[LNH] Sexuality and Assumptions

Andrew Perron pwerdna at gmail.com
Fri Sep 25 18:20:34 PDT 2009


On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:11:25 +0000 (UTC), Tom Russell wrote:

> Andrew,
> 
> You're quite right in that Frat Boy would be a bisexual.  And I think
> if I had intended it to stick, if I had written the story to be
> serious, I likely would have addressed that in-story or in a
> subsequent adventure, perhaps even pointing out the trope that you
> mention.  

*nods* I'm more surprised, really, that nobody in the discussion thread
ever mentioned it.

> I think it was more that I was taking aim at The Reset
> Button and regressive attitudes towards sexuality in superhero comics
> in general-- and, more importantly, giving Master Blaster something to
> freak out about. Ah, Master Blaster. Sometimes I miss you so much.

There, there.  I'm sure that, in his heart of hearts... he wants to torture
WikiBoy some more.

> At any rate-- I was really surprised that the change in Frat Boy's
> sexuality was taken up by others.  Not that I thought my fellow
> writers would balk at it-- that's not what I'm saying-- it's just that
> I never intended it to be a permanent change or A Big Story That
> Changes Everything.  So, pleasantly surprised.

I think you just really picked the right character.  Frat Boy's the type
that can sustain just a bit of depth, and it's pleasing to kick against the
stereotype.

> For the most part.  Jesse Willey wrote a story that retconned in a
> previous gay lover, Hot Dog Boy or some such, which led to a lot of
> sausage-phallus jokes.  Besides basically invalidating my entire story
> in the first place, I found it in extremely poor taste.  And for me to
> find it in bad taste-- after all, I wrote the WikiBoy Cures AIDS With
> His Semen story-- well, that's saying something.

Yes, well... I don't think I've ever actually *enjoyed* a Jesse Willey
story, so. (I don't even enjoy his name.  It really seems like it should be
spelled "Wily" or at least "Willy".)

> Since everyone seemed to like the gay or bisexual Frat Boy, I did
> intend to marry him off and e-mailed his creator.  I never got a
> reply, and so I changed the intended story around-- instead of Self-
> Righteous Preacher refusing to officiate at the wedding, he just
> refuses to allow Frat Boy into his congregation-- and ended up with
> the Catalyst Lass vs. Self-Righteous Preacher story, the one that
> introduces the Imperfect Duplicate Ray (which is something that I wish
> did get used more by other authors) and the Preacher's feel-good
> doppelganger, Megachurch Man.  (Not my best work, but there were some
> nice bits in it.)

I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually - ranks up there with the good
Self-Righteous Preacher stories, like Dvandom Force Annual #1.

> All this talk about bisexual superheroes reminds me, of course, of
> Captain Jack Harkness.

Have we had a parody of him yet?

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, waiting for someone to write The
Ultimate LNH Doctor Who Parody.



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