President Obama recently honored sixteen individuals by awarding them the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Each of these individuals have made remarkable contributions in their own rights, but of particular interest to me were Billie Jean King, Desmond Tutu, Joe Medicine Crow-High Bird, and Harvey Milk. An idea occurred to me after someone had commented about the awards in a post to the GLA Yahoo email list.

Indy publisher Bluewater Productions, helmed by Darren Davis (who just happens to be gay) has published of late a number of biographical comics focusing on political and media personalities. Bluewater is currently soliciting in the August Previews (for comics shipping in October ’09) Female Force #8: Barbara Walters; a Female Force trade collecting the issues on Hilary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Carloine Kennedy, and Ms Maverick herself, Sarah Palin; First Family: The obamas: and Political Power #4: Ronald Reagan. The copy for the last comic indicates the story focuses on how Reagan went “from B-movies to revitalizing the Republican Party and orchestrating the end of the Cold War” while seemingly avoiding the consequences of the president’s willful negligence for people during the early years of the AIDS pandemic. I should also point out that Bluewater has printed other comics about Clinton and Obama, also including one about Joe Biden that I’ve overlooked, and I used the current Previews as a handy reference.

So, here’s my idea for Davis: publish a comic telling the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected to an office in the United States. Sure, there was an outstanding film, but one can’t deny the power of bringing words and drawings together in a printed story. Other comics that could feature LGBT people whose lives have impacted following generations for the gay community: pioneers Harry Hay, and Phylis Lyon and Del Martin who were finally able to marry two months before Martin’s death, author Oscar Wilde, or Jewish doctor Magnus Hirschfeld who formed an organization in 1897 trying to repeal Germany’s Paragraph 175, or stories focusing on events such as the Stonewall Riots, or the persecution and internment of homosexuals under Nazi Germany.

I’d pay $3.99 for those comics.