Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Dan Parent, Daniel Ketchum, greg pak, LGBTQ, marjorie lui

NYCC Talks LGBTQ In Comics With Parent, Liu, Bernatovech, Pak And Ketchum

Published Fri, 11 Oct 2013 14:15:37 -0500

Joe Glass writes for Bleeding Cool:

Yesterday saw one of the most fun, lively and entertaining panels of NYCC Day 1, in the form of a discussion of the representation, presentation and future of LGBTQ and allied characters in comics.

We started off with a fun YouTube video arranged by Geeks OUT, where LGBTQ fans, including YouTube's own Gay Comic Geek, discussed their favourite openly LGBTQ characters. Characters ranged from the expected, like Batwoman, Rictor, Northstar, Wiccan and Hulkling, to the somewhat more erotic Naked Justice from Class Comics, and the humorous addition of Jughead from Archie Comics.

Lead by an editor of NY Times Out, the panel was filled out by Dan Parent, Marjorie Liu, Rich Bernatovech, Greg Pak and Daniel Ketchum.

We strolled one by one through the varied group as they touched on some of their work and characters.

Dan Parent discussed the recent story in Kevin Keller #10 that came from their real world confrontation with One Million Moms. Parent says he tries not to just go for the controversial stories, and that the stories end of the day still revolve around Archie in some way, but he did feel uncomfortable with any involvement in a Russian leg to the Archie world tour happening in the comics now. And hey, if One Million Moms want to keep boycotting his comics, it's great…it actually leads to their best sales. And heartwarmingly, the most mail he gets is from parents who are so happy about the inclusion of a gay character, as it opens the conversation with their kids.

Marjorie Liu loved the fortunate but unexpected reflection of the controversial DOMA law being ditched while she was writing an arc of Astonishing X-Men detailing the immigration issues that married couple Northstar and Kyle Jinadu faced. She also mentioned how she desperately wanted to give Karma a girlfriend, but sadly she just never got around to doing it before her run ended.

She was asked if at any time she wanted to use the 'maybe' card with any character couplings, and she stated that when she saw art for a scene of Jubilee (now a vampire) leaning in to bite X-23, she was SO all over that. I think we all were. And she loved shaking up old tropes in female representation by having Daken flirt, unwantedly, with Bullseye.

In fact, many of the creators mentioned being tired of seeing the same old tropes in comics, especially with women and LGBTQ characters. Though Greg Pak did admit that maybe one day he would want to write an LGBTQ character who was in an unhappy relationship or mentally unstable, as it does exist.

In fact, Pak got such a huge reaction to the relationship of alternate reality Hercules and James Howlett (Wolverine) in X-Treme X-Men, and was so thankful for it, and he faced no difference in reaction to when it was just mentioned than when it was actually shown on panel in a manly-ass kiss. He never felt he was doing anything revolutionary with his gay characters, he just felt they deserved to fall in love. As he says, "That experience of seeing someone like you in a book when you don't expect it is still surprising and delightful."

Daniel Ketchum, an editor at Marvel, expressed how wonderful it is that things have changed even in his time at the company. Seven years ago, if you wanted to make a characters sexuality different to what was assumed (i.e. straight), it would normally have to run up the entire food chain to the head honcho to be given the go ahead. But with Prodigy in Young Avengers, it was pitched and immediately given the go ahead.

He also admitted what many had assumed to be the case, when discussing if there's any difference between showing adult gay couples at Marvel to teen ones, and admitted at one time there was an editorial edict that Wiccan and Hulkling could not kiss on panel. Obviously, and thankfully, this has now changed, and teen gay kissy face is most welcome, especially among readers like us.

He was also asked if there were any trans characters at Marvel, given DC's big announcement that they had the first trans character in comics in Batgirl. Whilst Ketchum did get stumped, though admitted many characters have had gender swap storylines from time to time, fans at the panel pointed out a load of obvious ones that predate DC's character, including Xavin from Runaways. Ketchum did speculate on how it is interesting that Danger chose a female form when she became self-aware, even though technically she's a room and so has no gender.

The panel as a whole was then asked what they're view was on the controversial DC decision to not allow Batwoman and her lover to marry, and that all marriages are nixed by editorial edict at DC. This led to a heated discussion, though it seemed that everyone, panel and fans alike, came down on one side of the argument: as Marjorie Liu stated, "It's lazy storytelling." which led to massive applause.

"It's [marriage] not a happy ending, it's just another step on the journey. Everything's too simple then [with marriage not an option], the complexity is completely taken out"

Bernatovech felt that DC alienated a lot of readers with the New 52 as a whole, and that the marriage debate alienated more, and no one on the panel agreed that a superhero needs to be miserable, or DC's decision as a whole, though Greg Pak (who of course also works at DC) did point out that if you did do it, and a character was 'too happy' it'd soon get turned over.

He pointed out when creating Amadeus Cho at Marvel and making him Asian American, that he was concerned he'd be derided for a stereotypical character by making him a techie genius, a common Hollywood trope. But he 'went for it' and made him feel 'real', and he applies the same thinking to LGBTQ characters. As he says,

"No one character should have to have to sustain the hopes and dreams of a group." In Pak's mind, there should be TONS of diverse characters to aid diversity and represent everyone.

Opening to the fans, the first question was what character pairing would the writers like to see?

Greg Pak stated Hercules and Howlett were his, but later recanted that there's actually a lot of Lord of the Rings characters he'd love to pair up. Liu would have loved to have seen Daken and Johnny Storm get it on, and Parent was all about Legion of Superhero pairing, like maybe Lightning Lad and Element Boy.

Asked about the relative lack of representation of asexuals in comics, and their mistreatment when they do appear, Bernatovech agreed that most are used as comic relief and it's unfair and should be addressed. Dan Parent pointed out that Jughead is kinda asexual, which was a pretty good one.

Pak also admitted that he would have some diversity stuff coming up in Superman/Batman, which many were looking forward too, if sadly not an actual hook up of Supes and Bats themselves.

And that was a wrap, but the guys stayed behind to talk to many of the fans, who were a good and motivated group of people, and led to the most laid back but fun panels of the day.

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