Noble and tortured, heroic and heartrending—Alan Moore, creator of the comics-classic Watchmen , serves up his gay characters in vivid, true-to-life colors. From spectral lesbians to bisexual occultists, here are some of his very best gay creations.
| The Comic | The Hero | |
 Hooded Justice |
Watchmen | In the world of everyday superheroes, Hooded Justice was the first masked man to burst on the scene. Forthright and noble—he saved his teammate, Silk Spectre I, from a brutal rape by their teammate, the Comedian—Hooded Justice was secretly gay. Forced by the House Un-American Committee to unmask, Justice disappeared and was rumored to have been murdered by the Comedian. |
 Silhouette |
Watchmen | Openly living with her older lover in the 1930s, Silhouette brazenly and bravely lived her life freely. Forced by her teammates to leave the superteam, The Minutemen, Silhouette was later killed along with her lover by a crazed villain seeking revenge. |
 John Constantine |
Hellblazer | Half-way between an occult detective and a magical con man, Constantine has had his blood demonically tainted and soul claimed by Satan. But despite all that, he still finds time to schtupp any gender he comes across. Best to ignore the Keanu movie and just picture a more debauched Sting from his Police days. |
 Mina Murray |
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Also known to fans of Dracula by her former married name of Mina Harker, Murray served the crown with other literary heroes, including Captain Nemo and the Invisible Man. Usually in the company of fellow adventurer Allan Quatermain , the bisexual Miss Murray and Quatermain had an erotic romp with Fanny Hill. |
 Jack Phantom |
Top Ten | A lesbian police detective with the power to turn intangible, Jack is one of the most popular characters in the Top Ten universe. Formerly paired with an evangelical born-again, Jack now works with her lover, Panthalassa, an amphibious mermaid. |
For more gay Watchmen fun, be sure to check out our story on Alan Moore's influence on gay comics storytelling.
Dixon T. Gaines is a writer and editor formerly based in New York who now finds himself in Los Angeles.
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Don't forget one of his greatest creations "Lost Girls" starring Alice ("Alice in Wonderland"), "Dorothy ("Wizard of OZ"), and Wendy ("Peter Pan")
I have collected Hellblazer for quite some time. I know in the early days this aspect of his character was used, but not in recent years.
Oh- and John Constantine is an anti-hero, not a hero.
Not really a sterling body of gay characters, is it? Three of those characters are very minor; Mina's bisexuality is barely evident; and Constantine's bisexuality was established by other writers. I think Moore's Mirror of Love is an exceptionally beautiful work, and I recognise that he's a 'fellow traveller', but he hasn't been much of a trailblazer when it comes to incorporating gay characters into his work, apart from the occasional titillating lesbian, like the Lost Girls or Cobweb.
You forgot Hooded Justice's partner…Captain Metropolis. The two were secret lovers. It's mentioned using their initials in a letter at the end of one of the issues of Watchmen.
Hooded Justice used to support the Third Reich, and Metropolis said racist things about blacks and latinos. I bet they got along fine.
Although he's only a supporting character in Top 10, the revelation that Captain Steve Traynor is gay and in a stable, loving longterm relationship with an (older man) serves as a counterpoint/coda to a case the Top 10 staff deal with in the second volume. The obvious problem, and possibly why he was excluded from this list, is that although respected by his peers, he remains in the closet to them.
However, Steve Traynor is a major character in the Top 10 prequel, The 49ers, which details his arrival, as a teen, in the superhero city and his subsequent sexual awakening. If taken without the knowledge that he will live a partially closeted life for the next 35 years, his "origin" story ends on an optimistic and hopeful note and is well worth reading.
I was under the impression that, despite his use of gay and lesbian characters, AM was well known to be particularly friendly to the gay community.
@Spherical Time: "despite"? I'm confused.
Don't forget the tolerant message of "V for Vendetta." Great comic book, great artist.