Over at The Source, Alex Segura breaks some exciting news about the upcoming Batwoman series. Enjoy the alternate cover image drawn by Amy Reeder Hadley (whose last project was Madame Xanadu) to November’s Batwoman #0 and read the rest of the news here.
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.
Art by John Byrne
By Ronald Byrd
As part of Department H’s efforts to create Canadian super-agents, Walter Langkowski subjected himself to a gamma-radiation treatment designed to give him super-powers similar to those of Bruce Banner,a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk,with whom Langkowski attended college. Unknown to Langkowski, his experiment briefly established a mystic link between himself and the extradimensionally exiled Great Beast named Tanaraq, enabling him to assume the form of an incarnation of the Beast, which Langkowski mistook for a transformation similar to that of the Hulk’s.
As Sasquatch, Langkowski became a member of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, but his career took a dramatic turn when the efforts of Tanaraq and his fellow Great Beasts resulted in the expulsion of his soul from his body, which was possessed by Tanaraq and subsequently destroyed; temporarily inhabiting the robot Box, his soul was later transferred to the body of his female teammate Snowbird (whose own soul was at the time believed to be dead; she has since returned, although precisely how she obtained a new body is as yet unrevealed), which was itself in bestial form at the time. Sasquatch was surprised when his transformation back to human left him in Snowbird’s female body (a turn which, unsurprisingly, had a detrimental effect on his relationship with female teammate Aurora), in which form he used the name Wanda Langkowski. Sasquatch eventually regained his male form and evidently never explored any romantic possibilities while in Snowbird’s form, but his experience remains relatively unique in the annals of Marveldom. Temporarily replaced on the team without his knowledge by a genuine sasquatch while he was conducting scientific research, he is an active member of Alpha Flight to this day.
Sasquatch has the ability to change into a large, shaggy, bestial form (actually an incarnation of the Great Beast Tanaraq) in which he possesses immense super-strength, durability, and reflexes; when in human form he retains none of these abilities. It is possible that, considering that he occupies the body of the demigoddess Snowbird, he may have the potential to utilize her own more extensive shape-changing abilities and other powers, but this is unclear.
Sasquatch first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120. The character’s gender transformation happened in Alpha Flight #45.
© and ® Narvel Comics. All rights reserved.
By Eric N.
Born and raised in small-town America, Victor Borkowski is a sixteen year old mutant who grew up despite his mutation and appearence. The neighborhood he grew up in a small community that accepted him for who he was until Anti-mutant feelings spread and threatened his safety, as a result Victor was sent off to Xavier’s school where he quickly excelled academically and made close friends with Northstar who subsequently helped him come to terms with his sexuality.
When advisors were being assigned, Victor at first chose Karma but was reassigned to Northstar where he was friendly towards Julian Keller of the Hellions but now seems closer towards his own teammates. When news spread of Northstar’s demise Victor was deeply affected. At the time he as well as the rest of the New Mutants were unaware of Northstar’s resurrection via the Hand.
It is unknown if he has chosen to come out to the rest of the school. Victor’s chosen foreign language is French.
In the wake of the House Of M more than 90% of the mutant population lost their mutant powers, however, Anole was spared and his team Alpha Squadron along with the Hellions and New Mutants were all merged into one team.
Shortly after that Emma Frost called for an all out brawl to decide who would lead this new mutant group, though Anole was not selected and still remains at the Institute to further his training.
Anole’s reptilian mutation grants, green skin, a spiked carapce instead of hair, enhanced agility and a prehensile tongue. A chameleon like ability allows him to blend with his surroundings to become nearly invisible, though he seemingly has trouble controlling his powers if too emotionally unstable.
[This profile may require updating. Please contact me at glajoe at gayleague dot com if you'd like to update this entry.]
Anole’s first appearance is New Mutants #2, vol 2.
© and ® Marvel Comics. All rights reserved.
Art by Michael Ryan and Mike Norton
Contributed by Hope
Xavin is a Skrull in the Marvel universe, an extraterrestrial species with the ability to change form as they choose. As such though Xavin’s natural gender began as male, it remains fluid, much to the frustration of some of his teammates on the Runaways. Xavin first came to earth in order to marry Karolina Dean, a fellow alien on the Runaways team. When Karolina insisted she couldn’t marry Xavin because she was a lesbian, Xavin quickly changed genders to a female, and explained that it wasn’t an important issue for him. While in the Runaways Xavin usually appeared as a black female, but changed into a male occasionally when needed. Karolina eventually grew to resent this, and felt that she didn’t know whether she was dating a male or female. When Xavin revealed that under times of stress she automatically reverts to female form, the Runaways and Karolina took this to mean that Xavin was now fully female-identified.
Xavin is often argumentative and questions Nico’s, the Runaways leader, decisions. She has a tendency to rush into situations without thinking them fully out and reverts to Skrull customs when at times, it is inappropriate. Despite this, she shows a strong loyalty to the other Runaways, due to her being an orphan herself, and takes their side even over her own species.
During an invasion by Karolina’s species, Xavin shapeshifted into Karolina and took her place in order to take Karolina’s punishment on her home world.
Xavin was previously seen in The Runaways and is currently not in any active series. Xavin first appeared in Runaways # 7, volume 2.
Read Karolina’s profile.
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
Contributed 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.
Bling! currently appears in X-men: Legacy, and in the background of various X-books.
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
Contributed by Hope
Jonas Graymalkin was discovered buried in the ground at Xavier’s by Cipher, one of Xaviers ‘invisible’ students and joined her in the shadows watching the Young X-men. He helps to save the Young X-men from Donald Pierce who is impersonating Xavier in order to get the Young X-men to destroy the New Mutants, Xaviers original teen squad.
Graymalkin’s powers increase when there is no light, where he gains strength, agility, and durability. His powers manifested when he was buried alive by his father in the 1800′s, putting him in a state of suspended animation where he did not age, but his skin turned a dark grey and his physiology changed slightly. He is a distant relation of Charles Xavier.
Beast, the X-men’s physician, expressed confusion about the source of Graymalkin’s mutation later, asking the question “if his powers manifested while he was buried, why did his father murder him”. In a conversation with Anole, Graymalkin revealed that he was gay and had been caught with a local boy, causing his father to lash out and attempt to kill him.
Graymalkin previously co-starred in Young X-men and now appears in the background of various X-books.
Graymalkin was first seen in a vision on Young X-Men #1 and made his first appearance in Young X-Men #3, and confirmed gay in X-Men Manifest Desting #3.
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
Contributed by Ronald Byrd
A sentient nebula, destined to evolve into a star within the next thousand millennia, Cloud came to Earth as a condensed human-sized nucleus to seek superhuman aid when the stars in its region of space began to mysteriously disappear. Arriving upon Earth, Cloud attempted to rescue two teenage lovers, Carol Faber and Danny Milligan, from an automobile accident, but a telepathic link was inadvertently forged between the two humans and Cloud, who became an amnesiac teenage girl identical to Faber. Brainwashed by the Secret Empire, Cloud clashed with the super-team known as the Defenders, eventually rebelling against her masters and joining the team.
When she fell in love with the female Moondragon, Cloud was tormented by these “inappropriate” feelings until her subconscious enabled her to change into male form (identical to Milligan); however, her/his love was not enough to prevent Moondragon from falling prey to the evil influence of the Dragon of the Moon, and Cloud, still troubled by this new ability and unsure of what it meant regarding her/his true nature, later turned her/his attention to another fellow Defender, Iceman. Eventually regaining her/his memories and, with the help of the Defenders, returning to the vanished stars, Cloud returned to her/his original state as a nebula; appearing briefly in Solo Avengers to help the recovering Moondragon, Cloud evidently prefers her female manifestation, since she uses it to interact with humans on this occasion. Presumably Cloud continues to exist somewhere in the further regions of space, doing whatever it is that nebulas do.
In addition to being able to assume both male and female identities, while in mortal form Cloud could change into a gaseous cloud-like state, in which condition she could engulf opponents, discharge lightning, communicate telepathically, and fly. As a nebula and future star, Cloud possesses vast cosmic power whose limits are unclear.
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
Contributed by Michael McDermott
Miguel Santos’ father was involved with a radical organization called the Legion of the Living Lightning, who planned to take over America for its own good, to eliminate war and hatred. The Legion ended up in conflict with the Hulk, who blew up half of their mountain headquarters killing many of the Legionaires in the process.
Eventually, Miguel went to the remains of the headquarters, to learn more about the Legion, and perhaps to try and follow in his father’s footsteps. While examining the leftover equipment, he accidentally triggered the lightning machine, and its power ran through his body, transforming him into a being of living electroplasma, calling himself the Living Lightning. The surge of power overwhelmed him and drove him temporarily insane. He went on a rampage through Fullerton, and clashed with members of the West Coast Avengers. He was finally stopped when Dr. Hank Pym grounded his electrical form, and the Living Lightning was apparently destroyed.
What none of them knew at the time was that his energies had actually been siphoned by the machines of the villainous Dr. Demonicus, and reconstructed into his human form. Demonicus planned to recruit Living Lightning into his team of Pacific Overlords. Miguel agreed, since Demonicus provided him with a special suit, which was the only thing allowing him to return to human form. Demonicus also had a control to deactivate the suit, if Living Lightning ever tried to turn against him. However, Miguel’s first test of loyalty came after the Overlords had captured the West Coast Avengers and planned to execute them. Miguel refused to allow the executions to take place. Before the argument could continue, some of the Avengers allies arrived to effect a rescue. A fight broke out between the Avengers and the Overlords, and during the battle, Living Lightning switched sides to assist the Avengers. When Demonicus threatened to deactivate his suit, Miguel destroyed the deactivator with an electric blast.
Once the battle was over, Living Lightning was offered a spot on the Avengers roster and joined the team. He returned home to check in with his family, after being missing for weeks, and found out that his sister had been killed in a drive-by shooting while he was gone. He also learned his younger brother had joined a gang, and they were looking for revenge against the Vietnamese gang that was responsible for the shooting.
He managed to intervene before a full-scale gang war broke out, and got his brother out of the gang. While Miguel was gone, his girlfriend Asuka left him for one of the Vietnamese gang members, but Miguel soon found a new relationship with a young woman named Mona, who worked at a movie studio. The two of them dated for a while, and she even slept over at Avengers Compound on occasion.
Living Lightning served as an active member of the West Coast Avengers for a few months, but after the apparent death of Iron Man, Miguel started to re-evaluate his future. Miguel decided to step down from active duty, and go to college to get an education. He continued to serve as a reserve Avenger when needed, until the West Coast team was eventually disbanded and reabsorbed into the main Avengers membership.
Miguel grew up with a strong religious background, strong enough that he was one of the many deeply spiritual or religious heroes “recruited” by the cosmic being known as the Goddess for her Infinity Crusade. Miguel and the others were eventually released from her control.
Many months later, the Avengers decided to take a more aggressive approach to their pursuit of superhuman threats, and established a number of field missions in addition to the main team. Although Miguel’s college studies prevented him from returning to duty full time, Miguel did agree to serve on the Avengers asteroid base with Quasar to serve as an early warning post for threats from outer space. Miguel was able to continue his courses from the base through communications link, and figured that the solitude would help him to focus on his studies.
After the Avengers entire organization was disbanded, due to a series of disasters, Living Lightning returned to Earth. When the unofficial associate team, the Great Lakes Avengers (known as the GLA for short) were looking for new members, Living Lightning was one of the heroes that their deputy leader, Flatman, approached. Miguel said that he had been meaning to join the GLA for some time–but he thought that Flatman was from the Gay/Lesbian Alliance, not the Great Lakes Avengers. Once he realized his error, Miguel apologized and left. Miguel’s admission of his own sexuality inspired Flatman to come out of the closet himself.
Miguel’s coming out of the closet was something of a surprise to many readers, given his prior relationships with women in Avengers West Coast. This is what GLA writer Dan Slott had to say on the subject in an interview: “He’s gay. Get over it. Previous girlfriends? Beards. Or relationships that just didn’t work – because Miguel hadn’t come to terms yet with who he really is. Miguel is a gay superhero and a wonderful role model.”
It is possible that the strong Catholic background of Miguel’s family may have played a part in his delay in accepting his sexuality.
This revelation may also put a different spin on his decision to live all alone with Quasar in their remote asteroid base. Perhaps all that time alone in close quarters with another man forced Miguel to confront his own attractions. Although Miguel’s field of study at college was never specified, a fantasy sequence shown through telepathic probe revealed that Miguel has political aspirations.
Living Lighting has the ability to transform his body into electroplasma energy. In this form he can fly, project electrical bursts, and travel through the vaccuum of space without the need for oxygen. Miguel can also project electric bursts and fields in his human form. He can control the intensity of the voltage, although his control is not always completely precise. Miguel has also displayed the ability to manipulate electronic equipment.
Living Lightning first appeared in Avengers West Coast #63 and outs himself in GLA (Great Lakes Avengers) #2.
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
Contributed by Ronald Byrd
A professional dancer in Los Angeles, Aundray (whose last name is never mentioned) is a neighbor of actor/Avenger Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man, during the period when the latter operated out of L.A. When Wonder Man’s powers fluctuate out of control, he inadvertently exposes eight of his friends, including Aundray, to ionic energy which results in them developing their own super-powers; in Aundray’s case, he develops control over magnetism. When Wonder Man temporarily abandons Los Angeles, Aundray and the others try to fill the gap as the Crazy 8, with Aundray using the alias Attractive Lad (a name rather reminiscent of some members of DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes; his teammates are Visionary, Stat, Snap, the Auteur, Glamour Girl, Buff, and Dreamer) but most of the eight later return the energy to Wonder Man at the cost of their own super-powers. When last heard from, Aundray is running his own dance studio and seems content to have left his brief super-hero stint behind him.
Although Aundray has a rather flamboyant hairstyle and personality, at times affecting a somewhat stereotypically “camp” speech pattern, as a minor supporting character his sexual orientation is never really specified one way or the other. However, when retired actress Glamour Girl considers using the code-name “Screen Queen,” he notes that the name “sounds like some of my old flames.”
Attractive Lad briefly possessed the ability to project a magnetic field that enabled him to attract and repel metallic objects; he could, for example, form a magnetic force-field around himself to repel bullets. He was also able to magnetically levitate himself by focusing upon metal on a rooftop and reversing his focus, attracting himself to the metal instead of vice versa.
This character was arguably outed in Wonder Man #18
© and ® Marvel Comics. Used without permission.
