State University of New York at Stony Brook
                       Stony Brook, NY 11790-0651

                                            Marc Gunning
                                            16-Jan-1992 11:28pm EST
FROM:  MGUNNING
TO:    Lesbigay  Netters                    ( _gaynet@athena.mit.edu )

SUBJECT: Superhero Comes Out of the Closet                            

As some of you may remember, I reported a few months ago that DC's comic book 
character, the Pied Piper, a part-time villian (but not an evil one, more like 
Robin Hood), was gay.  Additionally, DC has had another character who was gay 
become a super hero and they've done a story line on homophobia and AIDS.

Well, now Marvel Comics, the creator of Spiderman, has a major hero who has 
come out of the closet.  Northstar, "Montreal's most eligible bachelor", has 
announced that he is gay in the latest issue of Alpha Flight.  Considering that 
the major marketing target of this book is 14 to 30 year old males, I think 
this is a major breakthrough - this is the age range of most gay bashers.  The 
ultimate message is that not only are lesbigay people "normal", some can be 
heroes!

You can bet that the phobes will be writing in to complain, but I think Marvel 
will stick by their guns.  You can encourage them to do so by writing:
	Marvel Comics
	387 Park Avenue South
	New York, NY 10015

Peace,
Marc
First, let me say that I think Marvel did a great thing having Northstar
come out.  I had heard that Marvel had a policy against having any gay
characters.  Can someone confirm this?  Assuming that it is true, it is
nice to see Marvel drop this policy.

However, I think that if people are writing letters, DC comics should
also receive letters thanking them for their liberal policy, which is
much older than Marvels.  While Marvel has one character "coming out",
DC has had many gay themes in their comics.  The most recent and notable
of these would be the current storyline of _Sandman_ "A Dream of You".
The characters in this story there is a lesbian couple and a transexual.
The third issue of the story opened with the lesbian couple in bed
together, a much more provocative step than simply having a character
admit to being gay (IMPO).

DC's address is:
Jenette Kahn, President and Editor-in-Chief
DC Comics Inc
666 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10103

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