LGBT Characters in Comics - European Comics

European Comics

Comics from continental Europe have been described as having a greater range of "themes, narratives and forms of visual impact" than English-language comics, but have been superseded in popularity by American comics since the mid-1980s, with only French comics matching the popularity of Japanese and American comics. The lack of a "comics code" equivalent to the US system has made the incorporation of LGBT themes less controversial. This is exemplified by the Kelly Green graphic novels (1982–93), created by Stan Drake and Leonard Starr. Drake and Starr are American cartoonists who chose to publish in France, where they would not be limited by US censorship and "could write and draw anything they wanted"; this included episodes in which the vigilante title character dresses as a boy to lure a gay villain into an ambush, and a stereotypically gay secondary character who ran a strip-club.

At the beginning of the 20th century, French and Belgian comic strips ("Bande Dessinée") had become regarded as an medium for children – this restricted their inclusion of adult and sexual themes, and lasted until at least the 1960s. However, early Franco-Belgian comics for children such as The Adventures of Tintin, Asterix, and The Adventures of Alix have also had sexual and LGBT subtext inferred by readers. Readers of Tintin books have speculated about his sexuality, leading to Marcel Wilmet, spokesperson of Studios Hergé, saying that Tintin is macho and not homosexual; Tintin has many male friends, but they are not boyfriends. The Adventures of Alix comics by Jacques Martin are amongst the most prominent historical comics, and the text concerns the restoration of a moral order, but with a "homosexual subtext that may have been invisible to the original readers", which includes the portrayal of a close relationship between Alix and his companion Enak and the full frontal depiction of teenage male bodies. Martin has disputed any gay readings of the central friendship in the books, but an article in Le Palace still called the "heroes homosexuel de notre enfance"

Strips in the 1960s strove to break taboos, but were still censored by a law passed in 1949 that assumed comics were for children, which prevented the inclusion of explicit sexual themes, as in Barbarella album (1964), which had to be redrawn to remove nudity. The late 1960s saw greater acceptance of comic strips as a mature artform, and their use as social commentary and satire was established in mainstream newspapers by the 1970s, although some anthologies continued to be banned as "pornographic".

The works of French comic book creator Fabrice Neaud have been described as the "most ambitious autobiographical comics project yet published". These include his 1994 series Ego Comme X and the ongoing Journal, of which Neaud has self-published one volume every other year since 1996. The works chronicle day to day experiences and place them in a framework that examines representation and self-identity of sexual-minorities and the creative process. Volumes one and three focus on the author's homosexuality and status as a struggling gay artist in French small-town life: One story arc covered Neaud's unrequited love for a male friend. Neaud's works have been have been pointed to as examples that legitimised comics as serious literature, and elevated the regard for autobiographical works within comics. The retrospective and subjective nature of the works leads to significant emotional events being afforded greater coverage, with the result that issues of sexuality and interactions between the author and other men are highlighted, reflecting the importance of sexuality to identity. This has led critic (and character) Dominque Goblet to dismiss the works as trivial; such criticisms have been attributed to bias against autobiography or comics, or inability to identify with a gay character.

Frank Margerin's most famous strips follow the lives of working class heterosexual men centered around the character of "suburban rocker" Lucien, and occasionally feature LGBT themes that show the characters' assumptions of stereotypes. In Votez Rocky, the characters dress as the Village People and when a stereotypically gay character tries to chat-up Lucien in Le Retour (1993), he remains oblivious to the attempt. These occurrences have been noted to be about reaffirming their masculinity by comparison with non-masculine gay stereotypes, rather than depictions of homophobia. The relationship between social class and sexual orientation is also explored when a character is arrested by vice police in a park along with a number of gay couples and is humiliated by the police officers homophobic insults. In Comme s'il en Pleuvait (2001), the same character finds that the assumption that he is gay, due to a close male friendship, is to his benefit when in fashionable literary groups, where he is seen as more interesting and trendy.

Spanish comics have been described as less conventional and more diverse than American comics. Anarcoma, by creator Nazario Luque, is a "bizarre noir thriller" starring a gay transvestite detective. Anarcoma has been "widely celebrated" as one of the foremost subversive and countercultural comics that challenges preconceptions of sexuality and gender. Luque is openly gay and also writes the underground comic El Vibora. However, Gema Pérez-Sánchez says that the subversive impact of underground comics is less than one might expect, in comparison to mainstream and government-subsidised comics, as the readers of underground comics are unlikely to be shocked. The "veiled" queer content that appears in the Socialist government-sanctioned Madriz has a greater impact.

In Germany, the openly gay cartoonist Ralf König has created several popular comics taking an ironic but affectionate view on both gay and straight relationships. In 1979 he began creating comic strips that appeared in the Munich underground magazine Zomix and the gay periodical Rosa Flieder. In 1981, his first comics Sarius, Das sensationelle Comic-Book and SchwulComix (GayComix) were published by Verlag Rosa Winkel in Berlin. In 1987 he wrote his first comic with a continuous story (Kondom des Grauens). These comics have a large gay fan base, and despite initial skepticism from broader comics audiences due to the work's consistent "gay culture" setting, have also gained great popularity among heterosexual readers. Several of König's comics have been adapted into films; his work has sold more than 5 million copies and been translated into 14 languages.

British comics were for significant parts of the 20th century regarded as being aimed at children, hence avoiding adult themes. One exception is 2000 AD, a more mature and violent comic book. 2000 AD introduced its first openly gay hero in 1992 in the story Swimming in Blood, in the form of the camp vampire exorcist Devlin Waugh. Waugh was created by writer John Smith and artist Sean Phillips and his character's homosexuality is frequently referenced in the strip; in his first story he attempts to seduce one of the men he is rescuing. The character was deliberately created in opposition to such characters as Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha, gruff, macho men. Waugh, by contrast, was camp, flippant and flamboyant. In the annual poll of readers' opinions, Waugh became the first and last character ever to knock Judge Dredd off the top spot as Favourite Strip. However, the character was not used for seven years after his initial introduction, due to production problems. In the British small press Martin Eden launched Spandex, which claimed to be "the world's first all-gay superhero team".

Read more about this topic:  LGBT Characters In Comics

Famous quotes containing the word european:

    We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true. Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.
    Victor Hugo (1802–1885)