Superhero fans may not have expected to see the news of Superman's coming out one day — but not Clark, who has a wife, but his son. DC Comics announced that new Superman Jonathan Kent will begin a romantic relationship with another male friend in the next issue of the comics released in November. In fact, Superman wasn't the first superhero to come out, earlier this year, Marvel Comics announced its first gay Captain America, and soon after, Aquaman introduced a new black gay superhero.
The new Superman is a bisexual
Jonathan, also known as Jon, is the son of former Superman Clark Kent and journalist Lois Lane. Clark's version of Superman was introduced in 1938, and in 1996 he married Ryan. Jon came out in 2015. Earlier this year, Jon succeeded his father as the "official" Superman in the comic strip Superman: Son of Kal-el.
The older generation of Superman.
Superman family.
In August's story, Jon forms a friendship with jay nakamura, a journalist with a beautiful face and dyed hair pink. According to DC Comics, the two will kiss in next month's story. It is worth mentioning that DC Comics announced the news on National Coming Out Day, a festival that emerged from the United States to promote understanding and awareness of the LGBT community.
A new generation of Superman with boyfriends.
Tom Taylor, the author of the new Superman story, said that when he first took the job, he was thinking about "what Superman should be like today." "It occurred to me that if we replaced Clark Kent with another white straight-male savior, then we were really missing an opportunity," Taylor said, "and I've always said that everybody needs superheroes and everybody should see themselves in superheroes." Today, Superman, the most powerful superhero on the planet, is coming out. ”
Taylor.
To Taylor's surprise, DC Comics was already thinking about making Jon a bisexual long before he came up with the idea. "There's been a real shift in the last few years — ten or five years ago, it would have been more difficult, but I think things are changing in a way that's really welcome." Taylor said.
The creators of the story have shaped the characters and characters in Superman: Children of Kyle from a more modern perspective. Jon's version of Superman not only confronts the bad guys that are usually confronted, but also deals with contemporary issues like climate change and school shootings. In this month's story, readers will find that Nakamura has special abilities. "Jay Nakamura may be the only person in Jon's life who doesn't need protection," Taylor said, "and I want these two people to have a truly equal, supportive relationship." ”
The special significance of Superman coming out
As times have changed, the American comic book industry has been undergoing a steady evolution over the past few decades.
In his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham raised concerns about sex, gore and violence and argued that there was a link between reading comics and juvenile delinquency. Since then, the comic book industry has begun to self-censor in a variety of ways. In the book, Weatherham describes the relationship between Batman and Robin as "the dream of two gay people living together." The publication of The Temptation of the Innocent drew attention to the comic book industry in congress and led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA) in 1956 to censor comic content.
In 1980, the first mainstream comics with gay and lesbian themes appeared on the market. But in these stories, the gay community is not portrayed positively, for example, one of which portrays homosexuals as rapists. By 1992, things had changed, and Marvel Comics superhero Northstar chose to come out. An editorial in The New York Times at the time commented: "Mainstream culture will one day live in peace with homosexuals in the United States, and when that time comes, Beichen's appearance will be seen as a pity indicator of social change." ”
Superhero North Star.
While Superman isn't the first and won't be the last LGBT superhero, Superman's coming out has a certain special significance for comic book experts. "It's not the North Star your aunt never heard of," Glen Weldon, a Superman biographer and NPR radio host, told The New York Times. Not witchcraft. Not fire and ice. It's not the Tasmanian devil. It is Superman. That carries a certain weight — in terms of popularity, it grabs people's attention. ”
The pursuit of sobriety or adapt to the changes of the times
Not long ago, when rumors of Superman's coming out began to circulate, some people expressed dissatisfaction with this, and one netizen complained: "Marvel and DC destroyed their characters in order to please the 'woke mob' who didn't even buy comics." But others cheered, with another commenting: "It's great to see gay superheroes become more mainstream, and I'm very happy to see people like me become protagonists." ”
Marvel Comics' new Captain America, named Fisher, is a teenager who came out in public.
Taylor said that while there were some opposition voices on social media, most of the voices were positive and positive. "Some people say they burst into tears when they see this news today; some say they never expected to see themselves in Superman in their lives," Taylor said in an interview, "You always hear old sayings like , 'Don't put politics in comics,' but they forget that every comic story is political in its own right." ”
Weldon said the comics' changes could lead to more vivid stories. "Any change that makes the world on a superhero comic page look more like the outside world is good," he says, "and it allows you to get more different stories, more interesting stories, more compelling stories, and more different ways of telling stories." ”
News and image sources: The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, BBC, The New York Times, DW, some of the images from the Internet
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