Jun 25, 2021
Just for Iceman's "Early Thaw" story, with Magneto, by Anthony Oliveira, Javier Garron, David Curiel, & Ariana Maher. Absolutely LOVED IT, SO MEANINGFUL & TOUCHING!! An early (and ongoing?), SECRET *ret*connection to the Master of Magnetism, is the best Bobby Drake development in the new era. Erik singling out & showing special interest in him, is nothing short of long held fan wish fulfillment, for me. I want, no NEED... more, More, MORE!!!
Nov 07, 2021
You know the drill: It's a big collection of strips united by a shared minority demographic, in this case, all the queer sexualities. These anthologies are never essential, but this one is a hell of a lot of fun (unless you're a homophobe). There's a lot of good art, thoughtful writing, sharp characterization, and best of all, terrific humor. Not every story is great or even good, but the good ones really slap.
My subjective opinion is that this becomes a must-read if you stan one or more of these characters/couples: Charlene McGowan, Nico & Karolina, Prodigy, and Mystique & Destiny. And again subjectively, I believe the very best strip is the flashback one that matches closeted Bobby Drake with Magneto (not that way). It's beautifully d
rawn, it's hilarious, it's heartwarming; what more could I ask for?
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Jun 29, 2021
I'm so glad less people stuck around for Marvel's attempt at a Pride anthology. It means I don't have to make quite so long a review this time. Blah blah blah *insert sexuality here* blah blah.
"Introduction" by Luciano Vecchio and Mike O'Sullivan is probably one of my favorite stories from this anthology because I think it shows why I like Marvel as much as I do. I do not think you could get so much out of DC's history the way you can with Marvel's, and I think that's part of why Marvel can be so much more relatable.
"The Vows" by Allan Heinberg is cute. I like Wiccan and Hulkling as a couple and their vows are cute. That's all.
"Under the Stars" by Mariko Tamaki is alright. I feel like it doesn't really get itself across that wel
l, but it's not terrible.
"Something New Every Day" by Lilah Sturges is odd. I feel like they couldn't decide whether to be super respectful to trans people or say whatever trans-related witticism they could come up with to fit the situation. Which is why they have characters say it, and then point out how it's kind of not cool. Or like pointing out how trans people don't know each other but then they totally do. It is neat how it mirrors Dr. Charlene McGowan's origin from Immortal Hulk #31, at least.
"When a Black Cat Crosses Your Path, You Give Them the Right-Of-Way" by Leah Williams kind of falls into the trap of being a story that could exist in any anthology and it wouldn't really matter. But I live for it because people have decided to die on the "Black Cat is not Bisexual" hill, which is totally normal and not a sign of any bigotry.
"Totally Invulnerable" by Crystal Frasier is one of my favorites of the anthology because I feel like it does a lot to humanize trans people, which is something that the DC anthology didn't even attempt, and they're an important part of the queer community that have been the target of so much bullshit lately.
"Colossus" by Kieron Gillen is probably my favorite story in the anthology. I think it has a great message of being open-minded and being willing to see new perspectives. Like I mentioned above, we need to humanize queer people, because society is constantly otherizing them, and the best way to do that is to be open to their experiences and their perspectives. We've seen very famous homophobes change their tune when someone in the family turns out gay, for instance. And I know this story is more about David coming to terms with his bisexuality, and that's important too, but I think this story, intentionally or not, tapped into something really great here.
"Good Judy" by Terry Blas is okay. I mean, the message is good, but I really think it's hindered by some of the dialogue. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about that tongue" shouldn't be something people say, in my opinion. But maybe Daken is beyond people.
"Early Thaw" by Anthony Oliveira is a really good story. I really like how it's an overt tie between mutantdom and gayness. I like the idea that Magneto, even at his worst, was willing to comfort someone who emotionally distraught over who they are. Good job.
"The Man I know" by J.J. Kirby is.. fine. I really don't like how sinewy and muscular the art is here and that's really the only thing I can say about this one.
"The Grey Ladies" by Tini Howard is really good. I am a Mystique/Destiny stan, I can't help it.
"You Deserve" by Vita Ayala is a cute little story about someone finally realizing they deserve some happiness, which I think will hit home with some queer people who find themselves filled with self-hatred and guilt over who they are, which is unfortunately very common.
"Man of His Dreams" by Steve Orlando is really weird. I have a feeling this man will not abandon his family who thinks he died for Krakoa no matter how much Daken and he shared in a lifetime dream once.
"Love is Love" by Jacopo Camagni is a nice piece of art, I wish there were more characters in it though.
The Alpha Flight excerpt that shows the first openly gay hero come out is not bad. It's just very dated, and I've never been a fan of Scott Lobdell.
Now for the complaints from the bad people who I feel like have some personal problems to work out:
This is more reserved for the people who I feel like genuinely have homophobic attitudes, or generally are against progressivism and have outted themselves to be terrible.
Briton was pretty much disregarded in my review for DC Pride, but luckily, he’s just as dumb over this issue. He says, “The comics industry continues to cut its own throat by backing identity politics. Very few people will actually buy this comic. The print run will be shipped out to schools to poison and confuse children.â€
So, one, the comics industry isn’t dying. If you look at the numbers - just released in easy-to-read graphs just today actually – the comics industry is on an upswing. Doing better than it has in a long time. Also, I’m not aware of any concerted effort by Marvel to put this issue in schools. Comic books cannot poison, silly. They are made of perfectly safe materials. And what’s confusing here? It’s just a collection of stories about characters that are queer. Kids know what that is. If anything, this clears it up for them! Maybe Merlyn’s comment can clear it up for me.
Merlyn commented, “I'm all for tolerance and acceptance but indoctrinating children... yeah, that doesn't fly well with me, sorry.â€
Hmm, I’m still not sure what this means. This is literally just an anthology of stories of people being okay with who they are. There’s no indoctrination in this comic, unless you consider any material representing queer people in a positive light as a form of indoctrination. Which would be super fucked up, huh? The only reason one would think that is if they were homophobic. Indoctrination of children usually involves fear, like say when a Christian church tells them they will burn in a lake of fire for all eternity unless they accept the almighty.
But let’s not take Merlyn seriously, you guys. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about and is severely stubborn. I actually happened to see him commenting on a Newsarama article and I clicked on his disqus account, and man, he is complaining about this issue on other websites too. I’ll go over it now!
“Since when was Union Jack gay? Are we just making stuff up now?
Oh, and Black Cat still isn't bi, sorry, she's always been straight, regardless of how much Marvel and crazies online want us to think otherwise.
And why are Captain Marvel and War Machine in the "Love is love" splash page with all the other LGBT characters? Oh wait, the feminist and the black guy have to be there too, of course. :))
Also, the amount of flags out there is ridiculous, one, maybe two was more than enough, it's not like we're talking about nations here.â€
So, Union Jack was made officially gay in the Citizen V miniseries by Fabian Nicieza in 2002. Nicieza did this after noting apparent subtext in the original Invaders run, specifically Invaders #34 from 1978.
Black Cat is bisexual and has been since Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1, published in 2002. This was later hinted at in Jed MacKay’s Black Cat run, and then outright stated. And now she’s appearing in Pride anthologies. The horror. Guess who owns the character? Marvel. Guess who has the say of what a character is and isn’t? The owner. She’s bisexual. Get over it, you weirdo.
Captain Marvel and War Machine are not in there because one’s a feminist and one’s black. Thanks for the glimpse into how your mind works. Love is love, Merlyn. Even heterosexual love. That’s why they’re there. I don’t know why you’d be so heterophobic like that. Openly, too!
There are an appropriate number of flags. There are flags to represent each letter of the alphabet people. Like, what would be an actual unnecessary number of flags would be, like, what you see at a Donald Trump rally. You know? Flags upon flags upon flags, just like they did at Nazi rallies. I think we can all agree that that is way worse than like 12 flags spread out over a massive crowd of people.
So, there you go. I feel like Marvel did a better job at this than DC. I feel like it was more representative of queer people, and that Marvel is definitely multiple steps ahead of DC in this regard. But hey, DC is trying. more
