Mighty Marvel update: Another gay character and, I kid you not, a comic called "Models, Inc."

Marvel's legendary Stan Lee

Marvel comics has certainly been vying for our gay attention recently. Last week, I learned that Young X-Men has two gay characters. Since then, I've learned of another gay character at Marvel, a couple of gay series coming back and one title that I suspect will have a lot of gay fans.

First off, thanks to reader DigitalLux, I learned that the current Squadron Supreme comic features a gay man, Peter Boyer, who is a part of the title's Fantastic Four stand-ins. The current series comes from Howard Chaykin, who frequently includes gay characters in his work. I'm way behind on the Squadron Supreme series myself, but Chaykin can still put out some great comics (see Bite Club). Are there any Squadron Supreme readers out there who can say if this is one those Chaykin titles to merit a rush to the comic shop and a catch-up purchase?

Squadron Supreme #5

After the break find out which gay titles Axel Alonzo may be revisiting and, seriously, they're doing a Models, Inc. comic.

Newsarama picked up on this bit from an chat with editor Axel Alonzo:

Peter Milligan, Mike Allred and I have discussed the idea of revisiting X-Force/X-Statix—who, you’ll recall, were last seen getting blasted to bits by a Blackhawk helicopter. I mean, how could they survive that one? And Ron (Zimmerman)’s got an idea for a story that would feature Rawhide Kid in an adventure that would include all the Western characters—Kid Colt, Ghost Rider, Two-Gun Kid, and etc. It’s like the “Magnificent Seven” only there’s, like, six of ‘em. Or eight.

X-Statix had two major gay characters in Phat and Vivisector, with Phat rather hilariously reminding us all a bit of Emeneim. X-Statix also came at a time when the X-books seemed to be heavily exploring the gay metaphor of being a mutant. While New X-Men was exploring the idea of what mutant culture would be like, X-Statix were mutants who grew up with mutant role models and felt no need to be good role models themselves as they perused fame and wealth.

X-Statix

Of course, having sat plenty of Vertigo panels where Shelly Bond discussed the many times she and Peter Milligan talked about a new Shade: The Changing Man series, I'll keep my hopes for more of Phat and Vivessector next to a grain of salt.

On the other hand, I won't be looking forward to Ron Zimmerman working with The Rawhide Kid again, even if it'd be interesting to see if the character gets re-gayed. (I mean, didn't they try to take back Northstar's outing at one point?)

I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming Models, Inc. mini-series, which just seems to glow with a gay sensibility. Not only does the comic share its name with that terrible Melrose Place spin-off, it brings back Millie the Model from Marvel's old romance comics as well as romance-heroine-turned-superhero Patsy Walker. Yeah, I think I found a way to console myself for the loss of Pushing Daisies.

Models, Inc.

Models, Inc. comes from a gay-adjacent writer, Paul Tobin. Tobin is married to Colleen Coover, the bisexual co-creator of Small favors, a lesbian erotica comic with a surprisingly large gay male readership.

I have to admit, after some recent frustrations things are on a momentary upswing, at least.