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alpha flight (marvel)
character: Northstar
comment: Confirmed Gay
details: Jean-Paul Beaubier, one of the core team
members from the original series was officially outed in issue #105/#106 by then writer
of the series Scott Lobdell.
However, the character was writen as homosexual from issue #7 by the original writer
of the series John Byrne in a subtle way. The immediate successor to Byrne was far
from this: he had Northstar fawning over Sasquatch and crying when the character
changed sex (see below), and also gave Northstar AIDS -
though never mentioned as such, the nature of the disease was fairly evident. This
heavy handedness progressed until Northstar was turned into a "fairy". That was promptly
dropped, his AIDS never showed again, and it wasn't until the arrival of Lobdell that the
character's sexual orientation started to become evident again.
According to Lobdell, "...Essentially the outing of Northstar came about because
Bobbie Chase (who I miss!) was the editor at the time and as a stickler for
schedule, she wanted an inventory story in the draw, just in case. I pitched her five
story ideas and one of them was Northstar coming out of the closet.
In my pitch at the time, I essentially said the problem with writing Northstar is that
he has always been pretty much and asshole - rude to people, always angry with the world.
Now, this may or may not get me in a world of trouble, but my feeling was "Yeah, I guess I
would be angry at the world too if I was spending all my time saving it and yet I feel I
couldn't be myself because people wouldn't accept me. And people that I'm saving to boot?!
Grrrr!" So I felt the way to start to bring Jean Paul away from his angry young man mode
was to let him be himself... let him tell the world 'this is who I am, deal with it.'
"My goal was, once this story was written and published, was to start to bring him
around... make him happier in his own skin. (We can actually see the start of this is the
issue before that issue when he humiliates the gay bashers at Box's bachelor
party...) It would have taken some time, but the outing of Northstar would have had a
profound effect on the character and his interactions with others.
"So any way, the story was written and then Bobbie started the MIDNIGHT SON'S
universe... which meant she had no time to edit ALPHA FLIGHT. As she was leaving, she
wanted to burn off the inventory story before she left and so it was scheduled - and no
one really gave it a second thought (Not me, not Bobbie, not Tom DeFalco, not
Gruenwald... no one) until the issue was published and the media frenzy started.
"When the new editor came on, he had very definite and conflicting ideas as to where
he wanted to go with the book. (I had shrunk the team to what I felt was a managable 5, he
wanted it back at its 13 membership, etc. etc. etc...) As was his right, he booted me.
As it turned out, he booted me the week that AF hit the stands... and believe me, that was
the last thing anyone at MARVEL would have liked to have happened at the time because it
appeared to be 'punishment' for outing Northstar."
Northstar's creator, John Byrne, was once asked in a chat if he intended for
his character to be gay. John said that he was always supposed to be gay, but he was
never supposed to come out of the closet.
And from Alpha Flight #41 - Aurora to Northstar: Since when do *you*
object to having attractively-dressed men about, my brother?
character: Sasquatch
comment: Involuntary Transgenderism (Temporary)
details: Sasquatch spent some time as a male mind in a
female body, and was still attracted to women during this time. However, there is no
evidence that this desire was acted upon.
anima (dc)
character: Liz
comment: Confirmed Lesbian
details: Anima was a character spawned by DC's "Blood
Lines" crossover event in the mid 90s where invading aliens inadvertently activated the
metahuman gene of some of their victims by not completely sucking their lifeforce. She
shortly thereafter saved a group of clubbers from getting raped. These women - one of
whom, Liz, was a lesbian - then became her supporting cast. She later discoverd her
powers were actually metaphysical rather than genetic, and her series was cancelled after
about 12 issues.
authority, the (dc)
character: Apollo & Midnighter
comment: Xena-like subtext preceding actual outing
details: Apollo and The Midnighter are two of
the most dangerous individuals in the WILDSTORM universe, created as homages to
Superman and Batman respectively. They had both made comments as to the fact
that they have been partners for several years, but the term partner took a whole new
meaning in issue #8, following a rather Xena-ish leadup. There are several scenes of them
holding one another, snuggling, nuzzling and one character comments "get a room you two"
after they embrace.
It was confirmed in an interview with their creator Warren Ellis, that the two
were gay, and he didn't see any big deal with it.
A plotline following Ellis' departure from the book continued this by pretty much
making the two into gay posterboys for their comics universe.
aztek (dc)
character: Heatsnap
comment: Hermaphrodite?
details: Coldsnap and Heatwave, a man and a
woman, were fused into one body as the villain Heatsnap.
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