That counts for something - just in terms of visibility, just in terms of the fact that this is going to attract attention.” “It is not Northstar, who your aunt has never heard of,” said Glen Weldon, the author of “Superman: The Unauthorized Biography,” and the co-host of the Pop Culture Happy Hour on N.P.R. “When that time comes, Northstar’s revelation will be seen for what it is: a welcome indicator of social change.” “Mainstream culture will one day make its peace with gay Americans,” the editorial said. Things had started to evolve by 1992, when Northstar, another Marvel hero, came out - an event that was praised in an editorial in The New York Times. In the story, Bruce Banner, the alter ego of Marvel’s Hulk, is at a Y.M.C.A, where two gay men try to rape him. One of the earliest mainstream comics to feature gays or lesbians appeared in 1980. (As part of her new back story, she leaves the military because she refuses to lie about being a lesbian.) She eventually fell into obscurity, but was rebooted in 2006. The character of Batwoman was introduced that year as a love interest for the Caped Crusader.
The book helped inspire congressional hearings and led to the creation in 1956 of the Comics Code Authority, in which the comics industry set standards on what comics could depict. In one section, Wertham described Batman and Robin as “a wish dream of two homosexuals living together.”
It has been a steady evolution for an industry that had moved to censor itself in a number of ways after “Seduction of the Innocent,” a 1954 book by the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, raised concerns about sex, gore and violence and suggested a link between reading comics and juvenile delinquency. And a new Aquaman comic stars a gay Black man who is positioned to become the title hero. Batman’s sidekick, Robin, recently acknowledged romantic feelings for a male friend (not Dick Grayson - who was Batman’s partner for over four decades - but Tim Drake, a later replacement there are multiple Robins just as there are multiple Supermen). The coming out of Superman, perhaps the most archetypal American superhero, is a notable moment even in an age when many comics have embraced diversity and are exploring pressing social issues. He said that a “new Superman had to have new fights - real world problems - that he could stand up to as one of the most powerful people in the world.” “The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white savior felt like a missed opportunity,” Tom Taylor, who writes the series, said in an interview. Since his new series, Superman: Son of Kal-El, began in July, Jon has combated wildfires caused by climate change, thwarted a high school shooting and protested the deportation of refugees in Metropolis. That same-sex relationship is just one of the ways that Jonathan Kent, who goes by Jon, is proving to be a different Superman than his famous father.
The new Superman, Jonathan Kent - who is the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane - will soon begin a romantic relationship with a male friend, DC Comics announced Monday.