Astonishing X-Men Creators Dish on Marvel's Historic Gay Wedding
Astonishing X-Men Creators Dish on Marvel's Historic Gay Wedding
Marvel Comics' Astonishing X-Men is set to experience a new sound effect on top of its booms, whams, and sknits: the bong of wedding bells. Specifically, it's the wedding bells of Marvel's first gay marriage between longtime X-Man Northstar and his civilian boyfriend, Kyle. After pairing up the couple in 2009, Marvel is officially tying their knot in June's Astonishing X-Men #51.
While Marvel actually boasts a deep pool of LGBT characters, many of whom are in committed relationships, this is the first one to go all the way. The comic industry's number-one publisher has always reflected America's cultural and political developments, and with President Obama's recent public support of gay marriage, an official marriage couldn't have come at a better time.
But for the super speedster Northstar, a.k.a. Jean-Paul Beaubier, this just the latest development in his position as Marvel's premiere gay superhero. Introduced in 1979, his sexuality was only inferred until 1992 in Alpha Flight #106. The outing spurred an unexpected frenzy, conjuring multiple editions of Alpha Flight #106 and a media blitz that hit faster than Northstar at maximum velocity. The character also adopted a baby with AIDS, mentored a gay mutant named Anole, and even wrote a book about his experience as a gay mutant, titled Born Normal; it's hard to imagine how this guy made time for fighting crime.
Below, the creative minds behind the wedding of the decade -- Axel Alonso, Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics; Jeanine Schaffer and Daniel Ketchum, Astonishing X-Men's co-editors; Marjorie Liu, writer of Astonishing X-Men; and Mike Perkins, penciller of Astonishing X-Men -- dish on why they're hosting the wedding now, the divisive reaction within the Marvel Universe, and the endless storytelling possibilities that this latest evolution holds.
(Plus, see a slideshow of 13 other LGBT comic book characters at the end of the article.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/flash-steinbeiser/x-men-gay-wedding_b_1536037.html#s=1002470
= new reply since forum marked as read
When Greengenes had had his multiple personalities merged and was for the most part in control. During that run, Hulk was placed in charge of the Pantheon, who were a secretive team of super-powered distant cousins, one of whom was gay, and another didn't like that. During the Rick Jones getting married storyline, the gay Pantheon member was flirting with Northstar, which pissed off his cousin who the Hulk had to drag away to calm down.
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TlalocW
The whole Rick Jones marriage arc was fun. Rick apparently, through the Hulk and Captain America, knew just about every superhero and invited them all to his bachelor party and wedding. The two Pantheon members I mentioned went to the bachelor party as well, one wearing a Hawaiian shirt, which made the other comment on how he looked like George Perez (a writer or artist at Marvel at the time). Other little things l noticed included Iron Man and War Machine (friend of Iron Man with a similar suit of armor) always being on opposite sides of the room, staring at each other because they had had a falling out. Nick Fury couldn't come so he sent a stripper dressed as a villainess who called herself, "The Ecdysiast," which was his way of fooling Captain America to show up because he thought it meant magician and not stripper. The bridal party going to a male strip club (led by She-Hulk with the Invisible Woman being a downer). The stag film starred Rick's wife-to-be. The Impossible Man sent out invitations to a bunch of villains, including the Skrull and Kree empires, who showed up, genuinely wanting to enjoy the festivities.
It's a shame I waste such brain space on remembering this stuff... 
TlalocW
Not at all. My memories are a bit hazy and you're filling in blanks for me!
