ASTONISHING X-MEN #48
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art by Mike Perkins
Colors by Andy Troy
Cover by Mike Perkins & Dustin Weaver
Size: 0 pages
Price: 3.99
Apart from Howard Cruse, I have yet to read a gay character in modern comics that hasn’t made me cringe. It says a lot that Chuck Austen was one of the better writers of dialog for Northstar. Better does not equal good.
The idea of Northstar tentatively being the one getting married in issue #50 annoys me, as I’ve been reading X-books for twenty-five years, and have never heard of Kyle. X-wedding events should be reserved for characters the readers know and whose relationships they’ve become invested in. Scott and Jean dated for almost thirty years of comics before they tied the knot. I don’t know how long Peter Parker and Mary Jane were in a relationship before their big day, but I for damn sure knew who she was for years before the wedding issue.
That this issue started with a focus on their relationship worried me. And their dialog didn’t do much to earn my trust in where Liu plans to go with this.
But as the book went on, it got better. The more characters became involved, the more it felt less like Northstar fan fiction, and more like an X-book. It’s not that Liu is a bad writer; it’s that it’s really hard to write gay character dialog in a super hero book that is both believable and acceptably mainstream. For me, she didn’t achieve that in this issue but she’s close. In fact, her gay romantic dialog is probably as accurate as most straight romantic dialog in comics. I’m just prone to be more aware of its quality.
Perkin’s art is ok. There are a few panels with major perspective issues (they have to be pretty major for me to notice them), but he at least draws Wolverine as significantly shorter than his teammates, something most artists seem to forget.
I realize this is a relatively low scored review, but, given the quality of this title since Whedon left, this is actually the most excited I’ve been for this book in several years.
Art: 2 - Average
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In my opinion Matt Fraction really flubbed his chance to do anything with the gay X-characters. His run showed both Northstar and Karma in relationships, but didn’t provide any depth at all to them. It was all showed in terms of almost shock value. Nnot shock value in a negative/scary way but in a way that screamed “Look how modern we are! Gay characters! In relationships! What? You want actual in-depth nuanced dialogue between them? Sorry, you should just be happy that they’re there!”
In terms of gay characters in “modern comics”… does Sandman still count as modern? There were a lot of great gay and bi characters in that. In terms of just “superheroes”, I think Kate Kane is a pretty great character, although I feel her characterization is sometimes a little wonky and inconsistent. It seems like there are good gay characters in Marvel and DC who are just supporting characters. In terms of stars or co-stars of books, I would reference some of the Young Avengers characters but, honestly, as much as I like those characters, I don’t think that their sexuality has really been explored that much. Likewise with some Runaways and Avengers Academy characters–I feel like the gayness is just sort of used as a short-hand badge for a character to wear, when it should be an organic, integral (but not necessarily overpowering) part of the characterization from day one.
It’s almost like a catch-22, though. Because I get the impression that quite a few comics writers want to show gay characters in a positive light. But they’re so intent on just being positive about it that they don’t have any time/space to show much nuance in their relationships, which would make them better characters in the end. It’s getting better, though.
Kyle is indeed an existing character. He was in Alpha Flight and was featured quite prominently.
@Flapjaxx: I think you’re right about Fraction and a lot of modern comic writers. The reason why I liked Wiccan and Hulkling is because they’re characters who are gay and not GAY CHARACTERS. I haven’t read The Children’s Crusade mini, but the previous stories won me over for having their relationship be three dimensional, and for not putting giant pink exclamation points around their sexuality. I feel similarly about Kate Kane and Renee Montoya. I even forget that they’re gay characters most times, which is the way it should be. Really, Rucka and Gaiman (good call on Sandman) write most of their characters fluidly, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they write believable gay characters.
I hope you’re right about it getting better.
@comicBOOKchris: For how long has he been featured, though? I did a google search and the first webpage that mentioned Kyle in more than just a passing “Kyle is Northstar’s boyfriend” way, was a website called Gay League, which is actually no longer in operation. I had to check it on Google Cache. And even that site didn’t have much info about him. I really don’t think he’s enough of a known character to warrant a Special Wedding Issue. Now if Hulkling and Wiccan were to get married in a few years, or if they should break up and one of them decides to marry Anole, I would understand its status as an event.