Non-Chick Comics Promote Same Sex Love

Those "funny books" aren't so funny any more. The most recent issue of "X-Factor" ended with two male team members, Shatterstar and Rictor, making out. While readers will have to wait till next month to find out whether they're gay, bisexual, or it's some sort of mind-control plot point, consider writer Peter David's track record of supporting gay characters in comics -- and the lesser-known fact that writers planned for the pair to hook up back in the mid-90s.There's a good shot this is the start of a homosexual whirlwind romance.

Yet Mainstream comics haven't always been so liberal. The Comics Code Authority was created in the 50s partly out of concern about a subtext of sexual perversion, and it forbade homosexuality until 1989. Now it's all the rage. A typical example is the recent promotion of the crime-fighting lesbian Batwoman to the helm of "Detective Comics". But count your blessings, at least they didn't make Batman and Robin gay lovers (not yet, anyway). See Chick's SIN CITY.