http://www.newnownext.com/ten-best-gay-and-bisexual-science-fiction-characters/01/2008/
Midnighter top 10 favourite LGBT superhero and science fiction character
several GLBT comic book superheroes, their gayness is often handled in a coy manner, inferring their sexuality in a playful manner that gets played off as an in-joke (see repeated examples in TheYoung Avengers’ Hulkling and Wiccan).Compared to these types of characters, The Midnighter is note worthy because his gay identity couldn’t possibly be further from subtle. The very out gay hero is married to team member Apollo, and the pair refreshingly engage in sometimes graphic sexual dialogue, something you wouldn’t find in the “mainstream” pages of Marvel and DC comics.
We left equally out-and-proud hubby Apollo off the list because of his less original character. The blond Superman in need of a haircut is somewhat less interesting than the more morally questionable Midnighter; he’s more of a do-gooder who serves as Midnighter’s moral center – literally his better half.
http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4948
“We’re building a better world, remember ? One the bastards can’t remake in their image. If that’s not something to be proud of, I don’t know what is.”
“I know what special abilities you have. I can see the enhancements.I can detect the increased electrical activity in your brain. I know what moves you’re preparing to make. I've fought our fight already, in my head, in a million different ways. I can hit you without you even seeing me.me. I'm what soldiers dream of growing into. I'm what children see when they first imagine what death is like. I'm the Midnighter. Put the child down.[Opponent hesitates and is beaten down - hhekkgggk] Told you so.”
“Fucking typical ! As soon as we take over the world, it starts to fall apart at the seams…”
“The 21st Century is a bad time to be a bastard.”
(to Kyle Rayner) “Hey, Ring Boy, or whatever the hell you call yourself…don’t come back.”
“Sleeping in boxes and eating leftover pizza for the past twelve months has built up a lot of negative energy in me, Apollo. Treating these dirt bags to a little eye-gouging and neck-breaking for a few minutes might be just the kind of cathartic exercise I was looking for.”
“All those super-Gods — Apollo, Jenny Quarx, Engineer, Zealot, Majestic, Spartan — but it was some grouch in a leather jacket that terrified them. So just get the Hell over yourself, tough guy.”
“He makes a lot of noise and heals fast, but if you mortally wound him every couple of seconds it seems to do the trick.”
“I’m fed-up with everybody thinking I'm some kind of psychopath, Apollo. You’d better shut up and let me do the talking when we’re on Conan O’Brien next week.”
“Leave this to me.You said Kriegstein’s creations are simultaneously attacking every capitol city in the world, Hawksmoor. Like it or not, that means the only way to we’re going to beat him is to split up and defend each country individually. Besides, the day I can’t mutilate thirty radioactive teenagers is the day I hang up my coat for good"
https://reason.com/archives/2013/02/28/how-the-government-made-use-of-comic-boo
"The evil spell that comic books were capable of casting apparently got to Werthem as well. While his campaign against brightly inked mayhem inspired a U.S. Senate hearing that led to industry self-regulation and the demise of hundreds of crime and horror titles, Carol Tilley, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, has discovered evidence that suggests Dr. Wertham bent the truth to fit his theories in Seduction of the Innocent."
http://io9.gizmodo.com/5037854/when-superheroes-fail-to-save-the-world
He’s rugged, he’s macho, and his entire wardrobe consists of black leather. Remember when Midnighter was happily married and didn’t have a spike on his chin? Someone needs to slap the walls of the DC universe to bring this sexy back.
http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/content/dc-relaunch-martian-manhunter-wildstorm-westerns-loose-cannons
Stormwatch is a dangerous super human strike force whose existence is kept secret from the world. Jack Hawksmoor and the rest of the crew look to recruit two of the deadliest super humans on the planet: Midnighter and Apollo. And if they say no? Perhaps the Martian Manhunter can change their minds. Featuring a surprising new roster, STORMWATCH #1 will be written by the critically-acclaimed Paul Cornell (Superman: The Black Ring, “Dr. Who”) and illustrated by Miguel Sepulveda.
http://fusion.net/story/145302/dcs-new-midnighter/
While Midnighter the character may not be the newest face in the DC universe, Midnighter the series is the first mainstream comic to centrally focus on an openly gay man. This week, DC released the first issue of the Midnighter solo series featuring its titular character weaving his way into DC’s mainstream universe after spending the bulk of his existence in the company’s WildStorm imprint. Where DC’s Justice League was a team of virtuous paragons of justice, Wildstorm’s Authority are heroes willing to protect the world by any means necessary.
Jenny Quantum, the Authority’s one time leader, was the living embodiment of the 21st century. Apollo, WildStorm’s answer to Superman, was a genetically modified American soldier who derived his powers from the sun. The Midnighter was like a proper Batman for adults, a foulmouthed, violent guy who acknowledged that he was probably a sociopath. But like the good kind of sociopath who helps people. Like Dexter. Unlike Dexter, Midnighter’s more your traditional super vigilate, hiding a shock of red hair beneath a mask that looks like Batman’s with the iconic ears shaved off. He also rocks a trench coat–because real heroes don’t wear capes.
When they were introduced in 1998, Midnighter and Apollo were two of the only openly queer comic book characters to appear regularly in any publication. As time has gone on, mainstream characters like Batwoman, Northstar, Hulkling, Wiccan, and a time-displaced a young Iceman have all come out of the closet. Oddly, the stories addressing their sexual identities have all revolved around coming to terms with sexuality or struggling to maintain traditional relationships with their partners.
Johnny Murdoc, publisher of Queer Young Cowboys, says that the new Midnighter’s characterization reflects a more authentic depiction of a queerness, if only for the fact that it’s different than most.
“I’ve been looking for Marvel or DC to start hiring more diverse creators to work on their new attempts at diverse characters, and the move appears to have paid off,” he told Fusion. “Steve Orlando is a queer man writing a queer character. Midnighter’s sexuality isn’t his only feature, but it’s a core one, and the issue is gay enough that I imagine more than a couple of straight men are put off by it.”
http://www.newnownext.com/midnighter-dcs-gay-superhero-could-use-some-rescuing/06/2007/
Midnighter, who this past November became the first gay DC superhero to headline his own standalone series. But as of June's issue, Midnighter's sexuality has yet to be fully integrated into his character or his story. In anticipation of the arrival of a new regular writer for the series, AfterElton.com looks at Midnighter's origins and the handling of his sexuality by various writers and artists over the years.
tormWatch #4 (Wildstorm/Image Comics, cover date Feb. 1998) introduced two characters that would soon become symbols for a generation of gay comics fans: Apollo and Midnighter. At first glance, the pair were seemingly analogs of Superman and Batman: while Apollo was strong, fast, invulnerable and dependent on the sun for his powers, Midnighter was clad in black leather, could predict his opponents’ moves and liked to inflict heavy damages on bad people. So far, so good.
But from their first appearance, something was unusual: They were sometimes seen half-naked, dressing together before another day of fighting, as yet unaffiliated with any other heroes. (They were secretly rebuilt as human weapons by yet another power-mad character, with no memory of their previous life.)
A year later, as the StormWatch series morphed into The Authority (with the Wildstorm imprint now published by DC Comics), the two characters were included in the eponymous group, and over the course of their 12-issue run, Ellis and Hitch gave more and more hints that, unlike Superman and Batman, these two new characters were, indeed, more than friends.
The interesting thing is that the word "gay" wasn't used at the time. Instead, readers came to understand what was going on through scenes showing Apollo and Midnighter caring for each other, as in issue No. 7 when Apollo is wounded and Midnighter holds him in his arms. It was subtle (which was definitely the goal of the writer, who at first hadn't even told the artist the characters were gay), but very clear. Gay superhero fans finally had an enduring gay couple in their comics.
Then writer Mark Millar took over, and while the gay genie was certainly not put back in the bottle, the subtlety quickly evaporated. Millar's run, which lasted about 20 issues (including a four-issue miniseries), was full of homophobic insults hurled by villains, anal sex jokes and rapes (of Apollo, and then of his attacker by Midnighter) with large, tubular objects, a fate rarely, if ever, endured by straight male superheroes.
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