Oh, Northstar. Where to start? Not the first gay superhero to come out, but perhaps the first to be created AS gay? At least according to legend. John Byrne, in a seriously rare moment of progressiveness – who had created Northstar and the rest of Alpha Flight as basically punching bags for the X-Men – decided to make Northstar a homosexual as he had to eventually give Alpha Flight lives and personalities to carry their own book. While Marvel EIC Jim Shooter wouldn’t allow an out gay character, Byrne and subsequent creators hinted and danced around it without ever full-on revealing it.
Then there’s Alpha Flight #106.
In an absolute over-the-top, early 90s, cheesy, ham-fisted way, written by a legendary scumfuck of the comics industry, drawn by the worst of the Liefeldian clones in worst Liefeldian way, Northstar finally comes out.
It’s kinda glorious.
So Northstar is arguably the most famous superhero coming out story, and the first that got major media attention. It was a huge deal in 1992. Definitely not the best, though.
I actually really like Northstar. Oddly, I was reading Alpha Flight when this comic was released, but because it became so hard to find and sold-out all over, I never got a copy, and I basically stopped reading Alpha Flight (this was at a time where my LCS was actually just the convenient store around the corner from my parent’s house, and my subscriptions/pull-list were whatever they had available. About once every 2-3 months, I maybe could convince my dad to drive me to a comic shop for an hour or so, as long as there was a bar nearby).
But I loved his arrogance and shittiness. He’s definitely a mutant who was one solid agreement away from joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But he was still heroic and compassionate. Just a real asshole about it though. I never understood the pointy ears, though, until I realized something that FUCKING NO ONE TALKS ABOUT!
He’s Zan from the Wonder Twins! Aurora is Jayna! They’re the fucking Wonder Twins! John Byrne spoofed the Wonder Twins! Why does no one talk about this?! Ugh!