Old School: Peppermint Patty from Peanuts
Over the years, Peppermint Patty has become an icon in the gay community. Though her character was not written as a lesbian, she embodies many traditionally lesbian characteristics. She plays softball, and is the only female character to wear shorts and sandals. She is the epitome of a tomboy. Her best friend Marcie refers to her as “sir.”
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| (Image from: http://connect.in.com/peppermint-patty/photo-gallery.html) |
Fan art has played a major role in creating what could be called Patty’s “alternate reality” character. Through increased accessibility to global technological mediums, fan art continues to grow in importance in creation of comics culture. The following example shows a breakup scene from a fan-created alternate ending for the comic strip in 2000, after Charles Schultz’s death.
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| (Image from: http://www.tenangrymen.com/peanuts.html) |
One has to wonder, is Peppermint Patty seen as a lesbian due to the continuing lack of LGBT characters in mainstream comics? Have fans created this alternate characterization to fill a gap and create a sense of identification with the comic?
Gay Gunslinger: The Rawhide Kid
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| (Image from: |
The Rawhide Kid has been around since the 1950's, though was not recreated as an openly gay character until 2002. The image above shows the cover of issue #45 of The Rawhide Kid, from 1965. Compare that image to the following image from the second issue of Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather series, published in 2003:
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| (Image from: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=427409&page=26) |
The first image shows a run of the mill cowboy, and looks pretty common for the time it was published. The Rawhide Kid fits right in with the other cowboy heroes of the 1950s and 1960s. A few changes were made for Rawhide Kid’s Slap Leather collection. First, notice the blatant sexual imagery. Guns often are used as a double entendre, but, “boy howdy,” this image really doesn’t leave much to the imagination! Second, the title of the miniseries, “Slap Leather,” carries sexual connotations also. Leather is, in many ways, often associated with the gay male community.
In this next image, several things are apparent that cannot be shown in the close up cover picture. Notice the Rawhide Kid’s clothing- neat, impeccable, and with a stylish bandana tied around his neck. The Kid has good fashion sense and cares to keep his clothes clean, which is certainly not typical trait of Wild West gunslingers. As in the previous image, notice the placement, and in this case, size of the Rawhide Kid’s guns.
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| (Image from: http://tytempletonart.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/the-seven-most-misguided-attempts-at-gay-characters-in-comics/) |
It is important to note that the Rawhide Kid’s creators at Marvel intend him to be gay, though it is never blatantly stated in the comic. There is, however, an element of campy suggestive language throughout the Slap Leather miniseries. The Rawhide Kid is an important character because Westerns are a very all-American genre. Introducing an openly gay title character in a cowboy adventure comic is a big step toward acceptance of homosexuality in the medium of comics.
The Superhero Genre: Northstar, Apollo, and Midnighter
The introduction of gay characters in the superhero genre is especially important because superheroes are looked up to by young readers as role models, and have been for decades. Only since the 1990s have there been any examples of 100% gay, out, and proud superhero characters, and they are still few and far between.
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| (Image from: http://www.insidesocal.com/modernmyth/2008/11/required-reading-gays-in-comic.html) |
One example of a superhero character coming out is Northstar from Alpha Force. Northstar does not take an unobtrusive approach; instead, he announces to the world in a press conference that he’s gay. The following image shows a fictional newspaper headline of an article covering his coming out press conference. Northstar is important to equal rights being shown in comics because of the obvious and unashamed way he announces his sexual orientation.
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| (Image from: http://nyublogt.wordpress.com/author/zinastick/) |
Another very important event in the world of superheroes for the LGBT community is the wedding of Apollo and Midnighter. These DC universe characters are the first gay superheroes to be married. The following image is a picture of their wedding kiss. According to their storyline, the happy couple adopts a child together. Not only do Apollo and Midnighter become the first married gay superhero couple, they are the first to start a family!
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| (Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_comics) |
Below are images of Midnighter and Apollo, in that order. Note Midnighter’s resemblance to Batman, and Apollo’s to Superman. This showcases an interesting contrast within the couple: a dichotomy between light and dark. Though one cannot know for sure, it seems the artists may have been attempting to show an opposites attract type of relationship between Apollo and Midnighter.
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| (Image from: |
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| (Image from: http://www.pinkkryptonite.com/2008/02/lgbt_character_of_the_week_apo.html) |
Don’t Forget the Villain: Hemo-Goblin
Though he appeared only briefly, Hemo-Goblin is certainly worth mentioning in regard to LGBT characters in comics. While it is not certain that he is gay, he is a vampire villain that infects heroes from the New Gaurdians with AIDS. He appeared only in one issue, released in 1988, when AIDS was still thought of as a disease affecting a predominantly gay portion of the population.
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| (Image from: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Hemo-Goblin) |
A couple additional websites used for basic background information on some of the characters:
http://dc.wikia.com
http://marveldirectory.com
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