Marvel Pick Of The Week – November 26, 2014

Pick of the Week:

Amazing X-Men 13, by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez, and Death Of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 5, by Ray Fawkes and Elia Bonetti

My pick this week is, on the surface, a split between two lower-tier X-titles, and I know that seems like something of a copout, as well as an indication of questionable taste. I understand that, really. But that’s the best way I know how to stretch my established format to praise a major comic publisher for quietly doing the right thing.

I can explain. Amazing X-Men this week told a very quiet story. One of the teenage student characters, Anole, sneaks out of school to go on a date in New York City. After a little teen angst, he’s attacked by a super-villain, and seasoned faculty Northstar and Nightcrawler have to overcome their differences to save the day. Logan Legacy told a louder story. Daken, Wolverine’s probably-evil-but-not-always-but-yes-usually recently-dead-but-I-guess-not-anymore son disrupts a bunch of bad guys auctioning off Logan’s relics. He slaughters all of them, but one person is left alive to tell the tale. A pair of run-of-the-mill stories, right? Could have been anyone in the roles, just a couple of plug-and-play issues.

But it wasn’t. Not to me. And not to thousands of readers.

Because Anole is one of the few gay teen characters in comics, and his date was with another boy. And because the differences Northstar and Nightcrawler have include Northstar’s misplaced fear that Nightcrawler’s religion is going to mean he can’t be friends with a gay teammate. And because Nightcrawler can speak to Anole’s struggles with looking different from most people, something that gets equal weight with Northstar’s support of his sexual difference from the mainstream.

Because (and this is a spoiler, but it’s important) the person left alive to tell the tale of Daken’s massacre is a man who used to be his lover, reminding us that Daken is one of Marvel’s very few bisexual characters.

These stories could have been told with straight characters. Daken could have stopped his bloodspree when he saw a pretty girl. Anole could have swapped out with cute Welsh Pixie on a date with a boy. These stories were in no way about the sexuality of their population. This wasn’t Northstar’s coming out story, with the uncomfortable double-page spread of him yelling, “I AM GAY!” as he rescues an HIV-positive baby (who, as far as I know, had not expressed any sexual preference but reflected a time when involvement in the basic human decency of AIDS relief threatened anyone’s position on the Kinsey scale). This wasn’t the gay wedding that Marvel advertised months in advance. Daken doesn’t kill because he’s conflicted about what turns him on. These stories could have been bland and safe, or shocking for the sake of controversy. These stories could have been boring, or silly, or campy, or apologetic, or cartoonishly erotic.

Instead, Marvel took a couple of quiet books to tell people that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals are a part of the community. To say that we matter. To say that we deserve to see our representation in a mainstream comic book. On a planet where state after state, nation after nation, is recognizing that the loving commitment of two people matters more than their genitals, kids can grow up with a visibility and a voice their community has never known. And Marvel is prepared to let them be heroes. To let them be villains. To let them be loved. To let them be themselves.

Thank you, Marvel comics. Thank you for this quiet decision. Thank you for how loudly it’s going to echo.

Honorable Mentions:

Deathlok 2, for this cute reminder that even cyborg assassins text when they really should be paying more attention to where they’re going.

New Warriors 12, for Kaine’s spontaneous development of a brand-new power. I think I have this extra sense, and it’s nice to see it represented on the page.

Scarlet Spiders 1, for a level of sheer fun in this story about three clones of Spider-Man running around a sci-fi world looking for evil clones. It’s got beloved comic tropes like “meeting the evil version of a usually good character!” and “everyone has to put on silly costumes to blend in to their environment!” The art lovingly apes Mark Bagley, and that’s exactly the genuine sweetness this story needs.

Spider-Man 2099 6, for a shock ending. Yes, that pun is intended. And yes, if you know why that’s a pun, I am sure we would be friends.

Captain America And The Mighty Avengers 2, for She-Hulk’s excellent legal advice. I ran this by a lawyer I know, and he shrugged and said, “Yeah, that gets said.” Charles Soule, your move.