Iron Man by Jamie McKelvie

I like this design.  I have always had a soft spot for Tony’s  ‘Silver Centurion’ suit and this version calls to mind that old armor.

Art by Jamie McKelvie

(source: fuckyeahyoungavengers, via KieronGillen)

It took far longer than it should have, but Billy and Teddy finally kiss on panel.  I know there are people out there that freaked out upon seeing this.  I feel bad for them. This scene is important in comics.  Same sex couples and relationships have barely been portrayed in mainstream comics.  Too many people have thought them “icky”.   Too many people think that showing gay relationships or a same sex kiss is somehow “politically correct” or “shoving it down our throats”.  The thing is, these people don’t think twice when mixed sex couples are seen in bed together, hold hands or kiss.  This isn’t a big deal because of heteronormativity. People are so accustomed to heterosexuality being the default that they think anything different is wrong.  Sorry.  It’s not wrong. I’m not wrong.  Being gay is not wrong.  It is just another sexuality on a wide spectrum of sexualities.  It hasn’t been presented in comics in a realistic way for pretty much the entire history of mainstream American comic books.  Which sucks.  It sucks for those of us who are gay or lesbian.  We didn’t have characters who were like us to dream of being.  No characters that we could relate to on that level.  Diversity in comics is important for readers because not all readers are cisgendered, heterosexual, white males.  They’ve had decades-the better part of a century-having their tastes catered to.  There’s nothing wrong with that. I have plenty of friends who are cis-, hetero-, white males.  But they don’t make up the entire readership of comics.  They shouldn’t be the only ones who get to see themselves represented in comics.  That means that black, asian, and hispanic people (just a few examples) should get to see themselves represented in comics.  Women should get to see themselves represented in comics-by which I mean strong female characters, not sexually objectifying pin-up characters who exist merely to move the story along for men.  Gay and lesbian readers should get to see themselves represented in the same way that heterosexual readers long have.  But the ‘G’ and the ‘L’ in LGBT aren’t the only letters (duh).  Comics have a long way to go in representing the full breadth of readers-which also includes transmen and transwomen and bisexual people (thanks to Young Avengers again for having Prodigy come out as bisexual).  So to those people whining about seeing stuff you don’t like, well you still have the vast majority of mainstream American comic books to cater to you and you’ve had that for most of the last century.  You aren’t the only people out there who read comics, so stop being such selfish, blithering bigoted fools and accept that people who are not you actually exist and want to see themselves represented in comics.

In the last, oh, 24 hours or so, Jamie McKelvie has rocketed up my list of favorite artists.  I’ve been reading back through his blog and have been blown away.  His art is fantastic.  The level of detail he puts into his character and the background is astonishing.  He also has a wonderful ability to emote with his characters.  You can tell they feel something.  Added to that, he’s an progressive artist.  He’s a feminist. He speaks out about privilege.  He’s an ally of LGBTQI people. He speaks up about so many social issues, and that is important to me. It is awesome to see two of my passions-comics and social justice intersect.