Yes, Virginia, there are gays in comics. From the DADT-esque story of Batwoman to that ragingly queer Spandex thing, homos are all over illustrated page. But what about newspaper comics? Back in 2006 L. Brent Bozell III, the conservative founder of the Media Research Center and son of this human treasure, was complaining aloud how comics were leaving behind their moral stature for terrible things like “diversity,” creating gay comic book heroes (and Asian and Mexican ones, too!). But what Bozell neglected to mention is that gays have been part of comics for decades. Sometimes as the victim of gay bashings!
“Like most professional moralists,” opines Jeet Heer, “Bozell has no real sense of history: he’s a traditionalist with no grounding in the past. If Bozell knew anything about earlier times, he would realize that gays have been portrayed in comics for decades, not just in comic books but even in comic strips that ran in family newspapers.”
Like the one above, of Mickey Mouse giving a wallop to a fey baker’s boy in a 1931 strip. Or Gasoline Alley‘s 1930 comic where all interior decorators are ‘mos.
It’s not that gay characters are new to comics. It’s that positive representations of gay characters are new to them. Same goes for black characters, Mexican characters, Indian characters, …
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
(More stereotype examples here.)
terrwill
I make a motion that we allow one exception to the
“no ginger bashing” rule: Brent Bozo-ell is one ginger
bastard that has been achin for a beatin’ for a long time…
Malaz
Yes, but seriously, there are a ton of gay comix these days;
check out,
http://www.complex.com/blogs/2008/11/13/the-history-of-gay-comic-book-superheroes/2/
And that’s not all.
Malaz
Baldur Magazine
chris
They left out hulking and wiccan in that list!
mojojojo
I never knew Mickey was such a rat!