One of our favorite gay superhero comic writers has an interview over at Gay Star News:
We caught up with Alex Woolfson, creator of The Young Protectors series, to share superhero fantasies and talk about how to make it as a gay comic book writer.
When did you first discover your passion for comics and graphic novels?
I’d always read and enjoyed comic books as a kid, but there was one story arc I read as a teenager that had a powerful effect on me – the God Loves, Man Kills arc of the X-Men. In that story, religious fundamentalists target mutants – some of whom can ‘pass’ and some can’t—and, for me, it was a crystal-clear allegory for anti-gay prejudice in the United States at that time.
Here was a superhero comic that helped me feel seen and understood as a gay teen, and it really opened my eyes to the power of commercial genre writing in general – and superhero comics in particular – to be a force for change and tolerance. These stories might seem like pure escapism but, in the right hands, they could also be a way to express powerful and relevant real-life themes ‘under the radar’ – making them accessible to a much wider audience.
It showed me what was possible with comics – a medium to wrestle with challenging, real-life issues in a way that still feels to readers like a fun escape from reality. The best of both worlds.
By Gareth Johnson – Full Story at Gay Star News