COMICS GET QUEER: James Tynion IV on his GLAAD Nomination

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gmanfromheck

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There was this armchair I liked upstairs near the travel section of my local Borders Books. I would grab a stack of comics from the handful of shelves they’d devoted to GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA, and curl up in that chair for hours, desperately looking for something. I didn’t know what I was looking for, really. Mostly I had just discovered a wide world of comics I had never heard of, and I wanted to know everything about them. But deep down I knew part of it was a search. An investigation. I was trying to find myself somewhere in those pages, and I always came up short.

I mean, I could find the pudgy, geeky white guys. Typically they were the ones who got bitten by radioactive spiders or what have you, but what I couldn’t find was anything that gave meaning to the intense battle rattling though my mind. I knew what a young man is supposed to do when his best friend’s dad throws his girlfriend off a bridge, but I didn’t know what happened when that young man started feeling a little too strongly for his best friend. Or what happens after you “accidentally” kiss one night at his lake house and he has to go sleep in his parents’ bedroom because he’s so freaked out, leaving you alone with a spinner rack of Green Lantern books and a head spinning with so many questions that sleep on your part is unfathomable. I basically figured partway through that night that the answers might actually be sitting there, up on the rack, so that’s where I had started. I learned what happens when an alien warlord destroys a city, and what happens when a military supervillain stuffs your girlfriend in your refrigerator, but my bigger questions were still pretty much unanswered.

I think a lot of people who love comics come at it in waves. There’s that initial glee when you’re a young kid, and you flip through a few comics, and watch every episode of every cartoon… But then, mostly because you’re a kid and you’re not wholly in charge of what kind of media you get to take in, you slowly drift away until something brings you back. What brought me back was the fact that this really super cute actor guy who I had somehow tricked into becoming my friend liked comic books, so I was going to like comic books, too. I got back in hard, knocking back comic after comic after comic, re-ingratiating myself into the world that I hadn’t lived in since I was a child, and I found it such a bigger, more fascinating world than I’d really ever remembered. I’d go over to his house, and he’d teach me about all the old Green Lanterns from before Hal Jordan became Parallax, and each of their histories. I remember there being a huge Green Lantern folder on his desktop that he’d use to help show who he was talking about, with subfolders for each Lantern. One time I took control of the laptop and opened a folder named “TOMAR RE,” before he realized what I was doing, and it was filled with half-naked images of very attractive men (mostly pulled from Underwear websites). He blamed it on his brother.

We’d end up going to different schools the next year, after a few more incidents like the one in the lake house, and I was left with a whole lot of confusion and very few outlets, except for comic books. I’d be thrilled every single time there was a little half-hearted nod to a character being gay… And I even took victory in stupid moments when straight characters were jokingly gay, or just a bit overly chummy. And a vaguely effeminate male supervillain? I LOVED THOSE (and still do to this day, even though they’re absolutely an offensive trope). I wanted to see myself reflected in the books I was reading, and there wasn’t much of anything that spoke to me.

In Manga, there was this strange flirty gay romance in the Shounen-Ai books that were just starting to get published, but there was a strange distance in those stories. They felt more performative, “look at the pretty boys kiss,” rather than something real that I could hold on to. There were lots of webcomics that were starting to deal with gay issues that meant a tremendous amount to me… One in particular, BOY MEETS BOY, which was basically just a gay sitcom as a daily comic strip, I read constantly. But my real passion as a fan was for the mainstream comics that were failing me in virtually every way. Honestly, a run that I know is extremely derided but meant a lot to me during that era was the Chuck Austen run on X-MENNorthstar was in love with Bobby Drake, a straight man. I had NEVER seen that in a comic before, and I experienced that kind of attraction EVERY SINGLE DAY at my all-guys catholic high school. It felt revelatory and strange, and it meant everything for me, because I finally EXISTED in the fictional world that I was always escaping to.

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Seeing your own life play out in fiction is validating in such tremendously powerful ways. More than validating, it’s important. Something I don’t see discussed a lot that I just want to lay out for people who aren’t queer, is the fact that in the key science fiction epics from the last 50 years… Gay people basically don’t exist. And that creates a very strange, disturbing distance in your head when you look at the screen or the page, and you realize on some level that to the creator at hand… You do not exist 100 years in the future. 1000 years in the future. A million. Sure, the creator might say, of course homosexuality EXISTS in this world, it’s just not a part of THIS story… But there’s a distance created in those moments that takes you away from the work, and from the world inside of it, which this creator has decided not to leave open to you. I made myself a promise in high school, that I’d always share my worlds. Not that they would all be gay stories, or bi stories… In fact, I’m not sure I’d use that descriptor on any of my work… But they would be stories that a young gay James would be able to pick up and find himself somewhere in the pages.

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MEMETIC is not a story about sexuality. It’s a story about evolutionary memetics, and the internet, and the end of the world, and a very strange picture of a sloth… But it’s a book I would have liked to read back in the day. And frankly, young James would have a tremendously huge selection of books that speak out to him in the current market. You can see it in all the nominees for the category of OUTSTANDING COMIC BOOK this year, and far beyond it, from superhero books to creator owned to literary graphic novels… Comics are becoming a pretty queer world and it’s fucking phenomenal, and I could not be prouder to be a part of it… But then again, Comics have always been a queer thing for me. So I always knew they had it in them.

I could not be more honored to have been nominated for the Outstanding Comic Book category for the 2015 GLAAD media awards. Just the nomination has already been award enough. I know my artist, Eryk Donovan, and I have been pretty much freaking out about it all week. Frankly, I don’t know what to say about it other than that, because the whole thing has just completely blown me away. But if you support queer representation in comics, please pick up a copy of MEMETIC! And while you’re at it, grab some LUMBERJANES, RAT QUEENS, HAWKEYEs and SAGAs for your stack, too.

2014 has been a great year for queer comics, and here’s to an even better 2015.

James Tynion IV is the writer of MEMETIC, THE WOODS, THE EIGHT SEAL, BATMAN ETERNAL, and much much more.

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fables87

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I want to read Lumberjanes, cause I like the art. Rat Queen is da BOMB!

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lars_maximus

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Thanks James, awesome words, I havent read your work but am going to dive in and check out those recommendations as well. Congratulations and continue to listen to your inner voices and let them run ragged!

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TimeLordScience

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You're awesome James. I really dig your indie work.

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BigL

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Congrats James!!!

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Knightsofdarkness2

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Cool article. Will check your comics out!

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kantrip

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Well said! And thanks.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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#9  Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

Nice article James, you should do more!

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batarangbamz

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#10  Edited By batarangbamz

@lars_maximus:

@knightsoffdarkness2:

Yall gotta read his series Woods from Boom! Studios and his work on Batman Eternal has been phenomenal.

If Scott and Greg ever leave Batman I'd want James and Fabok on it.

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flxlourenco

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Dear James, thank you for putting into words what Ive felt my whole life. Im glad there are authors like you who are responsible for making comics reflect all kinds of people. Im happy to have read your article and for knowing that youre on our side :)

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CuddleBear

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I'm so glaad this site covered this and not the Charlie Hebdo attack, you truly are an inspiration ComicVine... the only problem is who it is you are inspiring.

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butters911

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This was a great article. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be gay at a catholic school

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Cuboid

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#14  Edited By Cuboid

Congratulations James, and thank you for what you do. And thank you ComicVine guys for posting this.

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JakeN7

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I'm so glaad this site covered this and not the Charlie Hebdo attack, you truly are an inspiration ComicVine... the only problem is who it is you are inspiring.

...wat?

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MadeinBangladesh

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#16  Edited By MadeinBangladesh

Loving MEMETIC!

~MiB

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FuzzyLittleRodent

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Holy sh*t, it's Dave Grohl!

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DrApplebox

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I'm so glaad this site covered this and not the Charlie Hebdo attack, you truly are an inspiration ComicVine... the only problem is who it is you are inspiring.

What's wrong with covering the Charlie Hebdo attack?

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QuinnoftheStoneAge

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Great article James!

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Cypher4

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#20  Edited By Cypher4

Congratulations! And thanks for those words. Many ignorant people say "you're shoving it down our throats." No, that's not true (and you don't see gay people say that when two straight characters kiss). It's not shoving it down your throats. It's wanting to be validated, shown it's okay, and wanting to see other people like you.

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imredjimmy

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Thank you for the great article. Could definetly see myself in this. I remember reading Ultimate Xmen comics online and discovering a gay Colossus and being way too excited about it. I will check out Memetic for sure.

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NightFang3

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Congrats to James!

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nappystr8

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Good for Tynion. I wrote a quite long and thoughtful remark about inclusion in comics but the site deleted it. So I'll just say: Trees has some great LGBTQ narratives and Chuck Austen's X-Men run is indeed awesome.

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kilowog52

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Well this article left me rather confused. First of all, I still have no idea what a "Glaad" is. I have no idea what ties a Marvel book together with three books from assorted non-mainstream publishers, not all of whom I can name. Probably a couple more things like that. But what sticks out to me the most is that I just cannot relate to this desire to be represented in the media. Tynion makes it sound in this article like everybody has a need to see category A or B or C that they fall into represented in media. I disagree. I may fall into several categories that only appear in media in a negative light if they ever do appear. (For example, many people's idea of mental illness is people who take machine guns and shoot a bunch of people in a school, movie theater, etc.) However, while I do believe society's attitudes toward a lot of things needs to change, I don't have a feeling of exclusion from representation. I don't feel the need to have characters who share some aspect of who I am included in my comics. I just go to comics for a good entertaining story. (I hate Watchmen because it wasn't a good story story-wise, it was pure social commentary.) Tynion makes it sound like I should be unable to relate to any character who is not a carbon copy of myself. What is the point of "Seeing your own life play out in fiction"? While I think it would be great if this, that, or the other began to be represented positively in the media, and begin to be accepted and understood by society as a result, I don't believe it is essential in order for one to have a sense of comfort. Further, people often use the "sexuality isn't an essential part of his character" card when justifying the reintroduction of Alan Scott into the New 52 as homosexual. Now this in and of itself, I see as true, but that would also mean that readers who were gay should not have an easier time relating to Scott just because they share a sexual orientation. Also Tynion states that his works are not "gay pieces" but rather stories that would have appealed to his younger self. I understood that as "through the inclusion of homosexual characters" based on other parts of the article. But what I don't understand is this. In Tynion's own run on Red Hood and thee Outlaws, which was in my own opinion phenomenal, I don't recall being introduced to any homosexual characters, yet in this article Tynion says that sci-fi properties without characters who are gay make real-life gay folks feel ostracized, and that he feels that all of his works are the opposite of that. Well how is that different from any other story that doesn't mention homosexuality?

Now I say these things not as an attack on Tynion (I think the man is a genius. I love Batman Eternal and his RHatO run.) or homosexuals in general, but from a sincere inability to understand what is going on here. I include this paragraph not because I believe what I have said will be misconstrued as an attack, criticism, etc. on whatever group or individual might take it as such because I believe I have stated what I have politely and inoffensively, but because I know on the internet intent is quite often greatly misinterpreted. If you do feel offended by anything I have said, please understand that was not my intent. And if you really feel that I was in the wrong and you must act, please send me a PM explaining what I said that offended you and how it did so, though it may take me while to understand. And once again, I do not anticipate anyone being offended by anything I have said, but realize that I may have unintentionally let some of my former negative attitude toward homosexuals (which began with how the concept was introduced to me as an autistic child) shine through, despite the fact that it has been growing less and less intense for several years, because it will be a long time yet before it altogether vanishes.

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scarspider

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From one James to another, congrats on the nomination! Keep up the fantastic writing!