Per year, Marvel and DC Commemorate June with a cover story Centered around stable LGBTQIA+ characters. The tradition continues this year, but in Marvel’s case, it’s been deflating due to really poor messaging.
On March 21 (Thursday), Marvel announced book list Coming out in June.Most of these are related to the upcoming Blood Hunt Activities and several comics——X-Men #35, The Amazing Spider-Man #52, Immortal Thor #12, and others – there are “Proud Allies” variant covers. The title would make you think Marvel was celebrating Pride Month by focusing solely on the allies (aka “straights”) of its LGBTQIA+ cast, which plays out on social media just as you’d expect.
Fast forward to Friday, March 22, and Marvel launched announcement About the Pride Month variants: Specifically, eight covers (four by artists Betsy Cola and Davi Go) pair LGBTQIA+ heroes with prominent straight characters (the former being the main focus) to “showcase the spirit and spirit of Pride Month” Embodying the importance of strong alliances.” You can see one such cover from Go below, in which Polaris shares the spotlight with Spider-Man.
On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with that – DC is doing the same thing batman and NightwingFor example, these covers only have the standard “Pride” label. This also helps DC control the narrative by revealing its storylines. Proud output forward this solicit Rather than the other way around.What’s more, the covers are also boosted by another annual Pride anthology, which celebrates its own LGBTQIA+ characters, as well as paying tribute to the late one-timer doom patrol writer Rachel Pollackwho gave the publisher Coagula, its first transgender hero.
Superheroes and Queerness Always connected – that’s part of why Robin exists.You can (fans often do!) read the work of A-listers, e.g. Spider-Man, Daredevil and others are seen as queer, either through scenes in comics or other versions in movies and games. Labeling these heroes “allies” makes things even more complicated. This might have been a sincere attempt to celebrate Marvel’s audience, but now it’s taken on a strange vibe, and what’s worse is that it’s straight from the source.
Marvel’s Pride Allies covers will air from June 5th to June 26th.
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