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Heavy Artillery

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Art by Adam Warren

Contributed by Mike McDermott

Heavy Artillery is a member of the Super-Homies, an elite superhero team (the Empowered-universe’s version of the Avengers).  He has a large cannon in place of his head.  He appears to be a reserve member of the team, or at least not one of their more prominent members–so far he has appeared mostly as a background character in large group meetings or social functions, and we have yet to see him in action in a field mission.

Heavy Artillery outed himself to the audience when the Super Homies were examining some YAOI slash fan-fiction comics about the team, commenting that the stories were definately written by women *for* women: “‘Cause speaking as a gay male, this yaoi crap does nothing for me”.  Although Emp was surprised by Heavy Artillery’s sexuality, none of the other Super Homies made any comment–so presumably none of them have any issue with him (despite several of the male Super-Homies being sexist jerks, so it would not be a surprise for them to be homophobic too).

Heavy Artillery is one of the few Super Homies not shown to treat Emp poorly for being relatively ineffective as a superhero. However they have barely interacted at all on-panel, so it is unclear if he actually treats her better than most of her other teammates, or if we simply haven’t seen any examples of him treating her badly.

Heavy Artillery first appeared in Empowered vol 1 and is outed in Empowered vol 3.

Heavy Artillery is © Adam Warren. All rights reserved.

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Three

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Joey Alison Sayers, Eric Orner, and Robert Kirby
Rob Kirby Comics
$6.25

Three is the title of a new comics anthology featuring the work of LGBT writers and artists. If “three” seems like an odd title for a comic, editor Kirby reflects on the ways this simple number saturates our lives: three Fates; three wishes; past, present, future; beginning, middle, end; and of course, the phrase “queer as a three dollar bill.” To his list I would add something Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching (who, just to clarify, is not some long lost, never-seen-on-panel relative of I Ching, mentor to Wonder Woman during her Kung Fu days):

Tao produced the One.
The One produced the two.
The two produced the three.
And the three produced the ten thousand things.

How’s that for a hoity toity reference? I may have just piqued the curiosity of gay spandex-loving readers and lost them a split second later. Let’s hope not because Three is deserving of your attention. My only reason for including these lines by Lao Tzu is to show that even a long dead philosopher knows the importance of “three” out of which all things are made possible.

But how does three apply to Three, you ask? Simple. Three stories in one comic, done this first time out by three people: Joey Alison Sayers, Eric Orner, and Robert Kirby. Orner’s name should be familiar to many from his long running strip The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green. Likewise, Kirby should be best known for his Curbside Boys strip and Boy Trouble anthologies that saw life as both an indy comic and two collections from Green Candy Press. I shouldn’t admit this, but Sayers, known for her Thingpart strip, was unknown to me aside from vaguely recalled references to said strip. That was remedied by a visit to her site and clicking around to get a better feeling. One of the things about anthologies is to introduce different creators to readers, so mission accomplished there!

Several years back I rented Yossi and Jagger, Eytan Fox’s film about two Israeli soldiers having a secret love affair. It was my sudden awareness of my ignorance about anything gay in Israel that made me curious when I came across it at the video store (how 1999 is that?). Flash forward to recently when I stumbled across Men of Israel for a very >ahem< different spin on gay men in Israel. Eric Orner’s Weekends Abroad is another take on life and culture in that country, ostensibly through his own eyes as I learned through a little search that Orner’s recently lived in Israel to work on a project. Being Jewish doesn’t mean he fits in with Israeli or Jewish society as it’s expressed there. It certainly doesn’t help matters that he doesn’t understand Hebrew thanks to an incident involving, of all things, Wyler’s Lemonade. This is especially true for him in more devout Jerusalem where he works and less so in modern and gay friendly (or friendlier) Tel Aviv where he escapes. More than not fitting in, he doesn’t want to fit in and this attitude ensures that hijinks ensue from getting on the wrong Tel Aviv bound bus whose only stop is three (there’s that number again) miles out of his way, to a hook up gone south, and early morning meanderings through unfamiliar neighborhoods. Oddly enough it’s this unexpected wandering through Tel Aviv’s mostly empty streets that he finally develops a connection after spotting the person responsible for some curious English graffiti with which he’s been mildly obsessed. Coming across this person who simultaneously negotiates and participates in life both differently and as an outsider brings him to a similar understanding and acceptance.

Orner’s style here is a pleasant surprise, which is not meant as a backhanded compliment regarding his work on the Ethan Green strip. In general it’s more detailed but not overworked. From an artist point of view I’d say that Orner had a lot of fun being freed up from any constraints artists have working on the same characters over a strip’s lifetime. Figures have more detail and unique characteristics and the scenes in which they live and interact are highly evocative of a distinct place. Creating that kind of impression isn’t as easy as you may think. Orner works in black, white, grey tones, and light yellow, a combination that works surprisingly well. This is the same approach Orner is using in his bigger project about his observations while living in Israel that you can see samples of here and here. After reading this story and those samples I’ve realized how my perceptions of Israel and its people have been affected by myopic evangelical Christian notions of the country being the Holy Land. It may be true in a sense, but those ideas are frozen in abstract, subjective fantasies reluctant to admit the greater reality. In any case this larger outsider as observer project has me quite curious to read it.

Number One by Sayers is a short piece about the perils of having to pee when out in public. For sure it’s an odd topic and I bet you don’t usually think about it if only because you may be a guy and, guys, shall we say, have easier options when nature calls. Unfortunately women don’t have that advantage. Sayers’ treats her doppelganger’s situation with humor. Now the story functions on this level just as is, but there’s a deceptive simplicity at work here when you take into account that Sayers is M2F transsexual who negotiated the world in a body that didn’t match her innate gender identity. Considering this, Number One becomes a gentle and celebratory slice of her new life.

Kirby’s Freedom Flight revisits Drew, one of his main characters from Curbside Boys. It’s been several years since I enjoyed the experience of reading the two Curbside collections back to back and I remember relating to Drew in several aspects. Kirby visits Drew’s adolescence in a brief flash back, and now it seems I relate to Drew in a couple other ways. Drew the child used to hide from adults sometimes to eavesdrop on adults. Only my “hiding” was in plain sight, pretending to do kid things, and it amazed me to hear what adults talked about when they thought I wasn’t paying attention. He also dreamt of flying away on a plane from “everything.” Clearly Drew had some heavy stuff going on as a kid. My mode of travel was by hopping one of the freight trains that came down tracks near one house we lived in. But you’re not reading this to learn stuff about my messed up childhood, are you?

Flash forward to 1994 and Drew’s in his 20s, the boytoy of an older professor he had for film studies. He could be happy living in New York with a boyfriend, but that listless, unsettled feeling of childhood has struck again. When Mitch ignores him again in favor of grading papers (surely one of the banes of teachers all over), Drew simply decides to quietly make a break with the clothes on his back, a little cash, and Visa card for which Mitch is probably the co-signer. Kirby creates an encounter with a three-legged dog that acts in a fashion like an animal spirit guide until the owner appears and bam! totemic interruptus! Anything Drew feels he might have learned from this affable canine muse is gone. And just like that, so is his compulsion to leave Mitch.

Like Sayers’ Number One, Kirby’s story has a lot more going on beneath the surface. Drew the 20 something is in denial over being emotionally handicapped. But there’s more involving relationships, specifically how Drew sees his role. And Mitch has issues, too. While out walking, Drew wonders if Mitch will remember to take his “meds”, a phrase that clued me in to Mitch’s situation Kirby drew a little bottle labeled “AZT” a couple pages later. This is 1994 and AZT was one of only a very few HIV drugs at the time. A long life was often a coveted dream and gay men were selling life insurance policies and living it up in what little time they assumed was left them. And here Mitch sits resigned to grading papers, ignoring the company and hot and sweaty sex with a boyfriend 15 or 20 years younger, perhaps out of fear of infecting him. But he’s the perfect boyfriend for Drew because he’s clearly confused desperation, duty, and martyrdom, and a monotonous routine with love, a sense of purpose, and identity. Or perhaps I’ve just projected my philosophy regarding how living life with a chronic disease impacts relationships.

Art wise, aside from the blue, black and white color scheme, Kirby’s work here is a progression from his Curbside works. Like Orner, Kirby seems to have had fun expanding on drawing more background and scene elements giving a sense of animation.

Ask me what happened in some superhero comic I might’ve read a couple weeks ago and I’d be hard pressed to tell you. Too many are like the comics version of self-gratification. These three stories though, they’ve gotten into my head. sat down and stayed a while. I’ve even watched another Eytan Fox movie, The Bubble.  Good job, you three!

Three can be purchased at Robert Kirby’s website . Shipping is quite reasonable. People on tap for the next issue are Machael Fahy, Jennifer Camper, David Kelly, Craig Bostick, Sina Shamsavari, and Jon Macy.

Other links of interest:

My friends François Peneaud and Sean McGrath have also reviewed Three. Read their thoughts here and here.

Visit Ethan Green’s website and head over to Joey Alison Sayres’ spot on the interwebs.

Boy Trouble volume 1 and volume 2 (with preview pages) are available from Amazon.

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Teleny and Camille

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Art by the infernal Jon Macy

By Joe Palmer

Dear God-fearing gentlemen and ladies: It is with indignation burning in my breast that compels me to sound a clarion bell to forewarn the populace of a most horrifying book which has surfaced of late from the foulest recesses of the lowest levels of society. This novel, no this affront of debauchery, this “Teleny and Camille” has the telltale stamp of the once feted degenerate Oscar Wilde. This is no simple manuscript; accompanying the writing are illustrations depicting the lecherous adventures of these two young men as they indulge in unspeakable, lascivious and unnatural acts which are proven as the abhorhence of God and hallowed civilization. One might presume these debased drawings to be produced by Wilde’s occasional associate Aubrey Beardsley. Rather, they are the unholy work of one Jon Macy, and we feel he must be of equal standing to Wilde for so putting into form acts between these two men and others which should never be spoken of by good and righteous people. Never before has this upright person looked upon images of lanquor, of men in cataphysical couplings, declaring love to one another. It is a mockery of the natural order upon which our history rests! Mr. Macy, this one believes, should be sent to the gaol — gentle ladies, please avert your gaze as it is not our wish to offend — for sketching tumescent members and ample buttocks as if to be confused as supplications! Messers Macy and Wilde are denizens of whorish Babylon, as surely as their fetid imaginings!

This novel, if one is to be so kind to give it such distinction, is a heinous documentation of a man’s descent into an aberrant way of life fed by the furtive seductions of another man already given up to wayward means befitting the doomed citizens of the Cities of the Plain destroyed by God’s wrathful fire. As is typical, these men wantonly and openly cavort in their private company and dwell in delight of the carnal pleasures. Such scenes are shocking to common sensibilities! Furthermore, such rakehell behaviours bear the stain of the heathen, exotic culture of the Moors. Witness how the sugary palm date is consumed! Rather no! good friend! Spare your spirit of such imagery! The reproductive organs are intended but for two purposes: procreation in the glory of our Lord and purification via elimination of bodily wastes. Surely the catenation evidenced between foodstuffs and lewd displays is proof of lascivious effrontery by this Teleny and Camille and their various compatriots. These men are emboldened by the mirroring of their corrupt desires and dare to pronounce such emotions as love – and a love unequaled by that which is expressed in tradition! They are deluded, as our mannerly fraternity is duty-bound not to suffer such abominated practitioners of this unnameable vice. Would they be doomed, excepting this infernal choice to save these men from their rightful fate and to shew them continuing in misguided bliss.

Good friend, it further saddens and enrages that I should be likened unto the plight of Lot seeking righteous souls who our loving God spared from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is quite awful that men of such ill repute are illuminated so brazenly. Moreso that the authors of this salicious tome impugn their women, as few they may be, with equal ill repute. Their maligned notions besmirch even God’s creatures as we are presented with a vile and loathsome poodle given over to urges of which details your conscience shall be pardoned.

Reports purport that bookseller Charles Hirsch, owner of the Librairie Parisienne situated on Coventry Street and whose morals one must certainly question, disseminates this licentious album. Beware also of this queerly named purveyor, Northwest Comics, as it is this brash upstart in matters which dare not speak its name from which emanates this sinfully illustrated decadence.

Be you circumspect in all manners should you encounter this Teleny and Camille! Its very existence seeks to subvert the natural order of God’s creation!

An advisement to all gentlemen of worthy repute: after some while during which this one prepondered such risks, the resolve to afford you, my friend, the choice to deliberate the following so that you may not be found ill-prepared should such devious creatures confront you became hardened within my body and senses. Gird your self with God’s holy words to your bosom before proceeding to this most profane imagery!

One must be certain to avoid the accidental purchase of such filth from this purveyor, or this one, or directly from the damnable publisher. You may also wish to read this review which was written by a fellow wanderer of Wilde’s tribe.

Jon Macy art and adaptation

Oscar Wilde and unnamed associates are the purported authors

Published by Northwest Comics $29.99 240 pages

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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.

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Jack Cooper

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Jack with dark hairJack Cooper is a valuable employee, ostensibly the PR head of the HeNRI Institute, a private weapons R & D firm which was developing a battle suit based on technology using liquid metal. Public relations carries other connotations for HeNRI though and there’s much more to Jack under his thin veneer efficiency. Cooper is first seen consulting with HeNRI’s Dr. Foster in the wake of the Institute’s beta suit’s explosion during a secret military test. Tasked by Foster, Cooper enlists the the expertise of National Security Branch agent Ivy Raven to track down and bring in Julie Martin, the woman who witnessed the Moon Lake explosion. Together they begin the investigation, starting with a gruesome and mysterious crime scene. Cooper fails to maintain complete control of the situation during an interaction with Park Ranger Dillon Murphy in which he has to relate the death of Annie, Murphy’s scientist girlfriend who was killed while wearing the beta suit.

An undercurrent of tension and distrust arises when Ivy discovers during a phone update with Jack that he’s been hiding information about the Mook Lake blast from her. Suspicion continues for Ivy with more interaction with Jack as he continues to try and fail at staying on top of things as Ivy gets closer to and then locates Martin. Pressure increases on Jack after images of the Moon Lake crater surface in the national news media and he loses control over Ivy when she fails to yield to his ultimatum, thus ensuring her involvment as a free agent sympathetic to Julie.

More of Jack’s despicable nature is revealed when he visits HeNRI scientist Hong Liu in a critical care burn unit and tries to extort Liu’s computer password for pain treatment in order to get plans for a proton gun to take down Julie Martin. Later Jack coerces another HeNRI scientist to lie to the police about an incident in which he narrowly escaped an assailant who targeted him so the company isn’t drawn into the matter. Thinking a lead has brought them to Julie, Jack orders a black ops agent to strike and kill.

Issue #20 pulls back the curtain on Jack’s private life. He arrives home to find several packed bags by the front door. Todd, a friend, sits in the living room, mentioning that Ethan is waiting by the pool. We learn from their conversation that they’ve been together a number of years, and Ethan has decided to end their relationship because they’ve grown apart. Jack alludes to big problems at work. This turn of events clearly pushes Jack and as Ethan starts to leave he realizes his lover knows too much. Out of control, hurt, and angered, Jack takes a drastic step for, in his mind, national security. He clearly shows remorse, but he doesn’t let emotions get involved while ordering a coverup of his gruesome actions. That’s as much as I’ll spoil this truly shocking development.

Jack Cooper first appears in Echo #2 and is confirmed gay in #20.

© 2010 Terry Moore. All rights reserved.

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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.

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Moomin Volume 1

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Tove Jansson
$19.95 or $13.57 at Amazon
Drawn & Quarterly

Tove Jannson might be a relatively obscure name for most Americans. Such is not the case in her native Finland where she is widely popular for her Moomin comic strip and novels or the 34 countries where her work has been translated. Her name first came to my attention nine years ago when a Finnish member of the GLA Yahoo list posted a notice of her death, and while her name and work were mentioned on the rare occasion, I felt no compulsion to look for her work, not even after boutique comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly announced it would print volumes. This changed on a recent trip to my library when either Moomin or Jansson popped into my head, and I searched the catalog. Lo and behold! All five volumes were on the shelf. Flipping through the first volume inquisitively revealed quirky and charming drawings, reason enough to give it a chance.

Quirkiness and charm do indeed abound in Moomin. Among the biographical notes on Wikipedia it’s mentioned that Jansson started to draw her strip during World War II because she was depressed and wanted something naive and innocent. Naive and innocent is the perfect description for Jansson’s stories, especially when she introduces her gentle main character Moomin with a full moon shot as he’s hiding out from a house full of guests and relations. Moomin’s good friend Sniff is introduced in the third panel and from there we’re taken on a willy nilly series of adventures from a jail break to get rich quick schemes ranging from selling a youthful elixir, a sea monster, posing as a fortune teller, and a cubist artist. It’s a playful and non-sensical version of the hero’s quest. And yes, Moomin does rescue the girl, specifically one named Snorkmaiden, not once but twice. who becomes the love of his life, and is rewarded with a new house.

The three remaining chapters are titled Moomin and Family Life (in which Moomin and his long lost parents are reunited), Moomin on The Riveria, and Moomin’s Desert Island. They’re all very enjoyable stories with wonderfully inventive ideas such as finding a nailed up box, only to discover it’s full tiny critters representing swear words. Their solution is to pack it up and send it off to eccentric Aunt Jane. When an exasperated Aunt Janes confronts them, Moomin explains it with: “You see, Aunt Jane, one must have a fling sometime in one’s life…We only sent you the swear words for fun. We really are very fond of you.” More silliness ensues when the Moomin family and Snorkmaiden take a vacation on the Riviera. Jansson has a wonderful time putting these characters into absurd situations and interacting with oddball characters like the Marquis Mongaga and a Lothario named Clark who takes an interest in Snorkmaiden after she wins big at the hotel casino.

D & Q’s hardback books are always well made. The oversized volume has a colorful illustration of the characters printed across the front and back covers with a bright read band of bookcloth down the spine. End papers are a cherry orange with playful poses of Moomin printed in white in horizontal rows. Interior art is black and white with shades of gray as Jansson drew them, crisply printed on cream paper that’s very nice on the eyes. An often overlooked sign of quality (or lack of) is a book’s binding. In Moomin’s case, the pages are sewn binding, ensuring that the book will last for a significant period of time. The book will also lay flat on a table when opened, making for easy reading.

Perhaps the closest American things I can compare Moomin to is to ask you to picture what a mashup between Peanuts and the original Adams Family cartoons would be like, and even that is off the mark. It’s zany dialog and plots filled with loveable anthropormorphic characters. Reading the first volume was sheer enjoyment and my only regret is in not reading it sooner. Consider Mooming if you’re looking for a book for young family member or for your inner child. We should all have such amazing responses to tragedies whether great or personal in life!

Buy Moomin from Amazon

To learn more about Jansson, there is the requisite Wikipedia entry and another bio here.

For the curious, a comprehensive list of Moomin work is at Moomin Trove.

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The Brothers Brown

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Art by Kelley Jones

Twin brothers Braden and Blair Brown are San Francisco performance artists whose stage work at the Geary Theater consists of monologs incorporated into live sex acts. They appear infrequently primarily as minor supporting characters in the inner circle of shock jock radio personality Anton Marx. As such, they try to goad Marx into letting them promote their show on his broadcast, make a pass at Marx who declines, or to be the occasional barb of Marx’s acidic comments, of which he spares no one.

They’re thrilled when reviewer Tamka Rabowitz (a propbable reference to Tama Janowitz) says their performance is: “The nexus of theater, theology and morality, The Brothers Brown question all that is sacred about family and self.” In issue #14, we get a small look at one of their pieces when Marx, Venus (who loves Marx and dissatisfied with being a friend with benefits), and Venus’ elderly mother attend one their performances. Venus is intrigued, Marx finds it unenjoyable and inoffensive, and the mother is totally outraged. After the show, one of the brothers teases a trio  drag queens.  They’re attacked and beaten (though possibly killed as it’s unclear) by a  masked vigilante while taking a short cut home.

The brothers are later attacked, because “You’re queers. God hates queers. I know ’cause I’m just like you. God doesn’t like me either.” Braden suffers worse in the attack which is ended quickly when the mysterious protagonist dressed as a medieval knight (a central character and theme of the series which I’ll forego trying to summarize) steps in to save them. Presumably the two attacks are perpetrated by the same person. (Issue 17) They’re last seen in the following issue in a scene in Braden’s hospital room as they talk to a police detective. The series ended with issue #20.

In their initial appearance the brothers are referred to as “The Brothers Brock” in The Crusades: Urban Decree special that begins the series. Thereafter, Seagle calls them The Brothers Brown.

© Steven T. Seagle and Kelley Jones. All rights reserved. Originally published by Vertigo. Now being collected in two volumes by Image.

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Another Visit With Jim McCann

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Interview conducted by Mike McDermott

Image found at www.jimmccannonline.comMike: Congratulations on the new ongoing!  A lot of things have been changing recently in the Marvel Universe since the REUNION miniseries ended.  What is the new status quo for Hawkeye and Mockingbird going into the new series?

Jim: Thanks so much!!!  I still can hardly believe it, but I have to than the fans of the mini because their support is what made this ongoing a reality!

As for Clint & Bobbi’s new status, as you saw in Siege & the tie-in New Avengers issues, Bobbi has still had some issues adjusting back to life on Earth.  Hawkeye promised her something “new” when Siege was over and this is it.  She’s left the

Avengers full-time (you’ll still see her in and out over in New Avengers) but her focus in on the W.C.A. and rebuilding her life.  Hawkeye is finding his place back in the MU as Hawkeye, pulling double-duty in the Avengers and in the W.C.A. in HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD.  Together, they are finding where they fit, on the field of battle and in the bedroom  They never dated before, so that’s new, and they are starting a new team together under a different operating structure than the Avengers.  Lots of new opportunities to mine from.

Mike: Clint Barton is a character who has been somewhat controversial over the last few years, from his abandoning the “Hawkeye” identity to become ninja warrior “Ronin”; a very controversial intimate encounter with the Scarlet Witch; and most

recently abandoning his “Avengers don’t kill” stance when he tried to assassinate Norman Osborn.  Now Clint is getting back into the purple tights and becoming “Hawkeye” again.  What is Clint’s frame of mind like these days?  And does it feel different to be writing Clint as “Hawkeye” instead of “Ronin”?

Jim: Clint, like his fans, is thrilled to be back in action as Hawkeye.  It took a lot of soul-searching during his time as Ronin to figure out who he was, post-coming-back-from-the-dead.  He went through a lot during that time.  As far as his “Avengers don’t kill” stance with Norman, I’d say that was his moment where he realized he had hit rock bottom and been pushed beyond his limits- something everyone goes through, Avenger or not.  He acknowledged as much in that same issue.  That, and having Bobbi and Cap back, are the things that have led him back to being Hawkeye.  Now he is more grounded, sure of himself, and his place in the world. In THE REUNION, that was more a story of Clint & Bobbi than whatever their alter egos were.  That said, it’s awesome writing Hawkeye, seeing David Lopez draw Hawkeye, and have a book called HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD!
From Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1
Mike: The solicit for the first issue mentions Crossfire and Phantom Rider as the villains for the first arc.  Long time fans know that these two are a significant part of Clint and Bobbi’s history, but for the benefit of newer readers, what is it about these two members of the Hawk & Mock rogues gallery that made you choose them as the debut bad guys?

Jim: These are the bad guys for our heroes. Crossfire was the first foe they faced together and has been in their lives off and on since then.  He considers Hawkeye his arch-enemy.  Phantom Rider is the one character to successfully destroy Clint & Bobbi’s relationship and the damage done to Mockingbird still hasn’t fully healed.  New readers will learn all they need to by picking up this first issue, and then they will understand why long-tie readers – and Hawkeye & Mockingbird – are freaking out that these two villains have paired up to take down our twosome!

Mike: How serious a threat is Crossfire in this story?  I mean, we’re talking about the guy who once knocked himself out with Clint’s bow and arrows; got shot by an elderly actress, and more recently has been a face-in-the-crowd of the Hood’s army of thugs…with said face usually seen getting punched or kicked by either Clint or Bobbi.  How worried should Clint and Bobbi be that this guy is after them again?

Jim: Yeah, not his finest moments. I’m coming at the character as a serious threat.  Look at his background- ex-CIA operative, expert marksman, scientific genius.  Clint and Bobbi are finally going to learn what it means to stop taking someone seriously, especially when said villain is in a position to make a significant power play.  And teamed with the Phantom Rider… this is going to be a story fans of both characters will be talking about for a long time to come.  And it’s just the beginning!

Mike: Mockingbird is the leader of the new WCA (World Counter-terrorism Agency), which means that Clint is taking orders from her.

Does this affect the dynamic of their relationship at all, since in the Avengers Bobbi was using serving under Clint’s command?

Jim: 100% . And it’s a blast to write.  The opportunities it allows are just starting to show themselves.

Mike: Tell us a bit about the supporting cast–who are some of the members of the new WCA?  Any chance of a gay character or two in the mix?

Jim: I’ve had the chance to create and also bring in some really fun characters. You’ll learn a lot about them in the first issue, but each of them has a lot more than what’s going on below the surface.  Especially Dominic Fortune- watch out for this guy!

As for potential gay characters, I know each of these people inside and out and they will be revealing things about themselves at the proper times.  I wouldn’t look for “A Very Special Issue” or anything, but, yes, this is a very diverse cast.

Mike: While Clint Barton’s has a colourful history that has been explored over the years, Bobbi’s life before joining SHIELD is a bit of a blank slate.  Do you have any plans to reveal more of Bobbi Morse’s personal life and history?

Jim: That’s a great question and you are not the only person wondering about that. So is someone in the pages of HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD…Someone that will discover a lot more than they bargained for!

Mike: One part of Clint and Bobbi’s history that people sometimes forget is that for a while the two of them trained and co-led the Great Lakes Avengers (and Bobbi led them solo for a while after Clint returned to the West Coast Avengers).  Any chance of the GLA (and their gay deputy leader Flatman) turning up at some point?

Jim: At this point, I think Dan Slott would hurt me if I tried to use them. No, though, there are no current plans to use them, but who’s to say that may change.  What?  Oh, Dan said no, so still “Nope.”  Sorry.

Mike: During the years where Bobbi was missing and presumed dead, Clint started to move on with his life and have relationships with other women (the aforementioned Scarlet Witch incident, a serious romance with Moonstone of the Thunderbolts, a brief fling with Echo, etc, etc).  Might any of these other women show up to complicate matters with Clint and Bobbi’s attempts to repair their relationship?  For that matter, might Bobbi have any ex-boyfriends lurking in the shadows?

Jim: Bobbi has Ka-Zar, doesn’t she?  And possibly another romantic rival to come between her and Clint?  And Clint does have quite the list of ex’s, doesn’t he?  And wouldn’t a writer love to explore that?  Hmmm…

Mike: Without getting into specific spoilers, looking beyond the first arc, what can readers expect for HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD?

Jim: The unexpected.  Seriously.  The things we get to do in just this first year alone, I never thought would get the green light, but it has!  And lurking out there are some familiar faces, friendly and not-so friendly, including a pair or two of evil robot eyes maybe.

Mike: Before HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD hits the stands, you also have a DAZZLER one-shot coming out.  Tell us a bit about that.

Jim: Aside from being a personal dream come true, I wanted to tell a Dazzler story I believed in, and this is that story.

It picks up from NECROSHA and deals with the fall-out of Dazzler’s half-sister Lois London, a.k.a. Mortis, being a murdering villain.  We get the battle between these two, as well as a chance to see Dazzler fight a lot of her former foes while fighting her biggest enemy- herself.

It’s my chance to show why Dazzler is relevant today- as a character and a super hero.  It also shows why she is the perfect example of mutant as minority metaphor.

Mike: Dazzler is a character who seems to have a pretty large gay fanbase (at least on the message boards)–and it is no secret that she is a personal favourite of yours.  What is it about the character that you love so much, and why do you think she is such a fan-favourite, even so many years after the end of her solo series?

Jim: I think because she is such a relatable character.  Like Peter Parker in the pages of SPIDER-MAN, Dazzler’s solo series was as much about the person behind the blue eye make-up and roller skates as it was about laserbeams, if not more.  It let us into her head, and showed a struggling, self-aware character that a lot of people, myself included, could relate to and understand.  In this one-shot, you’ll see a lot of why I love this character, by getting into her head and showing the reader what she is going through.

Mike: Is this Dazzler story a one-shot deal, or might there be some more Dazzler stories in your future?

Jim: I would love to keep writing her.  I have a specific mini-series in mind, so let’s see how this one-shot does first.

Art by Janet Lee

Mike: Any last comments you’d like to make about either book?

Jim: Buy them!  Tell your friends to buy them!  And if you are already doing those things, thank you! This is a dream come true- I say it all the time, but it is.  And I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy working on them!

Jim McCann is on Facebook and visit him at his website. Jim’s first interview with Gayleague may be read here .

[Editor note: McCann’s graphic novel, Return Of the Dapper Men, with artist Janet Lee, is scheduled for October release from Archaia Comics.]

Dazzler, Hawkeye & Mockingbird are © and ® Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved. Return of the Dapper Men is © Jim McCann and  Janet Lee. Used without permission.

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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.

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Posted in LGBT Characters | 1 Comment »

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