I’ve probably hinted a few times that I’m a little bit of a nerd. If you’ve read my blog about my experiences travelling to Star Trek conventions, it’ll be pretty obvious. In fact, when I was younger, I did everything I could to hide my nerdiness, but nowadays it’s never been cooler to let your nerd flag fly. In fact, I’m so much of a nerd, I might as well have called myself Darth Vida!
As I think I touched upon in my piece about the Star Trek conventions, there were so many members of the LGBTQ+ Community in attendance, you’d have thought it was a Pride event! This is just another of the things that makes convention visits so much fun – Plus, it’s not just Star Trek conventions, the nerd community in general has a huge crossover with the LGBTQ+ community – but why? Well, when you dive into Sci-Fi, there’s actually some pretty obvious reasons that stick out to me…
Now, leaving Star Trek alone for a second, which is obviously weird for me, I’m going to head straight to the world of comics. As a youth, I grew up with classic animated shows like ‘Spider-man And His Amazing Friends’ (where he teamed up with X-Men staple Iceman and a fiery female mutant known as Firestar), ‘Spider-Man’ the 90s Fox animated show and, of course, the classic Fox animated ‘X-Men’ series (If you’re a similar age to me, I bet you’re humming its super-catchy theme tune now). These were the shows I loved as an young'n, when I started understanding them more, but I was by no means new to the superhero genre, having spent my early childhood obsessed with He-Man, She-Ra and the Thundercats (all absolute 80s classics that I still adore to this day!).
By the time I started actually picking up comics to read rather than just watching the cartoons, Marvel was my comics house of choice. It still is, when I have time to dip back in, though after a few years of massive, universe-spanning storylines, it’s quite difficult to figure out where the best place to jump back in is. My main reason for loving Marvel over DC and the other publishers is that I find the characters much more three-dimensional. Iron Man and Ms Marvel’s battles with alcoholism and Peter Parker’s battles with bereavement, for example, showed us fully realised characters with flaws but also how they work to overcome them. There’s a whole host of examples through Marvel’s comics and I’m definitely not saying that the other comic houses don’t have great quality writing, but I feel that Marvel’s characters are written as real people who happen to be superheroes, whereas many others are superheroes with some real-life issues shoehorned in. I could be wrong, but that’s just what I see.
The thing that grabbed me though, was my particular favourite area of the Marvel Universe, the X-Men. A team of mutants (Humans with an X-Gene giving them special abilities) who fight to protect a world that hates them. Their only crime is that they’re different and because of this, they’re hunted, tormented and sometimes even killed. It’s no secret that this was always intended to parallel civil rights and various fights for equality. Showing people being misunderstood simply for having the audacity to exist was bound to resonate with me as a young queerling, even before I knew what ‘gay’ was or even that I was. I discovered that the X-Men are immensely popular among the LGBTQ+ community and many other minorities. It’s because we see ourselves. Representation is incredibly important. Especially when we see some of those characters actually thrive. Plus, you know how I love a strong woman – Well, the X-Men certainly aren’t short of some spectacularly sassy heavy hitters like Storm, Rogue and Emma Frost (just to name my three favourites). How could we not love this? You’ll notice that Rogue is a particular favourite among the gays, as her power means she can never touch another person. We’ve all had that feeling of loneliness or isolation at some point and her struggles over the years with this have always struck a chord in many of us. It’s relatable.
Storm is the heroine we all wish we could be – kind, compassionate, oh and GODDESSS! Her powers involve manipulation of local weather, which led to her being worshipped as a goddess back in her home in Africa. She’s super powerful but never loses her ability to be kind and loving, but also stunning and statuesque – ignore the Halle Berry depiction in the movies, we comic fans hate that version (I love Halle, just not in that) – Think more in the neighbourhood of Grace Jones, RuPaul and, more than anyone, Angela Bassett. Storm’s got presence and loves a formal monologue. Bitch. Screams. Power.
Then there’s Emma Frost – She started as a villain before joining the heroes, but still has more than just an undercurrent of her dark side, not being afraid to do what must be done and certainly not caring about people’s feelings. She gets some stunning one liners and is more than a little snobby, believing that her money, powers and looks somehow make her better than everyone else, being a master of the condescending “my dear…” in a conversation. She’s fierce. Not going to lie, a total girl-crush of mine. Well, all three are really. I immediately loved Emma, also known as the White Queen (the villains she worked with all named themselves after chess pieces) she’s one of the most powerful known telepaths and, more recently developed the ability to morph into an organic diamond form, so she can be super tough as well as super sparkly.
But it’s not just my favourites that stand out – Everyone gets represented in Marvel. Every race, every minority, colour, ability, religion, we’re all there in those pages! The new Ms Marvel is Muslim, Northstar is gay (so is Iceman now – both of them, it’s complicated), Shade is a drag queen, there are disabled characters, there are creative depictions of mental illness (The ‘House Of M’ storyline that spanned all the Marvel titles in a huge event being a big example) – The bottom line is: Comics are inclusive. Even better, the thing that makes their character ‘different’ is not what defines them. It’s just there in the background without making a fuss. They’re allowed to get on with their business rather than being defined by one particular facet of who they are. That’s what we all want. Not to be defined by one singular thing, but as a three dimensional person.
Of course, maybe it all just grabbed me because of all the men in spandex too. Yes, comic books are often accused of promoting unrealistic body expectations, but young homo me couldn’t take my eyes off the page. It’s probably responsible for my spandex fetish now. Well, most definitely. There’s some serious man-booty in comics – everyone has perfect glutes and rippling abs, it’s just the way things are. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Yes, I have a crush on Spider-Man, yes Iceman gives me chills and Human Torch gets me hot under the collar – and I know I’m not the only one. There are whole fan-art communities out there – investigate at your peril!
So how about you? Any comic fans out there? Who’s your favourite superhero and why? Have you even got a superhero crush? Share with us in the comments, I’m dying to see what you all have to say!
So, that’s my first delve into why I love my nerdiness, so all that’s left so say is, join in the comments and stay safe, stay sane and… may LaFierce be with you!
