Sex And Relationships In Comics

[ed2962]

I'd question how someone can hate a gay couple for being too happy unless they have a need to see gay people miserable. (Which can include self-loathing gays who buy into the idea that gay people can't be happy as a couple or that it's too hetero-normative to want that) There are enough LGBT characters that we can start exploring variety with them instead of trying to make Billy and Teddy do it all. If someone wants a tragic gay to relate too it can be someone else (maybe Anole)

I'm happy to see at least one long-standing LGBT couple at Marvel (and with One More Day, they're one of the longer couples besides Sue and Reed LOL)

Billy and Teddy don't bother me, but some of the stuff I've seen had less to do with them being gay and more to do with them too cutesy. They're on the verge of being that couple that calls each other "snookums." But I agree, it's good see a gay couple that not angst ridden over their sexuality.

I actually thought the one scene from the first run was pretty funny. They're going tell Wiccan's parents about them being superheroes and his parents were like, "Yeah, we knew you were gay. We still love you." And he's like, "That's not what I'm talking about...wait ?You knew about that?"

[ed2962]

Emma Frost and Cyclops was shown as an adult relationship, and I think done very well without being too controversial.

It's been awhile since I read it, but having Phoenix tell Scott to move on with his life at the end of Here Comes Tomorrow kinda let him off the hook maybe too easily?

[ed2962]

I have not read the comics, but from what I heard it was not real sex but only some telepathic stuff. If this is really the case, that I would not call it an real extramarital affair.

This is an interesting question because this happens in real life sometimes. Not the telepathy of course, but people will establish relationships with someone not their partner that grows into something more than friendship. They don't actually sleep together but an emotional thing is there. The partner will still call it cheating because you are having an intimate connection with someone else.

[PretenderNX01]

That doesn't stop it from being controversial, though.

Was it all that controversial in it's day? Maybe I wasn't on forums much then but I don't remember a lot of "oh noes, Marvel has adultery" the way there were "oh noes, Marvel has gay teenagers", fully admitting I'm more sensitive to the latter and it could be an observational bias on my part.

But I agree, it's good see a gay couple that not angst ridden over their sexuality.

Heck at Marvel it's nice to see any couple not being angst ridden.

[Michael P]

This one bugged the heck out of me. It's New Avengers #26 (2006?). Following the events of House of M, the Scarlet Witch has disappeared. Hawkeye tracks her down in Europe. She has no memory of being the Scarlet Witch. Clint saves her from a purse snatcher and in thanks, "Wanda" cooks dinner for him then throws herself at him. The end of the story Clint decides she's better off where she's at and goes back to the Avengers alone.



I was just like, wait...what? They don't have a love affair. It's not even a flirty, "I think you're hot" thing. I know random hook ups happen in real life, but not like this. It's almost like a porno scene, not cuz its explicit ( it wasn't), but cuz the only reason they have sex is because they happened to be in the same room. I think Bendis was going for a kind of bittersweet thing, but it didn't work for me.

It was even weirder when Children's Crusade retconned it so Wanda in this issue was a robot.

[Kieran_Frost]

Having said that, how do you feel about how the Billy/Teddy relationship has been handled.

I think they have been handled perfectly; a low build, a strong bond. Like Sue/Reed they were created to be together, no-one else will ever come close. As for their "sex life" I'm 100% okay with seeing the one panel of them lying (clothed) in bed asleep in Avengers: Children's Crusade and the joke in the recent "Original Sins" mini about sex. I don't need to see it to have it perfectly conveyed that they do have sex. Much like with Brokeback Mountain (2005) it's important to established: yes, they have sex, BUT their relationship is 100% about love, not sex (so it needs barely any focus).

And how many years was it before they got an on panel kiss?

[had to wiki it] 7 years. They debuted in April 2005. They kissed (for the first time) in Jan 2012 at the very end of Avengers: Children's Crusade (where they also got engaged, though I don't think that has been referenced since). To date they have kissed 3 times on panel (second time Jan 2013, third time Dec 2013).

I'm happy to see at least one long-standing LGBT couple at Marvel (and with One More Day, they're one of the longer couples besides Sue and Reed LOL)

Agreed.

Emma Frost and Cyclops was shown as an adult relationship, and I think done very well without being too controversial.

Agreed. My second favourite couple after Billy/Teddy. LOVED Scemma. That said there WAS objections. For a long time I saw some VERY big emotions about Scemma (she was constantly labelled "adultress" by some; I remember this because I would often point out she can't be an adultress, since she wasn't in a relationship). I think Scott/Emma is the most sexual (but good) relationship I've read in comics. That whole Hank Pym small in Wasp's vag = NASTY!!! That was not needed, and I don't want that in comics (at-least not ones about superheroes or mice -- RE: Mouseguard -- which are the only comics I read).

Billy and Teddy don't bother me, but some of the stuff I've seen had less to do with them being gay and more to do with them too cutesy. They're on the verge of being that couple that calls each other "snookums." But I agree, it's good see a gay couple that not angst ridden over their sexuality.

I too see that complaint, but I don't agree with it. Billy watched Teddy getting tortured and mutilated in Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways; wishing death of the perpetrator. They barely held hands in the first series (and never kissed). And in Gillen's run they first argued, then broke up and questioned whether they should be together. Do they have cute moments? YES. Are couples not allowed moments of happiness? Surely every YA mini-series or "season" doesn't need to show them arguing or breaking up; else it's considered "too cutesy"? Do they only have cutesy moments? Hell no, and anyone who spouts that a) hasn't read the comics, b) is lying, c) sees any happy gay couple as "too cutesy" (saying a lot more about them than Billy/Teddy, frankly).

[Kieran_Frost]

Further to my post above, I don't see THIS (below) as ever necessary to show in superhero comics. :



THIS (below) is all you ever need to see of superheroes sex lives. Tasteful, but the point is made.

[Michael P]

And then Wolverine wakes them up and Cyclops blasts him out onto the lawn.

[FanboyStranger]

Are we sure that wasn't just Constantine lying?

No, in order to get Abby pregnant, Swampy had to possess John's form. It was a strategy to produce Tefe as the new avatar of the Green. Swampy also got a tattoo of a pine tree tattooed on John's ass.

[yet another]

Further to my post above, I don't see THIS (below) as ever necessary to show in superhero comics. :

How on earth was did ever allowed to be published? Wait. I guess it was one of the MAX titles?

[Billy Batson]

How on earth was did ever allowed to be published? Wait. I guess it was one of the MAX titles?

Nah, it's Geoff Johns' Avengers.

[Bad Wolf]

How on earth was did ever allowed to be published? Wait. I guess it was one of the MAX titles?

It was in the regular run, but the single issue was marked for mature readers. I don't object to the scene so much as the logic of where it appeared. Why not put it in a one-shot somewhere else rather than having to keep kids from buying one issue of a series they're collecting and them wondering why?

[Bad Wolf]

I don't need that in-depth of an exploration into the sex lives of adventure characters, myself.

I don't need that in-depth of an exploration into Carol Danvers' vomit. Bleaugh!

[Kid A]

Further to my post above, I don't see THIS (below) as ever necessary to show in superhero comics. :

Oh my god, I can't stop laughing at this.

Good example of how sex and super-power fantasies intended for kids don't go together.

[JCAll]

No, in order to get Abby pregnant, Swampy had to possess John's form. It was a strategy to produce Tefe as the new avatar of the Green. Swampy also got a tattoo of a pine tree tattooed on John's ass.

Fair enough, can't be too careful with Constantine around.