Posts Tagged ‘bisexual’

« Older Entries

Dexedrine C. Parios

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Art by Matthew Southworth

Dexedrine (AKA Dex) Parios is the owner and sole employee of Stumptown Investigations based in Portland, OR. Dex is cocky, self-assured, kind-hearted yet cynical and brash, “no bullshit” bullshitter with a penchant for her ’64 Mustang convertible and bad habit of gambling, or at least lacking the good sense to know when to quit. The true love of her life is her younger brother Ansel whom she appears to be raising by herself, sometimes relying on the help of a young man named Grey who’s clearly infatuated with her, though she keeps him at a distance romantically. Dex appears to be of Native American descent.

In old parlance, Dex is quite a “card”. While it seems she has most people wrapped around her finger, one person with a strong dislike for her is Police Captain Volk. From dialog it’s implied that Dex had an affair with Volk’s wife which resulted in the end of his marriage. While Dex is on the receiving end of sexual advances from another woman in the first story arc and enjoys them, she also makes passes at a male doctor who tends to her after being abducted and shot (she was wearing a kevlar vest).

Rucka’s affinity for crime themed work and strong female characters is well known. Despite significant differences between Dex and Renée Montoya, I can’t help but wonder if this direction might have been applied to Montoya if the character hadn’t been transformed in to the Question.

© and ® Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth. All rights reserved. Published by Oni Press.

Tags: , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Dawnstar

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Art by Ed Benes

According to the DC Who’s Who entry, Dawnstar is a mutant born on the planet Starhaven. Aside from the obvious power of flight, Dawnstar is able to fly through space at high speeds (without need for protection), and has an uncanny ability to track people or objects. Dawnstar became the driving force behind a business venture started by her parents, Mistrider and Moonwalker. She guided spacecraft through dangerous sections of space, thus securing safe passage and delivery of goods. Greybird and Greatfire are her younger brothers. She came to the attention of R. J. Brande because of her work as a bounty hunter. He offered her a place in the Legion Academy where she was trained by Wildfire, and soon after joined the Legion. The entry also states that she had a crush on Wildfire that developed into a “romantic but platonic (of necessity)” matter. On a mission (circa 1985) she found herself attracted to man named Jhodan. More research will need to be done on this matter.

In the Five Years Later version, Dawnstar was possessed by Bounty, a malevolent being, who cruelly cut off her wings and coerced to work as an assassin. Zero Hour came along and erased Dawnstar (and Bounty) from continuity.

Dawnstar has reappeared in post Infinite Crisis continuity, first as only a statue (one of many depicting the Legion) in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, a scene in which Superman acknowledges having had adventures with the Legion. (Justice Society of America #5) Karate Kid, Wildfire, Timber Wolf, Dream Girl, Star Man, and Dawnstar have come to the 21st century on a mission to bring someone back from the dead. Who this person, aside from it being a male, the reasons and the circumstances remain a mystery. Power Girl, Hawk Girl and Red Arrow travel to Thanagar to find Dawnstar. They track down a lead and find a woman wearing fake wings but who has Dawnstar’s flight ring. The unnamed woman implies she and Dawnstar (who she calls Neela) have had a romantic relationship, and knows Dawnstar is not returning because she has “[felt] her friends from this far away–” The last page reveals Dawnstar has tracked down and joined her fellow time traveling friends, and will lead them to where they need to go to accomplish their mission.

Dawnstar appeared in issues #1 – #5 of Crisis of Infinite Earths. After Legion of Three Worlds it now seems these appearances may have been of an alternate Dawnstar.

The original version debuted in Superboy #225, volume 1 and this version is outed in Justice League of America #9 (2007) as part of “The Lightning Saga” story in #8 – 10 by Brad Meltzer.

© and ® DC Comics. All rights reserved.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Paradox

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

By Ronald Byrd

In the 22nd century, the Terran Empire holds several planets under harsh colonial rule. Its interests are protected by the Interplanetary Security Agency, which includes several genetically altered superhumans. The most effective and unpredictable of them all is the shapechanging bisexual Paradox (Mark Esterhase), who suffered severe radiation poisoning on a mission and was saved via the introduction of alien genetic material that allows him to transform from one species to another in order to stave off the radiation’s effects. An antigravity dancer in his cover identity, Paradox’s frivolity and hedonism hide suspicion and bitterness toward the organization that transformed him. When his lover, a rebel Lunan named Catherine Delys that he met in the course of a mission, is killed by Terran guards, Paradox rebels against the I.S.A. and sides with the rebels of Saturn and the other worlds.

Art by Val Mayerik

In addition to Paradox himself, Bizarre Adventures #30 features two more gay characters, mutated female members of Paradox’s ISA Strike Squad on Saturn: Razor, who possesses claws and laser-vision, and her lover, the blind “telempath” Ice. Oddly enough, Paradox was created by Bill Mantlo, whose later portrayal of Northstar in Alpha Flight would prove so dissatisfactory.

Paradox can change his shape to that of any human or humanoid alien and even take on animal form, such as a black cat; when in the form of a member of an alien race, he can manifest the appropriate powers. He is also a highly skilled dancer, acrobat, and spy, with access to the advanced weaponry of his era.

Paradox first appeared in the black and white Marvel Preview magazine #24 (Winter 1980) and then in Bizarre Adventures #30, which seems to be a continuation of Marvel Preview. This male-male kiss in this story may be the first depicted in a publication from either of the Big Two companies. This issue likely hit the stands several months after Jim Shooter’s notorious YMCA near rape scene in The Hulk #23. According to the indicia Shooter had not yet been made an executive at Marvel.

© and ® Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.

Tags: ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Marrow

Monday, July 5th, 2010

By Ronald Byrd

As a child, Sarah, one of the few children in the subterranean community of mutants known as the Morlocks, was among the handful of survivors when her people were massacred by the Marauders, agents of the evil geneticist Mister Sinister. Eking out an existence in the aftermath, Sarah and the other survivors were transported to another dimension by the insane mutant Mikhail Rasputin, who hoped to forge them into a conquering army. Sarah grew to adulthood in this dimension, a Darwinian survival test known as the Hill, and eventually became the leader of the second generation of Morlocks, known as Gene Nation. Although decades passed in the dimension of the Hill, mere months passed between the Morlocks’ departure from and return to the Earth dimension. Now known as Marrow, Sarah led Gene Nation on a war against humanity, leading the mass murder of dozens of ordinary humans, but later came under the influence of the heroic X-Men and at least partially repented of her violent ways. After several adventures, including one in which she underwent further mutation into an arguably more attractive form, Marrow left the X-Men under as yet unrevealed circumstances, and her current whereabouts are unknown.

It was revealed at one point that Marrow had a deep admiration for the beauty of female teammate Shadowcat and was even known to sneak into her room to watch her sleep; this could simply be attributed to a mixture of envy and aesthetic appreciation, but it could also be indicative of something more. However, Marrow has also demonstrated levels of romantic interest in some of her male teammates, so her sexual orientation remains unclear, not surprising after a troubled life of little but unrelenting violence which must have repressed any feelings of tenderness or love.

Marrow’s skeletal structure was in a constant state of uncontrolled fluctuation, enabling her to extrude bony plates and extensionsfrom her body for offensive and defensive purposes; she was even able to remove some of the bones to use as weapons, most often a pair of sharp, sword-like bones. She eventually gained better control over her body as a result of transformation by alien Shi’ar technology.

Marrow first appeared in Cable #15 (first volume?). X-Men Unlimited #22 leads one to wonder if Marrow may be bisexual.

© and ® Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Toy Molto

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Art by Ian Gibson

Toy Molto is a supporting character that appeared in the futuristic Ballad of Halo Jones strip written by Alan Moore. She has short dark hair and is seven feet tall and is Halo Jones’ cabin mate aboard the star ship E.S.S. Clara Pandy. Jones describes Toy as “the toughest woman [she] ever met.” She and Jones are working as hostesses aboard the ship, and not much else is known about Toy’s background and she confesses to holo-soaps like “Hearts In Orbit” being a guilty pleasure because she’s “just naturally interested in people.”

Toy enlists Halo’s help to get dressed for a date with a male maintenance man and fails at persuading her friend to come along. When the date turns out to be disappointing, Toy returns to their quarters to find Halo being attacked by her robotic dog Toby (who’s revealed its true nature). Toy is instrumental in saving both of them from certain death.

The two women go their separate ways after Halo becomes distraught and angry with a friend she left on Earth. Halo spent the next few years roaming from job to job on various planets, and when she hits rock bottom is suprised to see Toy as part of a military recruitment effort that appears planetside. They go for drinks and Toy persuades Halo to enlist the following day. After training, the women are part of an occupation force sent to Lobis Loyo, a world whose people are primitively living in tribal groups. Six weeks into deployment, the women and the rest of Beta Platoon are out on their first night reconnaissance mission when their air carrier is wrecked by a mine as part of an ambush by the indigenous people. The skirmish is brief but deadly, leaving only Halo and Toy with a badly wounded foot and leg injuries. Delirious from pain, Toy collapses and confesses “I’m big and I’m lod and I never let anybody know what I;m feeling. Sometimes it’s so difficult…I..I really like you, Halo” while Halo constructs a stretcher. When Halo obliviously replies “I like you too, Toy. You’re my best friend” Toy feebly comments “Sure. Best friends. That’s what I meant.” Gathering her wits, Halo sets out pulling behind her the injured and babbling Toy. Alas, Halo’s efforts are futile as she realizes upon meeting another platoon that Toy has succumbed to her wounds.

Toy first appeared in The Ballad of Halo Jones (“A Postcard from Pluto”) which was a series that ran in 2000 AD #406.

© Rebellion. Created by Alan Moore. All rights reserved.

Tags: , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Elsa Grimston

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Art by Leigh Gallagher

Elsa Grimston is the daughter of Henry, an occult practitioner, and an unnamed woman who was procured by a trio of women symbolizing the triple goddesses. The arrangement came about because Henry had failed to find a woman willing to be impregnated during a magical ceremony to draw down a lunar spirit into the newly fertilized embryo. Henry raised her alone in a two story home in Alta Dena, California. The neighborhood may have been unassuming, but rumors circulated that Henry dabbled in magic. One Halloween Elsa’s sole friend is mortally hurt by some bullies who mistake her for Elsa. Elsa enlists her father to help the girl, but Henry’s spell goes terribly awry, and the unconscious girl is transformed into a doll sized version of her cartoon cat costume. Of course, the girl’s disappearance leads police to the Grimston home, and the father persuades Elsa that the human/cat doll/friend now has to be teleported somewhere far away, making for a very lonely childhood. The elder Grimston died six years later in some magical rite gone horribly wrong. Before dying, Henry bestowed on Elsa the ability to appear a youthful 25.

Elsa followed in her father’s magical footsteps, having more success thanks to her magical creation. Having cultivated a sect of gullible Peruvian country folk for two years culminates in ample power (through fervent belief) to enact her plan to go to the moon and live away from humanity. Best laid plans and all that as Lucifer Morningstar awaits her arrival, eliciting a very angry reaction from Elsa. Lucifer still carries a grudge against her father for some consequence arising from incompetence and now tasks Elsa with ending Henry’s cult or she’ll be stripped of her powers and die on the moon. Elsa reluctantly agrees and is returned to earth where she begins the process of finding the maiden and mother aspects to her crone. In order to locate suitable candidates, she enlists former lovers: girlfriend Leannen, a Goth who works in a comic book store, and Marcus, a writer hoping for success. Both Leannen and Marcus detest each other, but Elsa persuades them to take part in an outdoor sex magic ritual in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Barely completed, a police patrol glimpses something suspicious and arrest the ex-lovers while Elsa makes a magical getaway and sets off in search of a powerful witch divined in the ritual. With Sook, the second witch secured, Elsa is surprised when the final part of the triune finds her though this is likely because the series is cancelled quite quickly with #10. Since I never bothered to buy it I’ll hope that someone out there will be able to fill me in.

© and ® DC Comics. All rights reserved.

Tags: ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Maggie & Hopey

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

By Candise Branum

In Love & Rockets, Jaime Hernandez chronicles the lives of Margarita Luisa “Maggie” Chascarillo and Esperanza Leticia “Hopey” Glass from their years as underage punks living in Hoppers, a fictional primarily Latino barrio in California,  through their early 40s. The Locas stories (which focused on Maggie, Hopey and their friends) had running storylines, most notably “The Death of Speedy Ortiz” and “Maggie,” but also contained some single page, “slice-of-life” stories. Though mostly realistic, early stories (especially the Mechanics storyline) contained science fiction elements such as dinosaurs and hovercrafts, while other periods focused on the often comical Mexican Wrestling circuit.

When we first meet Maggie she is crushed out on Race Rand, a mechanic that she occasionally works with, and her relationship with Hopey is undefined, and remains so throughout the entire series. The two have sex and live together, but Maggie constantly pursues relationships with men, while Hopey is always hooking up with women, often living with them but never settling down. In later years, Hopey lives with a steady girlfriend, but her infidelity and her inability to take life seriously causes her relationship to fall apart. The end of “The Education of Hopey Glass” shows a post-breakup Hopey beginning to finally mature by taking her work as a teacher’s assistant more seriously.

There is no “coming out” moment for Hernandez’s Locas girls; when we meet Hopey, she is already established as only dating women, while Maggie is assumed straight except for her relationship with Hopey. In later years though, Maggie pursues a relationship with a voluptuous female stripper named Vivian, showing that her desire for women is not just limited to Hopey. A large majority of Hopey and Maggie’s friends are lesbians or bisexual women, and even though both girls seem to shun labels, Hopey does not shy away from the fact that she only sleeps with women (one exception notwithstanding). The “gay community” that they encounter is very middle-class and white-centric, which Maggie feels very uncomfortable with. After overhearing two “art fags” making fun of her for being Mexican, Maggie becomes angry at Hopey for trivializing the event, saying “Shit, just ‘cause you can turn off your “ethnic” half whenever it’s goddamn convenient!” Maggie leaves Hopey and the white, queer world to return to her Latino community, where she does not feel threatened by racism but where her sexual identity is once again undefined. Even though Maggie, who feels the pressures from her family and community to live a traditional married life, shuns both her love of being a mechanic (a traditionally male occupation) and a queer label, she also does not want to be an invisible housewife and struggles to hold on to her punk identity. Many of their female friends from Hoppers also sleep with women, but the idea of a queer identity is seemingly a white, middle-class aesthetic that Maggie cannot truly inhabit.

Though they have been on-and-off lovers for over 20 years, Maggie and Hopey’s relationship remains undefined. They both continue to date other people, while sleeping with and attempting to remain best friends with one another; even during her brief marriage, Maggie continues to have a sexual relationship with Hopey. In the “Maggie” story-arc, Maggie believes she heard Hopey tell her over the phone (which was supposed to be broken at the time) that she loved her, something that had been unsaid throughout all of their years together. This causes tension, as Maggie really does want Hopey to declare it but is not sure if she just imagined it. When Hopey says it again, Maggie is relieved and tells Hopey that she also loves her.

© and ® Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez. Used without permission.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | 1 Comment »

Marlo Chandler Jones

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Contributed by Michael McDermott

Ever since she was young, Marlo has always been a thrill-seeker, who has had a knack for getting herself into dangerous situations.

She first got pulled into the world of super heroics when she dated the Hulk, in his Joe Fixit persona. Their relationship didn’t last long, but she soon met and fell in love with the Hulk’s friend Rick Jones. They eventually got married, although their marriage was sometimes troubled due to the craziness in their lives.

Marlo was attacked and murdered by a psychotic woman who claimed to be Rick’s mother. Rick and the Hulk managed to bring Marlo back to life using advanced technology, but what none of them realized at the time was that Mistress Death (the living embodiment of death) took up residence inside Marlo’s body at the same time. Mistress Death was using Marlo as a camouflage to hide from an enemy.

Eventually, Rick and Marlo separated, since Marlo couldn’t cope with all the craziness and danger in her life with Rick and his superhero friends. However, she eventually changed her mind and they started to work on repairing their relationship, although they still lived in separate apartments.

The merging between Marlo and Mistress Death had the side-effect of having the spirits of people who died near Marlo be drawn to her. As a result, Marlo wound up with her own personal ghost friend, Lorraine, who was stuck haunting her after she was murdered. Marlo originally feared she was going insane, since she was the only one who could see or hear Lorraine. It came as something of a relief once she learned the truth.

Eventually, Mistress Death’s enemy, a deathgod from another universe named Walker, discovered her hiding in Marlo’s body. Marlo was protected by Rick’s partner Captain Marvel, as well as Thor and Thanos. Eventually Mistress Death left Marlo’s body and defeated Walker herself.

Marlo soon wound up with a new roommate—the telepathic Avenger, Moondragon (Heather Douglas). She needed a place to live in L.A. to be close to Captain Marvel, whom she was training to control his cosmic awareness, so she moved in with Marlo. The different personalities of the two women clashed at first, but they soon bonded and became friends.

However, Marlo’s experience with Mistress Death had not left her unaffected. She now developed a power called the Death Wish, which allowed her to alter reality with her spoken desires. Marlo was unaware that she even possessed this ability, and simply caused things to happen accidentally by wishing for them out loud. She was finally confronted with her power when she wished herself dead during a bad day, and immediately dropped dead!

Moondragon managed to revive her using her psionic powers, and began training Marlo how to control the Death Wish. During this process, the two women became even closer, and shared a passionate kiss, which came as a surprise to both of them. Shortly afterward, Marlo went away on a romantic vacation with Rick, but was unable to stop thinking about Moondragon. Eventually, Marlo confessed to Rick her attraction to Moondragon. Marlo said that she didn’t believe she was gay, but that she felt an attraction to Moondragon that she couldn’t deny and needed to explore. Rick reluctantly agreed to let her go, and said he’d be waiting for her when and if she changed her mind.

Art by Aaron Lopresti

Art by Aaron Lopresti

 

Marlo and Moondragon spent a few months living happily together, but eventually Marlo started to miss Rick and had her old feelings for him start to come back. Moondragon understood, and although they broke up, they agreed to remain friends.

When Marlo finally did return to Rick, Moondragon told them both that Marlo’s attraction to her was artifical, an accidental effect of her telepathic powers being affected by a supervillain called the Magus. This, however, was a lie that Moondragon came up with in order to allow Marlo and Rick to resume their relationship, without doubt hanging over their heads about Marlo’s feelings for Moondragon. Whether or not Marlo believed this story is unknown.

Rick and Marlo were last seen heading off to resume their lives together, after Marlo managed to get rid of her Death Wish power accidentally, by wishing she didn’t have it.

Marlo had a power called the Death Wish, which allowed her to alter reality with her spoken wishes. However, the power only worked unconsciously–the wishes were only granted if Marlo was not trying to use the power.

This made the power extremely dangerous, since it only worked by accident, and could turn casual comments into reality.

While she had the power, Marlo managed to teleport people, bring someone back from the dead, and even kill herself. She lost the power when she accidentally wished it away.

Marlo also possessed the ability to see ghosts, but it is unknown if she still has this power. Her personal ghost, Lorraine, has vanished without explanation.

Marlo’s first appearance was in Incredbile Hulk #347 and was confirmed bisexual in Captain Marvel #32, vol 3. Over the span of her appearances she has been a comic shop owner, actor, and aerobics instructor.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Tags: , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Bling!

Monday, December 21st, 2009

bling01Contributed by Hope

Bling! is the mutant daughter of two famous rappers in the Marvel universe, but turned her back on the music world and enrolled in the Xavier academy when she was a teenager. She has purple rock hard skin similar to diamonds or crystal that she can shoot off as projectiles and have been revealed as extensions of her bone marrow (similar to mutants Marrow and Penance).

She was training on Gambit’s squad of X-men when Mystique, in the guise of a new student called Fox, arrived on the team to seduce Gambit. Bling! found herself very attracted to this new arrival, which ended when Mystique revealed her betrayal.

She was one of the few mutants to retain their powers after M-Day and is currently on the X-men’s island called Utopia. Recently she was taken captive by Emplate who was using her to produce an unlimited source of bone marrow that he could feed on. She was saved by Rogue.
bling03
Bling! currently appears in X-men: Legacy, and in the background of various X-books.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

Daken

Monday, December 21st, 2009

daken01Contributed by Hope

Son of Wolverine and his Japanese wife, Itsu. Wolverine believed he was dead when his wife was murdered by Bucky Barnes, but possibly due to his healing factor (same as his fathers) Daken survived and was adopted by a wealthy, childless couple. Daken however, is not his true name, being named Akihiro by his adopted father, he was branded ‘Mongrel’ on account of his obvious white heritage. His adopted mother never took to him and when she found out that she was pregnant, confessed this to her husband, which Daken opverheard. Shortly after the child was born, Daken murdered him out of jealousy, and in an accident which showed that he had inherited his fathers claws as well as healing factor, killed his adopted mother. His father commited suicide after seeing this.

Daken becomes an assassin under the guidance of Romulus, Wolverines enemy who had ordered Dakens birth mother killed.

When Daken finally meets his birth father, his rage at being abandoned causes him to lash out and almost kill him. Although their relationship has improved somewhat due to psychic interference by Charles Xavier, it is an unsteady truce. In an interesting twist, he replaces his father on Norman Osbornes group of Dark Avengers, even to wearing the same costume.

Although approximately 60 years old, Daken appears to be in his early twenties and projects himself as such. Unlike his father, Daken has an additional mutation which leads him to project pheromones that enable him to influence anyone he wants. He often uses this sexually, on both men and women, to cause them to desire him and then manipulates them to do what he needs them to do. Notably he can also project pheromones to cause desire between people such as when he suggested to The Thing that he wanted to sleep with his team-mate Johnny Storm, causing the Thing to lash out at Daken in confusion. Daken is confirmed bisexual and has slept with both men and women, but never so far out of any personal desire for them. He is skilled at manipulating people, and projects a hedonistic and sophisticate persona to the public, but at little provocation easily loses his control and becomes savage, like his father’s famous ‘berserker rages’.

Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Currently Daken stars in Dark Wolverine, co-stars in the Dark Avengers, and is just finishing a co-starring role in Dark X-men.

Daken first appeared in Wolverine Origins #10.

© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.

Tags: ,
Posted in LGBT Characters | No Comments »

« Older Entries