Major DC character to be gay: who cares?

DC announced on the weekend that a major male character, previously heterosexual, will be reintroduced to the new DC 52 as gay.

And they are about to reintroduce a previously existing DC character who was previously straight and now will be “one of our most prominent gay characters.”

As Senior VP Sales Bob Wayne explained, just like the President of the United States, the co-publisher’s policy on this “has evolved.”

This has been all over the news sites, including ABC, FOX, New York Post and The Daily Mail, plus the usual suspects of comic sites. I liked Robot 6’s coverage the best.

Maybe I’m naive but does this kind of change actually matter to comic book readers? Yes it made a great amount of noise after the announcement but will it actually create a long term impact?

Northstar was the first openly gay superhero and in the twenty or so years it hasn’t affected many characters. As I say this Marvel has announced Northstar is getting married so they’re riding the coat tails of DC’s announcement. Nice.

Does a superheroe’s sexual orientation change things? Notice I asked “superhero” since the goal of these comics seems to be beating up superpowered bad guys, rinse and repeat. Ideally all ages superhero comics wouldn’t contain any sexual orientation at all.

Scott VanderPloeg
Scott VanderPloeg

Scott works in I.T. but lives to eat and read. His other ramblings can be found at AE Index and eBabble. Art collection at Comic Art Fans.

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Justin Mohareb
11 years ago

Well, in terms fo spotlight nabbing, Marvel has been planning the Northstar SSM for a few months now.

And, yes, this matters. Making a significant character a minority always matters.

Anthony O'Neill
11 years ago

I’m thinking it’s Plastic Man

Leigh Hart
11 years ago

It is defiantly shining the light on a Northstar that wasn’t there before. And, with all the attention that Archie comics received after their gay character was announced, I don’t think it is going to hurt DC’s sales to have Northstar marry a man.

Plus, I think it sends a good message.
It just sucks that it only seems to be happening as a marketing ploy.

Maria
Maria
11 years ago

This matters a lot and I seriously doubt that it will hurt DC’s sales. On the contrary I agree with Leigh Hart that it may even attract more comic book readers at least for a couple of issues. This is an important change to show people some diversity in comics and so they can relate to the real world in some ways. I think this is a good change.

Ed Dee
Ed Dee
11 years ago

With the exception of Jonah Hex and St. Rock , I thought most of the DC universe was already gay?

Chris Howard
11 years ago

Malibu Stacey has a new hat!

Laura
Laura
11 years ago

I think what’s really great is that there have been a lot of responses of ‘who cares’ on the web. Maybe people are starting to realize on a wide scale that sexual orientation does not interfere with how well you can do anything else.

Laura
Laura
11 years ago
Reply to  Chris Howard

Don’t ask me, I’m just a girl!

Laura
Laura
11 years ago

No, I got it Scott, but I can’t help myself with classic Simpsons quotes. It is the curse of being able to comment on anything.

Ed Campbell
11 years ago

Remember back in the 90’s when Ellen Degeneres came out of the closet. It killed her TV show at the time.

Now she is one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.

As a mainstream society we are more accepting of homosexuality and gay culture.

There are those who are still opposed, but I feel it is more acceptable among the general public.