26. Shining Knight

Sir Ystin/Ystina was introduced by Grant Morrison in the Seven Soldiers series, but I recall that being more she was presented as a girl who disguised herself as a male in order to fight as a Knight, before being tossed through time.

However, in the New 52 universe, Ystina was characterized as a biological female who identified as male (I guess? I read one issue of Demon Knights and don’t recall him being in it). Writer Paul Cornell explicitly stated that Shining Knight was transgender. I’m a bit surprised Morrison didn’t just go with that, as they have a history with that type of character. But maybe DC editorial wouldn’t let them at the time, and were maybe more open to the idea when the New 52 was starting? Who knows. Anyhoo, the New 52 was generally awful, but did leave behind a few good remnants.

25. Flash

Always Wally, except sometimes not, but Never Barry.

In that “sometimes not” section we have Jess Chambers, a Flash from an alternate Earth. They showed up in the Future State event, but possibly elsewhere? I read their story from the 2021 DC Pride book and enjoyed it quite a bit, and I really like their take on The Flash costume. I oddly get John Fox vibes from it, another sharp-looking Future Flash. They are also featured in a book called Teen Justice that takes place on their original Earth (11) before they crossed over to the main DC Earth and going by the name Kid Quick. But I went with the Flash version here.

Comics is confusing.

But hey! At least we now have an unproblematic non-binary genderfluid Flash we can all admire and accept!

24. Loki

Fuck America. Fuck this garbage, fascist, third world country.

Listen, the 15-20% of me that wavers from hetero can totally recognize that Tom Hiddleston is absolutely sexy.

I. Get. It.

I love him in the movies, and the Loki show was fantastic.

But, I cannot reconcile smokeshow movie Loki to comic Loki. Loki in the comics is and always will be an ugly middle-aged male-presenting evil villain to me. Marvel can do whatever they want, but when I see smexy Loki, it just doesn’t register in my brain. It’s like a Lovecraftian thing. I can’t comprehend this vision, so I either see what I want or I lose myself to madness.

I tried with this. I really did. But the Kirby/Simonson/Buscema Loki just kept rearing up. I just kept wanting to erase the beautiful locks and cover it up with the full head-shroud & helmet with fake ponytail. And I could not make his face any less evil.

I get wanting to portray villains in a more sympathetic light, but far too many go too far and just become anti-heroes trying for a redemption arc. We need more just outright villains in comics, and to me, Loki is one of those guys.

Look, Loki can fuck whoever or whatever he wants, and he can shapeshift and change into whatever sex or thing he needs or wants to in order to accomplish those goals. But, his ultimate goal should be to screw over Thor and take over Asgard and possibly Earth in the most villainous way possible. And do it in green and gold scale-mail spandex.

23. Obsidian

A companion to yesterday’s sketch, Obsidian – Todd Rice – is Alan Scott’s son. A member of Infinity Inc. and occasionally the Justice Society. I guess he was outed while being a supporting character in the Kate Spencer Manhunter series (much missed, RIP), but until I just now read the wikipedia entry, I’d have sworn it was much longer than that. That said, he’s cool looking, he’s got cool powers, and is grossly underused.

22. Green Lantern

So, to counter yesterday’s piece, here’s Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. He’s a character I have a deep fondness for who has been presented as hetero for nearly 70-80 years. The character was outed last year during… something. I think it was an event book or something. Prior to this, an alternate Earth version of Alan was written as gay, but the “prime” version… well, didn’t exist at the time. So, now that the Golden Age Greats are all part of the main DC timeline again, Alan was brought back and has come out. And, it’s pretty great. Added bonus, is that despite the magic age resetting of those characters, he is still presented as a man past his middle-age and coming to terms with his own sexuality, which is an interesting take, seeing as most of the LGBTQ+ characters being introduced or outed are fairly young-skewing. Makes an old man like me proud. His story in last year’s DC Pride special was absolutely heartbreaking and heartwarming. Really hoping we get to see more of the Justice Society in the near future, and Alan plays a big role.

21. Iceman

Whoof. Ok.

Warning: I am about to get as close to narrow-minded straight dude comicsgator-y as I can get, and I apologize.

I don’t accept Iceman as gay. Moreso, I don’t accept the circumstances or the story in which he is outed. I understand the narrative of closested person finally coming to grips with who they are, and it’s a very real experience and story that can and should be told. It just goes against what his characterization since Day 1 has been. Not that I’m opposed to change, but also, I’m opposed to change. But also also, I think I’m just opposed to the sloppy, awful way it was handled, adding the “past X-Men in the present” and having the past younger Bobby being forced out, and then having to have the adult present Bobby reconcile it… I dunno. It chaffed me.

Listen, I’m fully self-aware enough to know that Iceman is a personal favorite of mine since childhood, since the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends days. I realize that there is a part of me feeling like I own part of this character, and it’s been taken away from me in a way I don’t care for.

Look, if it had been adult Bobby coming to the realization on his own, forced or not, and we skipped all the timey-wimey bullshit mess of that era of the X-Men, I’d probably be way more accepting of it.

So, I’m just gonna blame Bendis mostly, and then my own prejudices secondly.

I’m sorry.

Rainbow Brite

  • Filed under Artwork

  • June 20, 2022

Commission. Client got a an ink drawing on paper and a hi-res color print.

20. Flatman

The Great Lakes Avengers are a team I have a very soft spot for. They popped up in the late 80s as I somehow stumbled into reading West Coast Avengers at the time when Wanda/Scarlet Witch first went batshit and when Vision became bleached white Vision, which is a storyline that has basically influenced the current phase of the live-action Marvel shows and movies pretty deeply. Anyhoo, the GLA were ridiculous and a joke, but I loved that Hawkeye came on board to lead them, and they did prove themselves as heroes. Flatman of course is the 2-D Mr. Fantastic wanna-be, but never quite as good. He came out in the late 20-Teens in the short-lived GLA book. I’m sure it was probably handled with utmost care.

19. Green Arrow

Happy Father’s Day, here’s the best son of the worst father in the DC Universe.

I have mentioned before that I like the Connor Hawke Green Arrow exactly as much as I like Ollie Queen. The other major Legacy characters in DC Comics (Flash & Green Lantern), I definitely prefer the “replacements” over the originals (Kyle over Hal, Wally over Barry. Fuck Barry). But with GA, I love both Connor and Ollie. I have also mentioned before that Connor’s costume has too much goddamn brown in it for him to be Green Arrow. So when I draw him, I change it. All that said, Connor is coming out as asexual in the 2022 DC Pride special that’s being released sometime soon (I would assume in June?). It’s a choice that absolutely fits the character, and no matter what, I hope it also means we see more Connor popping up in comics. It’s a character that I am always excited to see, and he was gone for far too long. No thank you, Nu52.

18. Thunder

Vaguely remember her from the Black Lightning TV series, but while researching her, I discovered the absolute worst superhero costume I’ve ever seen. Thank god she changed.