Marvel's Voices Pride #1 to introduce new hero Escapade

[Rift]

I don't know if Darkveil is trans. I just think they're just gay and a drag queen.

[Outburstz]

Room...Shambles

[pkingdom]

I'm so torn. I'm happy for more trans reps, but introducing yet another LGBT mutant in these Voices books feels like a misstep. Its like the X books are the dumping ground for every writers' non-straight/white OC, so we just have this mountain of characters like her that nobody ever does anything new with. Somnus only is appearing because he was literally created by his writer last year in Voices, and he still hasn't done anything interesting.

Its not helped that her design is hideous. Her hair is sometimes a copy of old Rogue, and sometimes tipped blue in those panels. And like someone else said, she's wearing an April O'Neal jumpsuit, and that jumpsuit only works on April O'Neal because of nostalgia. Her powers sounded kind of cool until they dropped the power taking/copying bit, because SO MANY characters have that sort of catch-all thing these days its dull. Object and location swapping alone is really cool. Anyone else play Ghost Trick? That was a big mechanic of the puzzles there.

[Outburstz]

I'm so torn. I'm happy for more trans reps, but introducing yet another LGBT mutant in these Voices books feels like a misstep. Its like the X books are the dumping ground for every writers' non-straight/white OC, so we just have this mountain of characters like her that nobody ever does anything new with. Somnus only is appearing because he was literally created by his writer last year in Voices, and he still hasn't done anything interesting.

Its not helped that her design is hideous. Her hair is sometimes a copy of old Rogue, and sometimes tipped blue in those panels. And like someone else said, she's wearing an April O'Neal jumpsuit, and that jumpsuit only works on April O'Neal because of nostalgia. Her powers sounded kind of cool until they dropped the power taking/copying bit, because SO MANY characters have that sort of catch-all thing these days its dull. Object and location swapping alone is really cool. Anyone else play Ghost Trick? That was a big mechanic of the puzzles there.

Dam if you do dam if don't.

People complained when they turned long term characters (Like Iceman or Kitty) into LGBT characters but when they make new characters people still complain. The characters exist so that if a writer who wants to use a LGBT character they can pick them up if they want to.

Not every character needs to be an A lister.

[BobbysWorld]

Eh, I tend to take it a given that these kinds of moves by a major corporation like Marvel are absolutely PR stunts that don't actually give a shit about diversity or representation, but I've gotten pretty good at separating that from the character themselves and not letting that factor into whether or not I enjoy them. Like I mean, I 100% believe that Bendis writing Bobby coming out was purely a PR stunt for the headlines and he didn't really give a crap about the character or the story itself, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy Bobby being written as gay in general, y'know? I like Somnus, even if his introduction was only greenlit because Marvel wanted to grab some sales during Pride month. Same thing with this. More trans characters are a win - I don't have to respect Marvel for doing it or give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they're doing it, in order to enjoy any profile this character gets during her launch.

And sure, there are tons of other characters who already exist and that could be spotlighted in her stead, but if we're being honest, I don't think that its remotely a given that were Escapade to not get this story or visibility, that that means the story/page space/visibility would go to a different existing character instead. *Shrugs* Its just not how it works, so while I think pretty much every single one of the criticisms raised about this move, and the urge to call it a stunt, is absolutely valid, I'm just sticking with the takeaway that the character looks cool, I'm glad another trans mutant exists now, and I'll wait to see whether I enjoy the character and their appearances when and where they show up and go from there when it comes to hoping to see more of them or see more done with them the same way I am with all characters I enjoy, from the Bobby Drakes to the Silhouettes and DJs, etc.

[Nicoclaws]

Eh, I tend to take it a given that these kinds of moves by a major corporation like Marvel are absolutely PR stunts that don't actually give a shit about diversity or representation, but I've gotten pretty good at separating that from the character themselves and not letting that factor into whether or not I enjoy them. Like I mean, I 100% believe that Bendis writing Bobby coming out was purely a PR stunt for the headlines and he didn't really give a crap about the character or the story itself, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy Bobby being written as gay in general, y'know? I like Somnus, even if his introduction was only greenlit because Marvel wanted to grab some sales during Pride month. Same thing with this. More trans characters are a win - I don't have to respect Marvel for doing it or give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they're doing it, in order to enjoy any profile this character gets during her launch.

And sure, there are tons of other characters who already exist and that could be spotlighted in her stead, but if we're being honest, I don't think that its remotely a given that were Escapade to not get this story or visibility, that that means the story/page space/visibility would go to a different existing character instead. *Shrugs* Its just not how it works, so while I think pretty much every single one of the criticisms raised about this move, and the urge to call it a stunt, is absolutely valid, I'm just sticking with the takeaway that the character looks cool, I'm glad another trans mutant exists now, and I'll wait to see whether I enjoy the character and their appearances when and where they show up and go from there when it comes to hoping to see more of them or see more done with them the same way I am with all characters I enjoy, from the Bobby Drakes to the Silhouettes and DJs, etc.

That's good tea right here !

Also, I don't understand complaining about "why create a new trans character when there are already some that are barely used". Like, they're always going to create new characters, LGBT+ or not. So let's enjoy that there are now more trans characters out there to use !

[Spiderfan001]

Dam if you do dam if don't.

People complained when they turned long term characters (Like Iceman or Kitty) into LGBT characters but when they make new characters people still complain. The characters exist so that if a writer who wants to use a LGBT character they can pick them up if they want to.

Not every character needs to be an A lister.

Always new, some exceptions like Kitty but for the most part it's better to make new characters.Tim Drake's of screen break up w/ Steph for example, etc.

As for if it's pandering, ofc it is.Billion dollar companies don't give a damn about diversity, it's all pandering to make themselves look better

[Icefanatic]

Hell, even beyond that, there are tons of characters that fans have been clamoring for years to be able to do anything at all that constantly get passed over yet they keep creating these characters who get to just cut ahead of the entire line. After a while, these characters stop feeling like characters and start feeling more like diversity hires that only exist to fill a quota.

They feel that way because that's how Marvel threats them. They do the same thing with all the X-Student teams. Most of them end up being forgotten, occasionally used as a background character or disposed of as cannon fodder in an event. After a while people just stop caring.

I think I like her power, but what does it mean, switching "organisational status" ??

I took it to mean as an example that they could join a company as an intern and use their powers to switch "organizational status" with someone like the CEO.

It feels like a mix of power absorption and reality warping.

[dragon1440]

I don't know if Darkveil is trans. I just think they're just gay and a drag queen.

Your right being a drag queen myself not all drag queens are trans or nonbinary. Although I do find most of my friends on the local drag scene are trans and nonbinary. In drag queen culture nonbinary is finally starting to be accepted and more and more people have been coming out as nonbinary. But your right that is an assumption. Although we ave never seen them outside of drag either... But even more reason to use them. At this point Marvel has a couple of trans/nonbinary characters that they completely ignore as is, but as far as I am aware only one drag character (king or queen). And drag queen culture has a whole separate culture then just gay, and it predates RPDR (bleh). So it would be great to see that explored more, theres a lot about the subset of drag culture that people don't understand or that RPDR has "whitewashed", to steal a term, to make it more appealing for the mainstream (sellout cough cough).

I will see what this new character brings, but her powers dont sound interesting (she can only switch with something 7 ft away or less?) and I really wish they would use established characters. And thief? That just makes me think of the female fantomax with the fox. Have you ever noticed that so many characters are introduced as a thief or something before learning to be better people. Its becoming stereotypical for new characters to be introduced that way.

[dragon1440]

Dam if you do dam if don't.

People complained when they turned long term characters (Like Iceman or Kitty) into LGBT characters but when they make new characters people still complain. The characters exist so that if a writer who wants to use a LGBT character they can pick them up if they want to.

Not every character needs to be an A lister.

It was mostly the cis hetero community angry about iceman. And that because many of them are homophobic.

[jwatson]

Dam if you do dam if don't.

People complained when they turned long term characters (Like Iceman or Kitty) into LGBT characters but when they make new characters people still complain. The characters exist so that if a writer who wants to use a LGBT character they can pick them up if they want to.

Not every character needs to be an A lister.

Not every gay character or character of color needs to be segregated into what is basically an anthology book either. So far somnus is the only one to "make it out" that closet.

[dragon1440]

Eh, I tend to take it a given that these kinds of moves by a major corporation like Marvel are absolutely PR stunts that don't actually give a shit about diversity or representation, but I've gotten pretty good at separating that from the character themselves and not letting that factor into whether or not I enjoy them. Like I mean, I 100% believe that Bendis writing Bobby coming out was purely a PR stunt for the headlines and he didn't really give a crap about the character or the story itself, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy Bobby being written as gay in general, y'know? I like Somnus, even if his introduction was only greenlit because Marvel wanted to grab some sales during Pride month. Same thing with this. More trans characters are a win - I don't have to respect Marvel for doing it or give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they're doing it, in order to enjoy any profile this character gets during her launch.

And sure, there are tons of other characters who already exist and that could be spotlighted in her stead, but if we're being honest, I don't think that its remotely a given that were Escapade to not get this story or visibility, that that means the story/page space/visibility would go to a different existing character instead. *Shrugs* Its just not how it works, so while I think pretty much every single one of the criticisms raised about this move, and the urge to call it a stunt, is absolutely valid, I'm just sticking with the takeaway that the character looks cool, I'm glad another trans mutant exists now, and I'll wait to see whether I enjoy the character and their appearances when and where they show up and go from there when it comes to hoping to see more of them or see more done with them the same way I am with all characters I enjoy, from the Bobby Drakes to the Silhouettes and DJs, etc.

Very well put. And I agree with all but one thing. If Escapde had not gotten this story then another lgbtq+ character would have, at least for the one shot. For a oneshot or special books like this they usally have aa page count that must be reached. If they came out with a smaller book then last year many many would notice and be upset by that. Therefore in this particular case I do think another character would get visibility. But in general I would say your right about that not gurenting another character getting visibility.

[Fokken]

What even happened in the dice panel? Hope they explain their powers better.

Respectfully: SAME.

The power description paired with the imagery has me confused. Please, can anyone explain that scene to me?
She has a pair of dice. She somehow made the gunman jump? float? freak out? shrink? And the dice are either huge now or in the foreground.
My brain just isn't processing the visuals here. Please help.

[BobbysWorld]

Respectfully: SAME.

The power description paired with the imagery has me confused. Please, can anyone explain that scene to me?
She has a pair of dice. She somehow made the gunman jump? float? freak out? shrink? And the dice are either huge now or in the foreground.
My brain just isn't processing the visuals here. Please help.

Its really hard to guess without any lettered context, but my assumption is its the 'physical locations' swapping element of her power. Technically it doesn't say that she's limited to JUST swapping things with herself, just that she has to be within seven feet of anything she's swapping.

So my totally speculative take - based on nothing but how I would apply that powerset as its defined in the article, in order to achieve the effect we see.....is that maybe she threw the dice in the air, and then swapped the physical locations of the dice and the guard, so that the dice ended up on the ground where the guard had been initially, and the guard was translocated into being mid-air where the dice had been the second she swapped them with him. And that in effect meant the guard suddenly found himself in mid-air, losing his grip on his gun as he dropped to the ground, giving her time to escape?

Could be some other property of the dice was swapped with the guard and the narrative context is needed to make sense of it, but that's my best guess going just off what we have.

[Nicoclaws]

Not every gay character or character of color needs to be segregated into what is basically an anthology book either. So far somnus is the only one to "make it out" that closet.

Wasn't he also the first "Marvel Pride" character ? So 1/1 is an ok number for me.

I took it to mean as an example that they could join a company as an intern and use their powers to switch "organizational status" with someone like the CEO.

It feels like a mix of power absorption and reality warping.

Oh yes. That's weird. I'm intrigued.