Posted in: Comics, Conventions, Events, IDW, Marvel Comics, Pop Culture, san diego comic con, X-Men | Tagged: chris ryall, Heather Antos, john byrne, lqbtq, pride, san diego, sdcc

Heather Antos, John Byrne, X-Men, Star Trek, Marvel, Abrams, And IDW

With the upcoming release of John Byrne's X-Men: Elsewhen, Heather Antos has drawn attention to Byrne's questionable track record regarding LGBTQIA+ issues.

Last week, comic book creator John Byrne was interviewed by Borys Kit for The Hollywood Reporter as a result of Abrams' publication of X-Men: Elsewhen, courtesy of Marvel Comics. This was originally fanfiction written and drawn by Byrne and posted on his message board several years ago, with the conceit that these are the X-Men stories he would have written and drawn after he left the title in the early eighties, before X-Men would become the media franchise it is now, including his own preferred origin of Wolverine, a character he did much to popularise. Arranged with Marvel EIC C.B. Cebulski and former EIC of IDW Publishing Chris Ryall, who published a number of Byrne comics at IDW, including Next Men, High Ways, and Star Trek, the first volume of X-Men: Elsewhen has sold out of its 25,000 print run and has received a second printing from Abrams.

In the wake of that news, current IDW Publishing Senior Group Editor, Licensing, working on Star Trek, Mattel, IDW Dark, and IDW Crime titles, Heather Antos posted on social media, "During PRIDE MONTH. REALLY, MARVEL?! Do not buy this comic." When asked for details, she added, "John Byrne is a transphobe and has been spewing transphobic ideology for decades. Him writing the X-Men (known for being specifically iconic characters to the LGBTQIA+ community) — and rewriting them in his own "elseworlds" universe — and releasing it during PRIDE is especially infuriating."

Over the decades, I have covered a number of Byrne's pronouncements on a variety of controversial subjects, some of which he himself has made controversial. He created an early gay superhero character, Gay Guy, while at the Alberta College of Art. He later noted of the earliest work using the character, "We were all greatly enamored of the deliberately outrageous (and often tasteless) humor to be found in THE NATIONAL LAMPOON, and this was my shot at such." The character then appeared in a brief superhero parody strip in the student newspaper The Emery Weal in 1971. He also created Northstar, for X-Men and Alpha Flight in 1979, which would go on to become one of the more mainstream gay superheroes. However, it would not be stated in print until 1992. Maggie Sawyer, a prominent gay DC Comics character who first appeared in Superman (Volume 2) #3 (1987), was also created by Byrne.

When asked by a still-sceptical fanbase in 2007, "Why does homosexuality need to be in comics?" he replied, "There needs to be Gays in comics because there are Gays in real life. No other reason. Same reason, in fact, that there are Blacks in comics. Asians in comics. Women and children in comics! The population of the fictional world should represent the real world. That's why I created Northstar — I felt the Marvel Universe needed a Gay superhero (even if I would never be allowed to say it in so many words in the comics themselves), and I felt that I should create one, rather than retrofitting an existing character." And when asked how many gay superheroes exist, he replied: "Somewhere between 6 and 10%." One might consider this a relatively enlightened point of view for a man of his age at that time, especially in the context of his intentions in the early eighties.

But in 2015, on the same message board, Byrne expressed confusion about Caitlyn Jenner, "I consider myself a pretty worldly guy. Not much surprises me. But I just read that "Caitlyn" is foregoing the, ah, unkindest cut of all. (She's keeping his penis.) So… 'splain this one to me. How does this make "her" something other/more than a man in drag? Seriously! Enquiring minds want to know!"

Given his previous discussion, his own message board may not have been the best place to do this, but some, such as the creator of TV series Eli Stone, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, Marc Guggenheim, did have a go, though most play into Byrne's preconceived attitudes. Byrne would go on to 'ask questions' like "How does one 'live as a woman'?" and struggle to understand the concept of being 'trapped in the wrong body.'

He also brought up the nature of biology in his 'questions' which inevitably ended with Byrne wondering if being "transgender" was a mental illness. And then asks his big question, and the one that understandably gets quoted a lot. "A REALLY hard question, then: Many people are tortured and driven by a desire to have sex with children. Our society frowns on this, and such people are considered mentally ill. We do not accommodate them, we do not respect them. How is being "transgender" different? Given all the twists and turns that have happened in our general understanding of how the brain and mind work — still a work in progress — how difficult is it to imagine a future in which it will be determined without doubt that "transgender" is, indeed, a mental illness? How will we feel about all those people who, instead of actually helping them, we encouraged in a program of self-mutilation? This is a long, long road, and so far we have taken barely a single step upon it. (Christine Jorgenson was half a century ago. How much has changed?)"

Which, of course, is the exact same kind of question that people asked about gay people, back when Byrne was creating Northstar and Maggie Sawyer. And that some people are starting to ask again. Of course, Byrne had already answered his own question when he said "Consenting Adults". Eventually, Byrne closed that thread and has not addressed those specific comments since.

Since those more famous comments, the topic has come up a few times on Byrne's message board, which has been less widely reported. In 2020, he posted, "The argument is based on what the individual FEELS, independent of chromosomes. If the body is male, but the individual FEELS female, that is what has to be addressed", and in response to an argument made to him that no animals feel that way, "That statement is invalid without telepathy." And then "As I have said before, even as society drags itself into a new century, there is still insistence that there are only two boxes on the form, [M] and [F]. So, if someone feels "uncomfortable" with the body they were born in, they have little in the way of choice. The notion of gender as a "spectrum" is catching on, but it has a long way to go. Which is one of the reasons the suicide rate is disproportionately high in the transgender community."

In 2023, he stated, "Tennessee and other states want to make drag shows illegal. This has the earmarks of so many anti-Gay campaigns: fear. So many people who identify as straight seem terrified that anything remotely Gay might be somehow contagious. That they might "catch" it. They tell us more about themselves than about drag performers (Yes, I am aware that drag does not automatically equal Gay.)" And when fellow comic book creator Jenny Isabella came out as trans last year, the board certainly seemed to have moved on, judging by the comments that followed. Byrne said, "I do not envy Tony what lies ahead".

But all of this is the context in which Antos made her initial comments last week. Antos rose to prominence in comic books, editing Marvel Comics' Star Wars line from its launch in 2015 to huge success. which also introduced several LGBTQIA+ characters to the Star Wars universe, including Dr. Aphra. She was also the target of vitriol from certain parts of the fanbase after a photo of her and other female Marvel Comics editors went viral for having her own political opinions and daring to go out for a milkshake together.

She is currently the Senior Group Editor for Licensing at IDW Publishing, including the Star Trek and Paramount line, IDW Crime, and IDW Dark divisions, which were specifically credited in recent financial reports for turning around the fortune of the publisher. From losing millions of dollars a year to first breaking even and now returning to profit, despite repeated attacks from the remnants of that aggrieved fanbase. It cannot be expressed more clearly than the sentence "Heather Antos has saved IDW Publishing."

However, it is also notable that the X-Men project she objects to was arranged by former IDW EIC Chris Ryall, who hired Byrne for IDW. And that IDW is also currently publishing old comic books by Byrne, including his Star Trek work, with a new volume out in October. But Antos has chosen not to publicly target her own publisher or name her employer's former boss. It is very likely that she cannot openly disparage her own employer in the way she can her former employer. But it does open her up to charges of inconsistency in such a matter.

I asked Antos what made the Marvel book different from an IDW book doing the same thing. "I never said it was. People can spend their money supporting whatever books they choose. I choose not to spend mine on John Byrne books. I can only hope people educate and make the best decisions for themselves".

And as to the upcoming Star Trek John Byrne collection at IDW, "Not a book I edited, however. Nor do I edit the back catalog. But also I do understand not everyone is aware of his past. They are not responsible for his actions if they choose to support the books. We can and must always do better."

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