Bring on an X-Men Gay Wedding!
So even though Avengers vs. X-Men hasn’t even started yet, Marvel decided to release a teaser today for a story set after the clash. The teaser pretty much speaks for itself:
Save the entire month of June? Why not!
Reading around on the Internet, it seems that everybody believes the two to be wed are Northstar and his boyfriend Kyle, who I don’t think is any kind of superhero. I haven’t been reading the comics that Northstar has appeared in lately, but I’m pretty sure Kyle has been an important reoccurring character. And there aren’t many other X-Men couples these days.
Gay and interracial? It's almost like Marvel is egging the protesters on
Plus gay weddings are all the rage, what with people freaking out that Kevin Keller from Archie got married. Seriously, some group called One Million Moms protested Toys R Us for selling the Kevin Keller comic because it featured a gay marriage. And to that I present to you this fantastic Gutters comic.
I don’t like to get political with my blog, but I’m just going to state my opinion: gay marriage is A-OK is my book. You’re more than welcome to oppose gay marriage for whatever reason you may have, but you are just plain wrong on the issue.
That being said, kudos to Marvel to try something like this. Maybe they’re only doing it for the publicity, but I highly doubt it. There have got to be more than enough homosexuals working in comics or at Marvel to want to do a legitimate story. Northstar was, after all, one of the very first openly homosexual comic book superheroes after all. Maybe it’s a case of little guy Archie comics getting all these bullies coming after them, so big guy Marvel decides to step in and support the little guy with their own gay marriage. I like that idea.
Personally, I’ve always been a Northstar fan. This is Northstar:
That logo on his side doubles as both a flash of light and a Canadian Maple Leaf
Debuting in 1979 as a member of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, Northstar is a mutant with the ability to fly at super-speed. He’s also the twin brother of Aurora, who has light-based powers. Northstar was always gay, but the Comics Code Authority back in the day would not let comics have any openly gay characters. The Comics Code Authority has since been completely dropped after Marvel and DC comics decided just to ditch them. Anyway, Northstar came out in Alpha Flight #106 in 1992. It was a fairly controversial, but popular, move, and the comic sold out. Which was a pretty spectacular achievement for Alpha Flight.
Northstar became a much more important character starting in 2001, when he was recruited into a temporary team of X-Men. I read those issues, and they were my first real exposure to Northstar. He was pretty cool. Kind of arrogant, but a cool sort of arrogant. Northstar joined the X-Men full-time in 2002, and has been around ever since – though he has had a few returns to Alpha Flight. But these days he’s a full-time X-Man.
Unfortunately, the wedding is going to be taking place in Astonishing X-Men, the bastard stepchild of the X-Men universe. There are currently more than half a dozen X-Men comics being published. Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine and the X-Men are the two main titles, with stuff like Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: Legacy, New Mutants and more serving as auxiliary titles. Frankly, Astonishing has no reason to exist anymore. It’s kind of just hanging around for the heck of it after a strong debut by writer Joss Whedon a few years ago.
There are plenty of other comics to buy to get X-Men stories.
But there are only a few comics willing to tell a positive gay marriage story. So hooray Astonishing X-Men!
‘Baby Superman’ is Adorable
So the little cartoon shorts that are going to be a part of the new DC Nation animation block seem to gear more towards the insane than the realistic. Hence this new clip I found online of a cartoon called ‘Baby Superman’. The name alone is awesome. It’s way better than ‘Superbaby’. Check out the clip, and you can check out earlier clips here and here.
New, Slightly Lame, Clip from Upcoming Ultimate Spidey Cartoon
I haven’t written really anything about the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, but not for any particular reason. I just haven’t gotten around to it. Well clips have started sprinkling up on the web, and I thought I’d share this one. It…I dunno, it feels kind of off-putting for some reason.
I recently watched both seasons of Spectacular Spider-Man, the latest Spidey cartoon. It was a good, solid Spider-Man show. I don’t know what to make of this new cartoon quite yet.
Though I’m not too keen on the idea that Spider-Man is basically going to be attending SHIELD’s superhero school, alongside Luke Cage, Nova, White Tiger and Iron Fist…mostly because I don’t particularly care about any of those characters.
Anyway, I’ll try to write more about this series another day. Also, check out more clips here.
Today in Superhero Redesigns
I’m a sucker for a good superhero redesign. Everybody loves a classic costume, but letting an artist have some fun and design a new look for a popular hero is just a blast. You never know what they can come up with; it may be especially awesome and warrant new action figures and everything! And then there’s always the safety of just reverting back to the old look. It’s win-win.
Both Marvel and DC have some new redesigns coming up, and I figured it’d be easy to share them both in one place.
First is the new Iron Man:
It's like a new Black Costume Iron Man!
The story is that in May, we’re going to get a new storyline called ‘Long Way Down’, during which Tony Stark retires for reasons we don’t yet know. Then this black-costumed Iron Man shows up, and it’s going to be a mystery as to who is wearing the armor. This sounds ridiculous. Tony Stark retiring as Iron Man? Please. That’ll last a couple months at most – which I guess is the point. But still, why start this storyline in May?
Did Marvel forget that Tony Stark as Iron Man is going to be headlining a little movie called The Avengers in early May? Whose bright idea is it to ditch the familiar red and gold Iron Man for this temporary-at-best redesign/new character during the one month that movie fans might want to check out some Iron Man comics?
Seems silly to me.
Over at DC Comics, the Big Red Cheese himself, Captain Marvel, is finally going to make his first appearance in the New 52.
Oh look who's all gritty and hardcore now...
So I guess DC is going to be making him into a dark badass? Because that’s a brilliant idea. Oh no wait, I was being sarcastic. How will Captain Marvel benefit from being turned into a dark hero? They’ve given him a hood and a cloak, so clearly that’s what they’re going for. Not to mention seemingly insane amounts of electricity powers.
They’ve also changed his name to Shazam instead of Captain Marvel. I am totally OK with this. Everybody knows the word ‘Shazam’, so there won’t be any branding problems. Plus DC with a hero called ‘Captain Marvel‘? This will just work better when it comes to legal issues.
The new Shazam will debut in back-up stories of Justice League comics starting at issue #7 on March 21.
I Live In Assassin’s Creed 3!
Holy crap, everybody! My living in Rome, NY for the past 6+ years of my life has finally paid off! Based on the new trailer to Assassin’s Creed 3, released today, a lot of the action is going to take place in the Mohawk Valley. I live in the Mohawk Valley! Maybe not exactly, but close enough!
Maybe I’ll see something I recognize…not that I’ve done any historical research on my current geographical area of residence…
I read somewhere online recently that video game trailers are far too good for themselves. The quality of computer animated videos these days is astounding, and is in no way matched by the actual gameplay graphics. So when I show you this newly released trailer to Assassin’s Creed 3, know that none of this may actually be physical gameplay from the game.
But it sure do look purdy!
The game will be released on Halloween!
That trailer looks pretty badass, and answers a question my brother raised: there don’t need to be cities and rooftops when you can parkour around forests and stuff. But that’s not to say there won’t be cities. The game is rumored to have some segments take place in New York City and Boston. There were buildings there!
See? Buildings
So far we also know that the protagonist’s name is Conner, and that he is of both Mohawk Indian and British decent. So yeah, this is basically turning out to be a pretty badass looking game. Now if only I can get myself an HD TV by the end of October…
