The power of gay and lesbian creators and comic characters from a Seattle-based publisher are making an impact in a new way on the other side of the world.
Books and artists from Northwest Press are part of a new queer comics exhibition that just opened at the Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany called SuperQueeroes.
Justin Hall (No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics) is one of the curators of the exhibit featuring several Northwest Press titles and GLBT heroes from mainstream comics like Northstar of the X-Men.
In an expanding canon of GLBT comics how did the team of curators decide what was important to include:
“My fellow curators and I picked works based on artistic merit, historical and cultural importance, and representational diversity. Then we had to figure out what pieces would work best on the walls themselves. It was a nerve-wracking process, as we could only include a tiny fraction of the work that should be showcased in a perfect world… The Schwules* Museum provided us a big, impressive space, but honestly we would have needed an entire building to display everything we could have.”
You know Wolverine and Batman but Northstar made mainstream comics history and Batwoman broke barriers. Who are the most important characters or moments in mainstream comics that has made the biggest impact?
“For LGBTQ readers, the biggest mainstream moments in American comics were probably the coming out of Northstar in 1992, as he was the first significant out superhero, and the introduction of the Kevin Keller character into the Archie universe, as that is a franchise that has such a wide appeal to young readers and a brand of wholesome respectability.”
Seeing your work on display in shops and comic cons is huge but how does it feel for Hall to see his work on display in a museum.
“Amazing! It’s remarkable how much better and more impressive both original art and printed materials look when they’re properly mounted, framed, and hung on a museum wall… For us cartoonists, it’s all still a bit surprising: comics have been dismissed for so long, it’s a big change to see academic institutions (I teach in a Masters of Fine Arts in Comics course at the California College of the Arts) and museums take such an interest in comics art and stories. It’s a very validating moment, watching the medium I love and have spent so much time championing finally get the respect it deserves.”
After legal victories and greater acceptance for gay and lesbian citizens in the U.S. what’s the next GLBT issue that Hall hopes will be explored in comics to have an impact?
“Well, there are certainly still political battles to be won in the U.S.: for example, it’s still legal to fire someone for being gay or bisexual, and transgender people are still being dismissed from the military. Comics are wonderful storytelling vehicles, so they can always be used to promote information about these political causes, but more than that they should continue to be used to simply humanize queer lives and experiences. The more positive and empathetic queer characters and themes that are put forward in comics (which have such an impact because of their visual and narrative qualities, as well as their pop culture affiliations) the better. Comics can help the culture open up to the stories and experiences of LGBTQ people, and at the same time provide support and community for those queer people who need to know that they’re not alone.”
Charles “Zan” Christensen is the publisher of Northwest Press. The writer and activist has been publishing comics collections and graphic novels celebrating the GLBT community. Christensen loaned his collection of Alpha Flight action figures. Northstar (Jean-Paul Baubier) is one of the first openly gay superheroes in mainstream comics who started out in Alpha Flight and later joined the X-Men family and married his love Kyle as both teams watched and celebrated the union.
SuperQueeroes is open until June at the Schwules Museum. Visit Northwest Press to see their collections online and where you can find them at comic cons around the country.
By Editor