Look Up In The Sky

Well it's summer and that means the normal selection of summer big budget special-effects laden blockbusters are being flown into movie theaters across the country. It started the other week with X:Men - The Last Stand and continues into June and beyond. One of the most hotly anticipated films of 2006 is without a doubt Superman Returns, which opens June 28th. After the success of last year's Batman Begins, I have no doubt DC and Warner Bros. will have another huge hit on their hands.

But unlike Batman in his latest film, people are starting to "out" Superman because of the supposed gay way he is being portrayed in the movie. Now before I go any further, I'm not a professional movie critic, so I didn't get an advanced screening of the film. I am simply basing this on an article printed in a recent issue of The Advocate magazine.


But this got me thinking, do comic book characters have special appeal to gay men? Well you'd have to do a lot of research to confirm or deny that, so I'll just talk about my own experiences. I still go every Wednesday to the comic book store up the street to get my weekly fix of books. I mainly buy Batman and Spider-Man comics, although I did read Superman for over 15 years uninterrupted until I slowed down my collecting habits about 2-3 years ago. But in thinking back, before I even had come out to myself as gay, I remember being oddly attracted to certain male comic book characters. From the tight outfits to the rippling muscles and the way they always managed to save the day, especially if for whatever reason, their shirt had been ripped off in the process! Now the classic comics of the 40s and 50s drew shirtless heroes like Ken dolls with little to no attention to their physique. But the more modern day books of the 90s and beyond inlcuding the sexy Hawkman book are definitely quite detailed depictions of what a real man looks like. And that can be HOT down to chest hair, pecs with nipples, perfect six pack, and more. Some of the "mature" books from DC's Vertigo line have gone as far as to illustrate naked men right down to their penis, but that is the exception and not what I am really focusing on here.

But eye candy aside, the Advocate article brings up another interesting point. Most comic book characters live secret lives. Clark Kent and Superman are kept separate for a reason. Peter Parker can't be Spider-Man 24/7 because he needs to keep that a secret. But maybe, as a youth growing up and trying to come to terms with my own sexuality, I could relate to these characters and their so called double lives more than I realized at the time. Having to hide a secret because of the fear of what happens when others find out is a common problem that goes beyond just sexuality. If you are hiding anything big in your life, it is easy to sympathize with comic book characters and their day to day struggles keeping their true identity a secret.

Lastly, I wanted to touch upon the recent X:Men movie and the concept of the government trying to cure mutants of their disease. In the film, a new vaccine is developed that can be given to a mutant to turn them back to a "normal" human being. As expected, this meets with controversy on both sides of the issue. Mutants who are already made to feel like they are outcasts, now in order to be accepted in society, need to be cured of something they were born with. This struggle, while fictional, begs the question... What if it was homosexuality that the government suddenly found a "cure" for? As a gay male, would I take this needle in the arm to no longer be a card-carrying fag? Well to be honest, the answer for me would be NO. I would not ever want to change who I am and what I enjoy because someone else thinks it is not normal. Part of what makes this world a great place is the diversity. If we were all the same, how boring would that be: variety is the spice of life. Sure sometimes I think it would be nice to "fit in" with mainstream society, but then I am reminded that I already do fit in just fine. The people that have a problem with gays are the people I wouldn't want to associate with anyway because they aren't open minded to accept people who are different from themselves... And I have no time for people like that in my life.

So wow, comic books are more powerful than I thought... Next time you are reading a comic, or watching a hit movie based off of one, just remember these fictional characters are much more real than you can imagine! Up, up, and away!