Tag Archives: wiccan

Whatever you do, don’t state the obvious!

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A few post back, I talked about Wiccan and Hulking from the Young Avengers finally kissing in an issue of their limited series “Children’s Crusade”. In addition to their recent public display of affection, long time X-Men member, and openly gay superhero, Northstar is set to be married to his partner. In the past few years, more and more LGBT characters have gained greater exporsue, from The Question and Batwoman’s on-again-off-again relationship, to the Authority’s Apollo and The Midnighter tying the knot. At the risk of sounding like my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or simply anyone that I’ve ever talked to that is older than me, it wasn’t always like this.

While many characters’ sexuality is being recognized and celebrated, older LGBT characters experienced problematic depictions and were often the product of tired homophobic innuendo. In fact, Wiccan, Hulking, and Northstar, the three characters who have had arguably the best exposure of all queer superheroes had relatively off-putting beginnings. For Northstar, creators decided not to simply tell readers that the Canadian mutant was gay. Perhaps the heads of Marvel thought it was bad for business, or the writers couldn’t muster the courage to introduce Northstar as gay character; regardless, the X-Man wasn’t identified as gay until the not-so subtle hints started to pile up. One such helpful hint was the way Northstar was frequently drawn and described, a French-speaking, pointy-eared fairy. Yep, the gay guy is a fairy. But at least he had a cool name.

Wiccan is not the first codename Billy Kaplan…Wait, let’s back up. When the Young Avengers were introduced, both Wiccan and Hulkling were written with a sexual ambiguity. They were not out, which led to the heterosexist assumption that they were straight, but they also had a weird relationship. In many early issues, whenever Wiccan or Hulking was injured, the other shouted their name in fear and concern. In one famous instance, Hulkling was willing to attack a teammate suspected of hurting Wiccan. When the writers decided to make the characters’ relationship an established part of the canon, as move they planned before the first issue went to print, they changed Billy’s codename to Wiccan. His previous codename was Asgaurdian.

Bisexuality in Comics or “Hey guys, you still have half a chance!”

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While many comic book publications are hesitant to show gay male couples being intimate in any way—I mean, how long did we have to wait for Hulking and Wiccan to kiss, or Northstar to get married?—it has been a long time since the same creators have shied away from two women getting physical.

Now this hypocrisy is hard to explain. In the eyes of many heterosexual men, lesbian relationships, especially the lesbian relationships in which the women are sexy, are a source of sexual entertainment. They are a plaything of straight men; in fact, some would try to argue how lesbian intimacy isn’t even gay! But this is nothing new. Depictions of females engaging in homoerotic behavior has always been a go-to for heterosexual male demographics regardless of the medium; however, in comics, creators have made it even clearer that these relationships aren’t meant to uplift the LGBT community, but rather to entertain straight males, by making more female characters bisexual.

Don’t get me wrong, while the validity of bisexuality is a topic of many heated debates inside and outside queer communities, it can’t be denied that some people love, have loved, both men and women. In the end, the heart wants what the heart wants, right? But when it comes to comics, the entirety of one’s sexuality—lust and love—are never explored. Instead, the supposed bisexual female characters are depicted as women who fall in love and sleep with men, but can only make a sexual connection with women.

Take the Mystique as an example. After decades of denial, Marvel finally recognized the shape-shifting mutant’s lesbian relationship with the clairvoyant Destiny. Since their rarely acknowledged relationship, Mystique has been with male mutants Azazel and Sabertooth and gives birth to two children, one of them being the famous X-Men member Nightcrawler. Many sources argue that it was the intention of the creators for Destiny and Mystique to be the parents of Nightcrawler, but we all know gays can’t raise a child soooooooo. What is left is a lesbian character that is written into a bisexual character with a preference toward men.

Rather than accepting or celebrating queer people and queer relationships, mainstream comics deliver the same creepy message: No gays! Lesbians are okay, if they let us watch and maybe join.

Persecution of the Innocent, or Fredric Wertham Be Damned

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The LGBTQ community faces many issues with regard its depiction in film and television; in comics, their fight for equal and tasteful representation is arguably just as intense. At the heart of the community’s fight, regardless of the artistic medium, is a struggle for a thorough exploration of LGBTQ characters, and the presence of diverse depictions of queer life. The absence of these two essential features to character depictions results in a one-dimensional and stereotypical portrayal of an entire community. According to the 2011 GLAAD report, the number of LGBTQ characters on television has declined from 3.9% of the television character population to 2.9%. Conversely, the top four publishers in the comic book industry (Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse) has introduced a new queer character every year. Now, more than ever, the LGBTQ community is visible–characters and creators–in an industry that has a history of either refusing to acknowledge its existence, or creating intentionally offensive caricatures. Que Extraño!

Unfortunately, comic books further emulate television and cinema as many seem satisfied with simply recognizing the LGBTQ community and the existence of non-heteronormative relationships without any regard for the totality of a character’s sexuality; the result of which is a message of limitation masked as liberation. In short, “you can be gay, just don’t show it.”

Despite the growing number of queer characters in comics, there are still very few instances in which they are shown exhibiting the romantic and sexual aspects of their identity. One would be hard pressed to find many comic that shows gay couples holding hands, embracing, kissing, or having sex–unless those couples consist of two attractive lesbians, a cliche image used to entertain a heterosexual male readership rather than liberate a stifled community. Meanwhile, Superman gets to kiss Lois Lane, Batman gets to embrace Catwoman, and Cyclops gets to sleep with Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor, Emma Frost, or whoever he’s lusting after nowadays.

The queer characters are denied a significant part of their identity, forcing them to be asexual, and stripping them of a significant amount of power as symbols that challenge a constructed normalcy. With such an important aspect of their identity deemed off limits, LGBTQ creators characters and creators rely on a different strategy to ensure their community is recognized; sadly, the strategy results in stereotypical one-dimensional characters.

LGBTQ characters in comics tend to look and read the same, as most of these characters are young, skinny, white, and male. Admittedly, this one-dimensional approach has its merits. The uniformity in depiction allows for quicker recognition. However, the lack of diverse depictions leads to a dangerous exclusivity with regard to who is and “looks” gay. The danger of using a slim white male as the standard representation of the LGBTQ community is that is fosters the development of problematic associations between what is means to be queer and the male gender, slim body type, and white skin. This one-sided depiction begs the question, “who will speak for the full figured lesbian woman of color?”

It is hard to blame creators for using this strategy, especially when the priority is to be seen and heard. But what happens when the desire to be acknowledged conflicts with a desire for acceptance and equality? For comic book characters of color, the issue moves from wanting to be noticed, to what should be noticed first?