This past week was a bonanza for gays and lesbians in comics. Much less so for bisexuals, and neither the cliched hide nor hair was seen of any transgender characters in comics. By my count, by which I mean of the comics I bought and read since last Wednesday there were six comics! There’d have been seven if Rictor or Shatterstar had appeared in X-Factor, but no. Peter David’s story was all about Pip. Pip the Troll, so it was a good week for trolls in comics, especially if you’re looking for tips on how to pick up women despite (or because of your looks. Oops! Thanks to Steven L, there’s an addition with Storm Dogs #1 from Image. According to Steven, one of the crewmen is gay and is shown talking to his boyfriend before going on a mission. So this makes for seven comics with LGBT characters in one week!
Green Lantern (no, not Hal. Allan.) gets his mad on after nearly (for the story’s sake) being manipulated by the Grey and nearly seduced by the memories of Sam’s life and presence. Any lingering hope that Same was somehow still alive should be dashed the turn of events in Earth Two #6. Even the resurrection of Sam as a villain or a new wonder taking up the name Obsidian (thank you, Maxine!) would provide interesting ground for future plot developments, but it looks like dead is dead in the New 52. I doubt Allan will remain neutered, I mean single, for long, and now that I think about it, Robinson killed off David Knight very early as an unexpected move before passing the mantle on to brother Jack in the Starman series, and that title was — is — one of my favorites.
Post elimination of magic in the Buffy-verse the world is a little less wonderful in some less subtle ways. Rainbows have only two colors, singers’ voices are flat, and sweet Judas! Coke doesn’t taste the same anymore! So Willow says so long to Buffy for the time being and takes it upon herself to bring magic back into the world. In order to do that she travels to a dimension where it still exists in the hopes of opening a channel. Five minutes after making the jump Willow’s quest gets off to a bumpy start with her fighting a monster-sized, hungry worm creature with fangs and meets an ugly horned cuss of a shaman and then there’s the talking caterpillar. Willow Wonderland is a 5 part mini series written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Brian Ching.
This month sees the final issue of Avengers Academy with #39. Christos Gage’s scripts were consistently enjoyable. I picked this series up about half way through just as Striker was coming out and I found Striker’s spotlight in issue #5 to fill in the gaps of his backstory for me. Gage did an outstanding job of making Julie Power (aka Lightspeed) Striker’s mentor/ confidant. The Academy kids and the Runaways sort of tussled for a two issue story, with the most notable outcome of that misunderstanding being Julie and Karolina Dean agreeing to go on a date. Thankfully that happened in this swan song. Sadly, just a few panels. Striker gets a lot more panel time with Veil helping him to get ready for a date with another teenage boy. Jonathan, the boy, was so impressed with the Avenger in training after watching his “It Gets Better” video that he tracked Striker down to ask him to be his high school prom date. Striker is understandably having trouble coping with the facial scars he recently received. That is until Jonathan and his gentle nature are able to get past Striker’s hard shell, and everything starts to become right with the world. Things are wrapped up and end mostly on high notes. Where will Striker and Julie go now? Gage’s thank you and sign off letter gives not a single clue. Maybe a guest spot in Young Avengers at some point before an extended stay in limbo?
Aunt Johnny Woodall is Terry Moore’s other lesbian character in Rachel Rising. She’s not nearly as glamorous as Katchoo or Francine, but she’s a quirky and caring character in her own right who just happens to be a mortician leading a very private life. Aunt Johnny suffered terrible injuries in a car wreck that was caused by the malevolent spirit who was one of many women murdered after witch accusations were made. She’s malevolent because she was, in fact, a witch and is bent on getting revenge on the town even if a couple hundred or so years have passed. Aunt Johnny just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Johnny looked like she might be a goner till this issue where we see her in the early days of a possibly difficult recovery.
Greg Rucka creates a little twist in Stumptown #3 when he reveals Mim Bracca kept her love life secret after the media turned her life into hell after some family screwups went public. Who’s Mim? She’s the talented guitarist for a band named Tailhook. Private investigator Dex Parios, the bi lead of Stumptown, became involved when she accepted Mim’s case to find her guitar, and there’s always trouble to be found when Parios gets involved. When Dex isn’t getting into and out of trouble she’s caring for her younger brother Ansel who has Downs.
Finally, Midnighter survives the attack by Etrigan the Demon in the unlucky 13th issue. The rest of the Authority become involved, giving writer Peter Milligan a reason to show Engineer becoming more power hungry and barking questionable orders since assuming leadership. Apollo and Midnighter express their mutual concern for each other in a few stolen moments while the rest of the team throws their best at Etrigan. After the fight ends in a stalemate, Engineer shows how, ahem, authoritarian she can be when she prohibits any close personal relationships between members – which only means Apollo and Midnighter. Midnighter’s decision seems out of character to me – and Apollo – but reaction is based on the pre-52 Midnighter’s history. Then again, maybe this is the first step in an extended ploy to stop the Engineer from becoming power mad.
