Hal Duncan, author of “Vellum,” “Ink”, “Escape from Hell” and other works – and a gay man himself – shared a few of his thoughts concerning fandom, comic books and gay superheroes. Like Caitlin R. Kiernan, Duncan is still skeptical about whether the world of comic books is any more receptive to the idea of gay heroes, and doesn’t see Batwoman’s new series as being indicative of any significant change in the cultural milieu:
“To be honest, I think lesbianism is the go-to sexuality for these sort of corporate creative ventures — comics, TV series — when they want to make an effort to be cool with Teh Gayz but not take too much of a risk. Lesbian characters such as Willow in Buffy or Batwoman in the DC multiverse are kind of safe bets. Teenage boys are more likely to think lesbians are hawt, after all, and if girls are buying superhero titles they’ve kind of already shown they’re not bound to heteronormative bollocks, so are they really likely to be freaked if that strong female character is gay? But a male gay superhero is a different story. When Hollywood is still straight-ironing great homos of history and legend like Alexander the Great or Achilles, that says something about how viable gay heroes look to the suits. At the end of the day, I think they’re afraid their core audience just can’t reconcile kicking arse with shagging it.
It’s getting better, with a good few team characters like Colossus, Hulkling, Wiccan, and so on, but writer Perry Moore does quite a good overview of the treatment gay characters have received in comics over the years, and it’s pretty much a litany of horror, right up to Northstar’s skewering by Wolverine. When we see, say, Damian Wayne hit puberty and realise he’s not like other boys in a whole other way, well, then I’ll be impressed.”
Previously:
Colossus? Shows how out of touch I’ve been with my favorite superhero team lately.
I wonder if part of the issue is that gay men are stereotypically seen as sissies and lesbians are seen as tough.
I ordered a copy of Hero, but canceled it when it never shipped because Amazon was out of stock. Maybe I can find a used copy.