June 20 2012 4:02 PM ET
Shop Honors Comic Book Wedding With Real One
A New York comics store celebrated gay X-Man Northstar's marriage with a real same-sex wedding, and there were special events elsewhere as well.
June 19 2012 10:01 PM ET
Inside the Marvel Comics Gay Wedding
The creative team behind Marvel Comics’ Astonishing X-Men talks about tackling the first same-sex superhero wedding and the future of the industry’s original gay hero.
June 01 2012 7:08 PM ET
Million Moms Facebook Post Draws Unsolicited Praise for DC's Gay Green Lantern
The antigay group's Facebook post about the gay superhero was taken down, apparently because it generated many pro-gay comments.
June 01 2012 4:00 AM ET
Green Lantern Shines in a New Light
Writer James Robinson shares his plans for the new series and why DC Comics decided to bring one of their most iconic superheroes out of the closet.
May 28 2012 2:09 PM ET
Green Lantern Alan Scott Likely New Gay DC Character
Reliable sources say the original Green Lantern will be the character rebooted as gay.
May 25 2012 3:10 PM ET
Million Moms Upset Over Gay Superheroes
The right-wing group, with a history of failed campaigns, is objecting to Marvel's plans to marry Northstar to his boyfriend and DC's projected gay hero.
May 22 2012 3:49 PM ET
FIRST LOOK: X Men's Gay Marriage Issue
May 21 2012 4:25 PM ET
Could Superman Be Gay? DC Comics Wants to Change Orientation of One of Their Characters
DC Comics will soon take one of their best known characters and reintroduce them as LGBT.
April 28 2012 1:34 PM ET
Classic Comic Strip Features Gay Teen Story
After dealing with suicide, alcoholism, and teen pregnancy 40-year-old comic strip Funky Winkerbean will include a story arc about a gay couple at Tom Batiuk's fictional Westview High School.
March 21 2012 5:45 PM ET
Wedding for Gay X-Man?
Apparently same-sex comic book weddings are for superheroes too: Rumor has it that the X-Men’s Northstar is heading for the altar with his longtime boyfriend, Kyle.
February 29 2012 4:55 PM ET
One Million Moms Targets Comic With Gay Wedding
One Million Moms, the group that unsuccessfully tried to get Ellen DeGeneres booted from her JC Penney commercial gig, has a new target: the first mainstream comic book to feature a same-sex wedding.
January 11 2012 7:00 AM ET
Batgirl Returns
In late 1966 Barbara Gordon took the superhero universe by storm when she first appeared in Detective Comics #359 as the “new” Batgirl. More than a mere replacement for Betty Kane—the heroine who originally used the name Bat-Girl—Barbara became so popular among readers that she was quickly added to Adam West’s Batman television series, and in turn became a household name. This Batgirl was unlike most heroines of the day, holding her own in a fight, solving mysteries on her own, and even rescuing the Dynamic Duo multiple times. Batgirl’s adventures continued long after the show’s cancellation. Then in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker shot Barbara, leaving her paralyzed. But Barbara would not be kept down, instead reinventing herself as Oracle, the wheelchair-bound tech genius and information broker to all the superheroes of the DC Universe. Now more popular than ever, Barbara/Oracle became the leader of the Birds of Prey, a team of female superheroes, and their self-titled comic became a fan-favorite when writer Gail Simone took over. Then in 2011 publisher DC Comics decided to re-launch their universe and characters, and this meant Barbara’s return to her roof-swinging roots with a new Batgirl solo series. The new series would start a few years after Joker shot Barbara, with her just healing from the injury, and since Simone had crafted the character’s years as Oracle she was the obvious choice for returning Barbara to the cape and cowl. Now with Batgirl riding a new wave of popularity, the Advocate sat down with Simone to talk about Barbara’s future, her loyal gay fans, and the similar struggles both women and the LGBTQ community face in comics.The Advocate: DC’s initial announcement that Barbara Gordon would return as Batgirl caused a bit of controversy among fans. Has that reaction changed?Gail Simone: I would say so, the book is the top selling female solo book in the entire industry right now, and reviews have been great. It's a book about a brilliant, explosive young woman, full of life, who suffered a terrible trauma that changed her entire future. And she gets a chance to regain her mobility, and takes it. That's very, very intriguing to me.Did you originally agree with DC’s decision to make Barbara Gordon Batgirl once again?This being comics, where people leap out of the grave with some regularity, the idea had come up every now and then, and I was always against taking her out of the chair. As Oracle, she had become this sort of internet goddess, who ruled countries and destroyed villains from a lofty tower. I couldn't see putting her back in the suit and calling her Batgirl again after all that. It just didn't make much sense.Then DC did this huge relaunch, where nearly every character has been pushed back, de-aged, set back closer to their original starting point. If there was ever a time to make Barbara Batgirl again, this was it. I still had to be convinced — Barbara was a very inspiring character as Oracle, and there was no immediate character filling that role out there. But it hit me, that she could still be inspiring. There wasn't really any book dealing with surviving trauma as an adult, not in any serious way. Barbara was never portrayed as a complainer when she was in the chair, but in some ways, this is harder for her. She's got some trauma and a bit of survivor's guilt. She asks herself, why was she [healed and] not others? That question haunts her. Almost everyone knows someone who has struggled with the effects of trauma, from crime, or abuse, or even self-harm. There should be heroes who show that you can survive those things.
January 05 2012 7:40 PM ET
Wedding Day Arrives for Kevin Keller
The issue portraying the wedding of the popular gay Archie Comics character is now available.
