VOICE FROM THE LONGBOX

As I sit down to write about a "controversy" hitting comic stores in February 2003, I'm bothered. Marvel Comics has decided to publish a five-issue mini-series under their Mature Readers MAX imprint called The Rawhide Kid. The Rawhide Kid is a Marvel western hero dating back to the mid-1950s, reborn in the 1960s by Marvel pioneers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He was one of many heroic characters in the cowboy genre. And, now he's coming back. And, now he's gay. I don't care that he's gay. I don't care that Marvel is changing one of their character's sexual orientation. I'll do you the favor of NOT quoting the over-used line about homosexuality from Seinfeld. Really. I mean it. I'm an uber-liberal. My bleeding heart bleeds pink. What upsets me is how Marvel announced the comic. They created their own wave of "controversial" publicity, and, in the end, how the characters are going to be portrayed. To be honest, this mini-series has the potential to be extremely juvenile and sophomoric. I also realize that I'm jumping the gun since I haven't read the comic yet. But, I got a bad feeling about this. Marvel announces a MAX version of The Rawhide Kid as the most "twisted" thing ever published. Then, they subtitle the mini-series "Slap Leather" with the solicitation copy that he knows "how to handle a hot rod." The first issue cover shows a cowboy with two guns. One drawn upright and close to pursed lips that are blowing, the other dangling directly down from the crotch. Marvel editors are on National Public Radio trumpeting themselves for being so "daring." Radio leads to a sidebar in the newspaper. The newspaper leads to TV time. Next thing I know, I'm watching Stan Lee (the man who taught me that, with great power comes great responsibility) on CNN's Crossfire explaining how he created gay characters "all the time" in the past. They just couldn't SAY it. Stan's idea of a gay war character that he created was a British guy with an umbrella who drank tea. Yeah. He MUST be gay. And TV, by the way, is the worst. The "reporters" only listen to every other word, and then begin reporting that Spider-Man is a closet queen, while some moron puts "Pow!" and "Zam!" signs across the screen like the Adam West Batman show. Sheesh. I'm sorry, but this type of publicity comics don't need. There have been gay characters in comics before. If you are interested, email me and I'll be happy to elaborate. Getting back to The Rawhide Kid. The comic will be written by Ron Zimmerman, who is noted for his work on The Howard Stern Show. He says, "Don't worry. I'll be sensitive." Then Marvel releases sample dialogue where the Kid is thinking about the Lone Ranger's tight powder blue shirt, and claims to understand why that Indian follows him everywhere. Jeez. I want more people to read comics. I want comics to get press for being intelligent blends of words and pictures. Things like Road to Perdition, Maus, and yes, even Spider-Man and Batman. Instead of making Captain America a product of experimentation on black soldiers during WWII, and Rawhide Kid a locker-room gay cardboard cut-out, all the while shouting at the top of your lungs how TWISTED comics are now, they should write and draw REAL characters that might, in fact, be gay or straight, and any skin color; regardless of whether they can fly or bullets bounce off them. But, of course, I'm asking for them to aim high. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Pow! Biff! Zam!