Brian Epstein: The Life Of Brian

"Brian was a gay man living in a country where gay sex was still a felony. The year he died, 1967, was supposed to be the Summer of Love. But that was only if you happened to be into the right variety of love.

"Naturally I hope our book will be a treat for fans of The Beatles. But what inspired me even more was the human struggle Brian Epstein faced.

"His homosexuality and his attitude to it wasn't the whole story, but it was a big part of it."

Vivek Tiwary, author of a new graphic novel, The Fifth Beatle, in BBC News magazine.

He could have pointed out here the cruel irony that 1967 was also the year that homosexuality was decriminalised in England. 

Check out the all-singing, all-swinging website - they say the book is soon to be a major motion picture.

But there are always rumours that someone's making a major motion picture about Brian.
Last month it was "confirmed" Benedict Cumberbatch will star in a biopic.

Wish someone would.

Batman: Buttman More Like

There’s always been something more than a little camp* about a superhero who sports tights and rubber nipples and enjoys the company of his Boy Wonder sidekick.
Now Batman has been “outed” as an ageing homosexual who picks up young men for one-night stands and sits next to Sir Elton John at New York charity dinners – at least for the purposes of a new novel.

The whispers about Gotham City’s masked crime-fighter are confirmed in Erotic Lives of the Superheroes, which depicts Batman and Robin as a bickering gay couple whose sex life has gone flat.
Written by the Italian author Marco Mancassola, the novel imagines the erotic obsessions of Superman, Mister Fantastic and Mystique as their heroic abilities are dulled by the ageing process. Acclaimed upon its publication in Italy, the book, which centres on a murder mystery, arrives in the UK this week...

The Independent.
Erm, I think Batman and Robin have been "outed" about a zillion times before - it's even got a Wikipedia page.
Here's the Mail's take - sadly no mad readers' comments at the time of typing.
Might add 'gay men and comic books' to my list of gay stories only the straight press think are interesting.

* I'm not sure the writer knows what "camp" means - was he scared of saying Batman had always seemed more than a little gay? But then that's The Independent for you...

Stonewall 1969: Cartoon Time!

Mike Funk's cartoon book about the Stonewall riots - on his Flickr page.

It's only 16 pages long, but Mike still manages to point to some of the controversies; about ownership of the legend/myth, who went to the inn, who was there that night, who started it, and the fact that one of the most quoted "participants" may not have actually been there...

Judge Dredd: Closet

The media don't usually consider comic books newsworthy, but the latest issue of Judge Dredd is everywhere today from The Sun to the Daily Telegraph.
But that's how you get publicity for this moribund form these days - you just add a bit of gay.

Presumably because of the supposed incongruity between an "action hero" and those funny flitty types.
Archie's done it, X-Men, Batman, Spider-Man...
Whoever next?
Walter The Softy?

PS Despite a teasing PR teaser campaign, Dredd doesn't come out - another character does. Cause that's all gay men do in storylines, right, come out? 

Update: The Guardian thought this was all so fascinating they also gave over Monday's tittersome Pass Notes to asking; Is Judge Dredd gay?
Erm... no, he's not, but thanks for asking.

One Million Moms: This Is Ridiculous!

'Children desire to be just like superheroes. Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, "I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?"

'This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don't but do want to indoctrinate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children's superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27).

'Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to homosexuality at an early age. Comic books would be one of the last places a parent would expect their child to be confronted with homosexual topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Children do not know what straight, homosexual, or coming out of the closet even means, but DC Comics and Marvel are using superheroes to confuse them on this topic to raise questions and awareness of an alternative lifestyle choice. These companies are prompting a premature discussion on sexual orientation.

'Northstar's wedding will be the first same-sex wedding in the world of mainstream superhero comics, but not the first gay comic books character. Earlier this year One Million Moms emailed Toys 'R' Us concerning the "Life With Archie" No. 16 with two gay characters getting hitched. Toys 'R' Us had the audacity to display "Archie- Just Married" at the front of the store by the checkout counters...'

One Million Moms current issue. 

This American pressure group - famously hopeless at "math" - only seems to get agitated by gay stuff.
Here's their last current issue; 'In Los Angeles, CA, GAP has a billboard located downtown that reads: "GAP- BE BRIGHT- BE ONE" with two homosexual men pressed together under a shared t-shirt. They are hugging each other and facing the camera cheek-to-cheek. "BE ONE" is in large letters which emphasizes the same-sex relationship...'
The horror, the horror!
One Million Moms - or Fifty Thousand Gay Sons, as I prefer to think of them - scored a classic own goal earlier this year when they tried to organise a boycott of JC Penney stores after they chose Ellen DeGeneres to front an ad campaign.
Here's the wonderous Ellen pushing back live on air.

Comics: Superhero To See You!

I'm sure there must be a phrase to describe the media phenomenon whereby the amount of coverage a subject gets stands in inverse proportion to how (dis) interested most people are in it.
Whatever, "gay comic book characters" has to be the queenly king of this.
Though precisely no-one cares beyond the handful of geeks who still bother to buy these things, a new gay comics character will be practically front page news.
So the Daily Mail shouts out in a headline yesterday; 'Marvel Comics announces plans to have gay superhero marry on their pages... just one day after rival publication house promises to 'out' a famous character'.
And just one day before they were wondering aloud; 'Is Batman gay? Major DC Comics character to come out of the closet'.
Both are quite matter-of-fact non-hysterical pieces, but you wonder if their inclusion is because someone at the Mail thinks this is like having buttfucking in the Beano.
Many of the Mail's readers clearly do;

"It has nothing to do with orientation, but the fact sex is even part of comics for kids. You would think that would be the ONE place we could go to see sex free entertainment. I agree with some posters, its politics and appeasment. No wonder kids have babies at 14. What next, Wonder Woman had an abortion? Or Nancy and Sluggo involved in a hate crime? God must be sick at the choices his creations make."

Again, these comics are now aimed at and bought by adults.
Though I'm not sure why kids being reminded that some dudes dig dudes etc would be a bad thing.
There's an interesting blogpost on Guardian online by comics fan, David Barnett, looking at why "the Daily Mail got its knickers - worn outside of its trousers, presumably - in a twist."
(That the story is thought worth repeating in another feature in the Guardian's print edition seems to bear out my original contention).
But what's noticeable is how unphased and unbothered the Mail's coverage has been, though it would have been easy to spin it into one of their make-believe manufactured "scandals";
"Outrage over gay marriage propaganda in kiddies' comics" anyone?

PS A little twitter gag of mine got picked up by a Marvel comics spambot yesterday...

Batman: Very, Very Gay - Official

"He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant. Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay.
"I think that’s why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care - he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid."

Grant Morrison, who "rebooted" Batman in 2006 (apparently, I'm reading this), in a Playboy interview. 
According to Playboy, he's "the most important comic book writer working today".
According to Morrison; “The creators of superheroes were all freaks. People forget that—they were all outcasts, on the margins of society... We’re people who don’t fit into normal society.”
Fagburn has absolutely no idea if Mr Morrison is also very, very gay. 
Mainly cause I've only just heard of him, and I'm very, very tired. 

Comics: Can You Tell What It Is Yet?

Well, quite obviously it's Morrissey, isn't it?
As some sort of Superman.
Or Übermensch, perhaps...
Some American dude is promising, hoping, threatening to bring out a comic, Unite And Take Over, where 13 Smiths songs "inspire" stories.
Quite bafflingly incongruous stories by the look of it, but each to their own.

More? See The Guardian.

Spider-Man: A Tangled Web

'Marvel Comics reveals the new Spider Man is black - and he could be gay in the future'

"He started life as a white science geek living with his uncle.
But now to reflect the racial changes in America Spider Man has been given a makeover - as a half black half Latino teen.
"Miles Morales has replaced Peter Parker as the face behind the famous webbed mask, Marvel Comics has revealed.
"In the latest edition of the Ultimate Fallout series he pulls back the disguise and shows his face for the first time.
"Fans will have to wait until the official Spider Man relaunch next month to find out how he came to be the superhero.
"But another surprise could be in the pipeline after his creators said that in the future they would not rule out making him gay..."

The Daily Mail.

They didn't really say that.
Talking to USA Today about Spider-Man's metamorphosis into a mixed-race teen, Miles Morales, artist Sara Pichelli merely said;
"Maybe sooner or later a black or gay — or both — hero will be considered something absolutely normal."
And that is all, folks.