black or Latino characters. And I know there’s gonna be Johnny Whitebread saying, “why we gotta have negros and Hispanics in our comics?” Again, I say if you don’t like all the colors of the rainbow, gouge out your eyes. Maybe it’ll make you racists feel better.
This rant isn’t here to belittle people with small minds. As most of those people probably can’t read anyway. The point of this rant is to introduce an idea. The idea is already here, so I guess it’s just slapping you in the face with gayness.
Jane, Jane's World LESBIAN!
My last rant went over like gangbusters, so I am pulling out all the eefing stops on this one. I hope to one day be called a, “Fag Enabler” by the Westboro Baptist Church like one of my favorite directors, Kevin Smith. Actually I hope to one day be arrested for public indecency in regards to the Westboro Baptist Church.
But in all truth I would much rather have the hate go away. The intolerance and fear go by the way side. It doesn’t make sense. Cause whether you’re a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, white, black, spotted, striped, gay or heterosexual, we’re all just people. People who enjoy comics. And we’re already a minority who gets vilified, and taunted. We’re the so called, “fat and unwashed masses living in our parent’s basements who don’t know how to talk to girls and haven’t mastered shaving.”
We’ve been called dreamers. That one I like. Cause I am a dreamer. And in spite of what Mr. John Normal (please see previous rant) thinks, I am a comic book writer and artist. I am Mexican, and I am white. I happen to be heterosexual. And I have mastered both bathing and shaving, even if my scruffy beard might seem otherwise. I own my own home (and no it doesn’t have a basement), and have a job. I do wear my hair in pigtails and carry around a sidekick who looks like a Rasta Gingerbread man, but I can also curl over 100 pounds and am covered with tattoos.
So please think before you decide to try and bring the hate to me. I just feel that diversity isn’t one of those things that makes this country great, IT MAKES THIS WHOLE WORLD GREAT. I celebrate it.
And I hope you do too.
Source : The A-Z LGBT Comic Book Character Superlist
John Chihak is the creator behind the indie comic book Youth in Asia for his personal comic book imprint Anti-Hero Brand Press. John studied graphic design and got a Bachelor's Degree in Animation from the Art Center Design College in Tucson. Graduating in 2004, John began working on putting his comic book dream together. YiA #1 premiered on June 6, 2006. In 2010 John debuted the hit comic Fuzzyface to the Phoenix ComiCon crowd. Fuzzyface was illustrated by John and written by his good friend Venus of Necro. In 2008 John took his writing skills to the next level when he wrote his first review of the much lauded Dark Knight. Wanting to do something completely different John decided to grade his reviews upon moments in professional wrestling history. And thus, the Hardcore Review was born. John continues to write and draw his pet project Youth in Asia, while working on a lot of projects on the side, including graphic design jobs for different clients.
