East Coast Queers, we have got our WERQ cut out for us for NYCC 2012! While it's always been larger in terms of sheer numbers, industry involvement, and scope, the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con fairly blazed with gay geek pride. Are we crossing over? Have we become mainstream? The past year's momentous gains for gay and lesbian fans would seem to say, Yes!, as well as the abundance and prominence of queer engagement and fandom at the Con. Said No Straight Lines anthology editor Justin Hall, "Queer fandom is absolutely galvanized by seeing more accurate representations of ourselves. There’s a snowball effect.”
First and foremost, congratulations to Prism Comics's Andy Mangels for the TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of his now-iconic Gays in Comics panel, the longest-running panel in Comic-Con history. That's an amazing feat and an incredible legacy for queer fans and Geeks OUT congratulates him! Mangels got to enjoy this milestone after being presented with Comic-Con's presitigous Inkpot Award. An array of industry bold-faced names, such as Alison Bechdel, Dan Parent, Gail Simone, Chip Kidd, and Paige Braddock spoke at the panel, which included a history of queer comics characters over the past twenty-five years and beyond.
Prism's Andy Mangels receives the Inkpot Award at SDCC 2012
Check out David Stanley's terrific Queer Nerd Wrap-Up of SD Comic-Con 2012! Andy Gets Inkpot! Prism Presents Northstar Panel! And More! for a full rundown and great pics from the Prism booth. Also read the excellent feature, Comic-Con: Gay Characters Out and Proud from the L.A. Times.
Our buddy Zan Christiansen of Prism Comics also moderated a second queer panel (jealous!!!), Rewriting the Rules on Queers in Comics, which featured such heavy-hitters as Oliver Nome of Fathom: Kiani, Gail Simone of Batgirl and Secret Six, Nicola Scott of Earth-2 and Secret Six, James Robinson of Earth-2 and Justice League, and Ivan Velez Jr. of Tales of the Closet. Since Geeks OUT is an organization by, for, and of fans, its central question, looking at how queer characters are depicted in (largely mainstream superhero) comics is definitely one close to our heart. Alan Scott and his late, lamented, would-be financé Sam were discussed in depth and Comicbook.com's Nick Winstead has a great blog post about the panel with some really interesting quotes.
Prism's THIRD panel (omg, stop it, already), Northstar: From Coming Out to Getting Married! focused on Astonishing X-Men #51's hugely buzzed wedding between the trail-blazing mutant hero and his boyfriend, Kyle Jinadu. Fanboys of the Universe's Chance Whitmire moderated writer Marjorie Liu, Uncanny X-Men's Scott Lobdell, Geeks OUT favorite Phil Jimenez, Marvel Comics Vice President of Sales David Gabriel, and Jase Peeples from The Advocate, which is giving us gay geeks a lot of good press lately. Lots of cool stuff was discussed, including whether marrying off Northstar and his boyfriend was a way of neutering them, and whether a promiscuous queer character could ever be depicted (Daken?).
The Northstar panel, with Marjorie Liu, Phil Jimenez, and Marvel VP of Sales David Gabriel (center)
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics capped Prism Comics's jaw-dropping run at four-count 'em-four awesome gay panels and celebrated the August publication of moderator Justin Hall's huge anthology of the same name. "Queer cartooning has been one of the most vibrant artistic and countercultural movements of the past 40 years, tackling complex issues of identity and changing social mores with intelligence, humor, and an irreverent imagination. No Straight Lines, a massive anthology published by Fantagraphics Books, is the most definitive collection to date of this material, showcasing everything from lesbian underground comix, to gay newspaper strips, to bi punk zines, to trans webcomics." Alison Bechdel, Paige Braddock, Ed Luce, Trina Robbins (Wimmen's Comix), and Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) joined Hall for the panel. You can pre-order No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics here.
All work and no play makes Homer something-something, so Prism also hosted their eighth annual Heroes & Villains dance party at San Diego hotspot Rich's Dance Club. Nerds can dance!
CONGRATULATIONS SDCC 2012 and to Prism Comics for another amazing Comic-Con, for your record-smashing anniversary, for the publication of No Straight Lines, and for really delivering for queer fans! The bar is set high for NYCC 2012!
Geeks OUT will be there—will you?
