Queer Superhero History: Extraño

In caller years, mainstream comics publishers similar DC and Marvel person made large strides successful expanding the LGBTQ+ rep successful their universes, though they inactive person a agelong mode to go. But getting present was a dilatory and gradual process, with galore notable landmarks — and immoderate admitted missteps — on the way. In Queer Superhero History, we’ll look astatine queer characters successful mainstream superhero comics, successful (roughly) chronological order, to spot however the scenery of LGBTQ+ rep successful the genre has changed implicit time. First up: Extraño!

Gregorio de la Vega, amended known arsenic Extraño, debuted successful 1988 and is the archetypal openly cheery superhero successful a mainstream comic. Well, depending connected however you look astatine it. He’s not the oldest quality to beryllium presently depicted arsenic canonically queer: that favoritism astir apt goes to Alan Scott, the archetypal Green Lantern, who debuted successful 1940…but didn’t travel retired until 2011. He’s not the archetypal superhero to explicitly travel retired — that was Marvel’s Northstar successful 1992, 4 years later.

But though Extraño and the characters astir him ne'er primitively utilized the connection “gay,” his publisher, DC Comics, did. And Extraño’s sexuality is repeatedly made perfectly wide successful the text, arsenic opposed to being heavy veiled to sneak past the Comics Code Authority. So let’s clip question backmost to 1988 and spot what that looked like!

(Speaking of the 1980s: this nonfiction includes discussions of some fictional and existent homophobia, racism, HIV/AIDS, and suicide.)

Listen, nary 1 ever said the ’80s were a subtle decade.

Gregorio debuted successful Millennium #2 (January 1988) and was created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton. Millennium was a miniseries successful which the Guardians of the Universe and their distaff counterparts, the Zamarons, selected a radical of humans to go the vanguard of quality evolution, granting each of them superpowers to assistance them execute this destiny.

When Gregorio is archetypal told helium has been chosen arsenic portion of this group, helium scoffs, “Puh-lease! The lone fruits anybody picks down present are bananas.” And conscionable successful lawsuit that somewhat labored gag wasn’t perfectly wide to each readers, his quality design, peculiarly his pierced close receptor — the alleged “gay ear” — should person completed the picture.

Okay, I emotion him, though?

The unsubtle coding continues successful Millennium #3, successful which aft being taunted by a consecutive man, Gregorio thinks, “They despise me…! Tonight, I despise myself…!” earlier attempting termination by jumping into the ocean. He’s rescued by the Flash, who tells him successful breached Spanish that it doesn’t substance what different radical think, frankincense inspiring Gregorio to judge himself arsenic 1 of the Chosen. This is beauteous par for the people for queer rep successful the ’80s, which mostly consisted of consecutive heroes stopping cheery bashing oregon being dismayed astir AIDS. (Stick a pin successful the latter. Oof.) Queer characters are mostly positioned arsenic tragic victims and eternal outsiders (or occasionally predatory). Gregorio, for each the awkward and clumsy stereotyping helium embodies, is really benignant of refreshing, for though he’s introduced done this tragic lens, by the extremity of the series, helium gets to person what mightiness beryllium the archetypal lawsuit of queer solemnisation successful mainstream superhero comics.

Because successful Millennium #8, the Chosen are granted their powers and codenames. Gregorio gets the costume uncover shown successful the archetypal representation above, and joyfully agrees with his codename, which means “strange” successful Spanish: “I am unusual — wondrous strange!” And arsenic for his powers: “Dreaming connected the cosmopolitan unity, I saw myself unraveling — and filling retired the darkness! I’m a witch!” It’s not peculiarly coherent, but he’s truthful blessed astir it that it’s hard not to smile.

Once Millennium ended, the Chosen were spun disconnected into their ain series, The New Guardians, which lasted for a year. Gregorio continued to not usage the connection “gay,” though discourse continued to marque his sexuality highly clear.

Dialogue dripping with stereotypical connection combined with compassion and wisdom: 1980s Gregorio successful a nutshell.

So wherefore the cautious language? Well, partially the Comics Code Authority, which forbade queer characters until 1989, but considering however unmistakably cheery Gregorio is, it’s much apt to person been mostly owed to editorial interference. (Fun fact: each contented of Millennium carried the CCA seal; nary contented of New Guardians did.) In the hobbyist mag Amazing Heroes #144, which came retired successful July 1988 — aft Millennium ended but earlier New Guardians began — Englehart is quoted arsenic saying that he’d really discontinue New Guardians aft penning #1 and plotting #2 (Cary Bates wrote the remainder of the series) due to the fact that exertion Andy Helfer had objected to his planned AIDS crippled line: “Andy said to maine that helium personally didn’t similar homosexuals, and helium didn’t privation immoderate homosexual successful immoderate comic helium was editing.” When Englehart pointed retired that Helfer had already edited Millennium, successful which Gregorio was precise overmuch present, Helfer said that helium thought Gregorio had been “cured.” YIKES.

In a connection to the aforesaid magazine, Helfer emphatically denied each of that, saying “I urged [Englehart] lone to contiguous the Gregorio quality successful what I believed to beryllium a socially liable manner, taking into relationship the incredibly divers ages and backgrounds of the comic publication readership.” Translation: deliberation of the children! Whether Englehart was exaggerating is intolerable to accidental for sure, 34 years later, but it’s surely worthy thing that successful a substance interrogation astatine the extremity of Millennium #6, Englehart refers to Gregorio arsenic gay, but Helfer describes him arsenic “a antheral whose intersexual mores and beliefs origin him to beryllium persecuted not lone by others, but by himself and his ain feelings of inferiority and inadequacy.” Those dependable similar beauteous uncomfortable circumlocutions to me.

Under Bates’s pen, Gregario became instantly little flamboyant and much subdued, calling everyone “amigo” alternatively of “dear” (so…a antithetic benignant of stereotype). His plan gradually became much macho arsenic well, culminating successful the aforesaid rippling pectorals arsenic each alpha antheral superhero connected the stands. He did concisely get to bespeak a emotion beingness connected a azygous leafage of this 12 contented series, erstwhile helium runs into an aged occurrence and goes truthful acold arsenic to clasp his hand. The missive columns showed a wide scope of opinions from some consecutive and cheery readers: immoderate fans loved Gregorio, immoderate hated him (either for being a stereotype oregon for being cheery astatine all); immoderate liked the changes, portion others were disappointed by his butch-ification. It’s astir similar a solitary cheery quality successful the full DCU couldn’t transportation the value of each azygous reader’s expectations and preferences!

Manly men don’t unfastened their eyes erstwhile they leap done sheet solid windows! (Actually, that’s astir apt a bully idea.)

And past determination was the AIDS crippled line.

In New Guardians #1, the squad is attacked by the Hemo-Goblin, an HIV-positive vampire created by a radical of South African achromatic supremacists for the explicit intent of destroying the New Guardians. Yes, you work that condemnation correctly. I’m truthful sorry.

The Hemo-Goblin bites the Black pistillate connected the team, Jet, and scratches Gregorio. Both of them, on with a achromatic pistillate who is mystically connected to the Black woman, initially trial antagonistic for HIV, but aboriginal trial positive. As many, many instrumentality letters pointed retired astatine the time, it was highly improbable for Jet to person contracted HIV done the Hemo-Goblin’s saliva, and frankly intolerable for Gregorio to get it from a scratch. The book’s editors (Helfer and Kevin Dooley) repeatedly hedged portion doggedly pursuing their “relevant” AIDS crippled line, denying the aesculapian statement and yet heavy implying that Gregorio had already been HIV positive, contempt the comic making it explicit that helium had not been…but aft all, helium was gay, wasn’t he?

(In lawsuit you’re wondering, Jet, the Black woman, yet dies. This magically cures the achromatic pistillate of HIV. YEAH.)

It’s casual to spot the bully intentions underlying the remarkably divers New Guardians conception arsenic a whole, and Extraño’s instauration successful particular. But astir each quality of colour successful the publication is simply a walking stereotype, not conscionable Gregorio. And though popular civilization was precise overmuch successful request of compassionate stories astir surviving with HIV, the repeated misinformation and implicit refusal to admit immoderate errors was actively harmful, and the embodiment of a deadly epidemic successful the signifier of a cartoonish villain with an idiotic pun for a sanction was profoundly offensive. It’s intolerable to accidental whether the crippled enactment would person been amended if Englehart had been allowed to instrumentality to his archetypal program alternatively of having Bates instrumentality over, but considering that the Hemo-Goblin was Englehart’s instauration successful the archetypal place, I uncertainty it. (The Hemo-Goblin formed specified a acheronian shadiness implicit the publication and Extraño successful particular, successful fact, that successful the 2016 Love Is Love anthology, successful a communicative written by nary little than DC’s ain co-publisher Dan DiDio, it was stated that Extraño had died of AIDS, which was perfectly not true.)

Given each of that, it’s not overmuch of a astonishment that Gregorio disappeared for 24 years, relegated to being an obscure, embarrassing portion of trivia.

And past successful 2016, writer Steve Orlando pulled him retired of obscurity for the Midnighter & Apollo miniseries. The Gregorio of the caller millennium — pun intended — is overmuch little flamboyant, but inactive explicitly queer, arsenic he’s joined to chap leader Hugh Dawkins (Tasmanian Devil, DC’s second queer superhero, who debuted successful 1977 and came retired successful 1992), and they person an adopted daughter. He’s besides a assured and almighty sorcerer, precise overmuch successful the Doctor Strange mode. On reintroducing the character, Orlando said: “With a publication similar Midnighter & Apollo, which from screen to screen is simply a emotion missive to queer characters and our conflict to live, beryllium disposable and love, it felt close to instrumentality to 1 of the archetypal and reintroduce Gregorio to a caller generation.”

Artist Fernando Blanco didn’t person to spell this hard connected making 21st period Gregorio this hot, but I’m gladsome helium did.

In caller years, Gregorio has go an elder statesman to some queer heroes and magical ones, which feels perfectly fitting for the precise archetypal canonically cheery superhero. He adjacent got to squad up with Midnighter to combat — and decision — a neo-Nazi vampire successful DC’s 2021 Pride anthology, which was an highly satisfying last nail successful the Hemo-Goblin coffin. So to speak.

Seeing the modern Gregorio truthful blessed and confidently badass is an implicit joyousness — not to notation the fantastic information that determination are truthful galore younger queer heroes for him to mentor these days, successful crisp opposition to his lonely beginnings. But I person to admit I person a batch of emotion successful my bosom for the archetypal Extraño too, who whitethorn person been taxable to often clumsy execution, but was besides warm, wise, and charming. The existent triumph is that we person both, and each the galore characters who came after, whose profiles I americium precise excited to stock with you.

The large furry guy? That’s Gregorio’s husband. I LOVE THEM.

I’ll extremity with 1 last enactment connected Gregorio that made maine grin erstwhile I saw it: arsenic of this writing, the Wikipedia introduction for Extraño states, nether “Powers and Abilities”: “Extraño is astonishing and fabulous.”

Yes, helium is, anonymous Wikipedia editor. Yes, helium is.