He's on this promo pic..
I've
seen this promo but for some reason, didn't connect it to the upcoming animated t.v. show. The Panther is looking good. When it comes to style, functionality, and the intimidation/coolness factor, the Black Panther habit is second to none when compared to the costume/garb of the other superhero types. I always preferred the Panther without the cape, especially when the character is in battle. He (and/or she) appears more streamlined and sleek without the cape.
I agree & John Byrne petty much says he always intened for Northstar to be gay/created Northstar as gay man.
Was it your intended when you created Northstar that he would be a gay man?
JB: When I created Alpha Flight they were basically half a dozen characters who could survive a prolonged battle with the X-Men. They had very little depth -- tho I am a compulsive creator of backstory, so I knew something about their histories even then -- and were not really created with any thought toward them eventually getting their own title.
Unfortunately (?) they proved enormously popular, and so Marvel began pushing me to do an ALPHA FLIGHT book. Eventually I relented, and agreed to do the series -- which meant I had one problem instantly: I had to find ways to make those characters more three dimensional.
Very interesting.
"Unfortunately(?) they [Alpha Flight] proved enormously popular, and so Marvel began pushing me to do an ALPHA FLIGHT book." In my always humble opinion,
Alpha Flight was one of the more exciting concepts developed for Marvel Comics
period. The characters were fresh, original, intriguing, diverse, and dynamic---as exciting if not more so, than the X-Men. Byrne's comments seem to suggest he wasn't altogether enthused about his creation and that's what strikes me as being unfortunate. I now have to wonder if the very untimely death of James Hudson/Vindicator could have been Byrne's way of sabotaging Alpha Flight. I would hope not. An Alpha Flight team consisting of: Vindicator/J. Hudson, Guardian/H. Hudson, Sasquatch, Snowbird, Pathway, Goblyn, Northstar, Aurora, Shaman and Talisman would definitely reinvigorate my flagging interest in comics. A limited series featuring Cloak and Dagger as temporary members of the Imperial Guard would catch my interest as well. By the way 4Sake,
whatever happened to Pathway and Goblyn? I doubt they're on Utopia.
One of the things that popped immediately into my head was to make one of them Gay. I had recently read an article in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN on what was then (the early 80s) fairly radical new thinking on just what processes caused a person to be homosexual, and the evidence was pointing increasingly to it being genetic and not environmental factors. So, I thought, it seemed like it was time for a Gay superhero, and since I was being "forced" to make ALPHA FLIGHT a real series, I might as well make one of them Gay.
hmmmm...Byrne felt "forced" to develop his
excellent Alpha Flight concept as an ongoing and feeling put upon, decided to make a Flight member gay. Any inspiration for introducing a gay character Byrne might have found in the
Scientific American article makes perfect sense to me. But it seems that the other part of Byrne's reasoning for making a Flight member gay was a sort of retaliation for being "forced" to produce the Alpha Flight ongoing.
....don't know what to make of that.
From there, it was a process of elimination. I didn't want the homosexual character to be one of the girls, since that was something people tended to associate (rightly or wrongly) with Claremont books.
Like Storm for instance. Ororo might not have been headed toward homosexuality but in the opinions of many Claremont/x-geeks, Storm's bisexuality was established fact. Hudlin's MARRIAGE OF THE CENTURY might not have ended this speculation but like RoLo, the "Storm is bisexual" express has been
derailed by one of Hudlin's "many mistakes".
Mac Hudson and Heather were happily married and I did not want to mess with that.
Nope. Don't let homosexuality become an issue in Mac and Heather's marriage; ugly, hairy, height-challenged dirty old men however... go for it. Both Wolverine and Puck had a thing for Mrs. Hudson at one time or another. In addition, IIRC, there was a significant age difference between Mac and Heather (ala Reed and Sue). The Hudsons didn't need any additional pressures on their marriage.
Michael was widowed with a daughter, and that way lay what I considered too much of a cliche, if he turned out to be Gay. Besides, as a Native Canadian he was already the resident "minority". The new guy, Puck, had his own set of problems.
Heightened focus on a character's sexual orientation is a fairly recent phenomenon. Readers of Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, and Rawhide Kid weren't overly concerned with the sexuality of those characters. Yes, while there may or may not have been hints of homosexuality, obvious heterosexuality has always been depicted in a very tame way in comics. Heterosexual flirtations and marriages were prevalent. How many readers thought of heterosexual characters as a "majority"? Homosexuals are a minority---an "invisible" minority. Dr. Twoyoungmen/Shaman - a Native American - was a visible "resident minority". Laura Dean - a Black female - was a visible "resident minority" of Beta Flight. Had either Shaman or Pathway been homosexual as well, the reader would not have noticed this added aspect of "minority" status unless they learned of it through the character's public or private thoughts or statements on the matter or through intimate interaction with a character of their same gender.
Sasquatach would be just too damn scary!!
...just too damn scary to be gay? I'm aware of the "lipstick lesbian" and super-fine gay male stereotypes out there. Throw the metrosexual in there too. Walter Langkowski wasn't "just too damn scary" to bed the beautiful Jeanne-Marie Baubier.
So I settled on Jean-Paul, and the moment I did I realized it was already there. Somewhere in the back of my mind I must have been considering making him Gay before I "decided" to so so.
Every member of Alpha Flight was interesting; however, it seemed to me that Northstar was gaining in fan popularity at a faster rate than the others. I remember confirmed Northstar's homosexuality making t.v. national news reports. Looking back on Jean-Paul's earliest civilian appearances, he did seem aloof of the female attention he received. At the time, I chalked it all up to his being an arrogant ass. Eventually however, I did pick up on certain clues - the interaction between himself and Aurora when they both believed Langkowski to have been killed and his "mysterious illness" that appeared to me to be the A.I.D.S. virus at that time.
Of course, the temper of the times, the Powers That Were and, naturally, the Comics Code would not let me come right out and state that Jean-Paul was homosexual, but I managed to "get the word out" even with those barriers. (8/24/2004)
The Rawhide Kid didn't become homosexual until recently, 5 years or so. Since Northstar, it seems there has been a proliferation of characters either being created homosexual or allowing circumstances of how established characters have been written to dictate their sexual orientation. Recently, I learned that the character Shatterstar is homosexual although his creator says he did not create him as such. As with the Rawhide Kid, editors interpreted Shatterstar's limited interaction with females as being a preference for males. The same could happen to Nezhno.
Also Bling!/Roxanne ''Roxy'' Washington is both black/AA & a lesbian.. 
These scans are the most attractive illustrations of Bling I"ve seen to date. Like Jessica Jones (who was looking quite fetching legs crossed and wearing bunny slippers) it appears some artists have decided to give Bling a break from the ugly stick.
Also was thinking the today that there are a many characters that could easily identify as being mixed/multiracial(who right now are only know to be white)... They could multiracial because the way they been drawn/the way there parents have been drawn/their parents haven't been show yet/their character history & few other reasons. Off the of top head Mercury, Gambit Cloud 9, Carmilla Black/Thanasee Rappaccini, Iron Fist/Rand & Rockslide could easy be multiracial characters..
Really? Worth investigating in my spare time. Marvel doesn't seem shy about hooking up attractive black female characters with white male characters and at least 2 of those white characters have killed their black female lovers: Calypso/Kraven The Hunter - I believe Kraven killed Calypso. Nekra (black, although her skin is chalk-white)/Grim Reaper - Reaper killed Nekra. Wolverine has kissed Storm once or twice. Misty Knight pregnant and engaged to Danny Rand. Celia Reyes/Hank McCoy. Glory Grant (J.J. Jameson's erstwhile secretary) dated the hispanic characters Hector Ayala and Eduardo Lobo.
PLEASE ANY ONE OTHER THAN PIXIE..
I defer to your more comprehensive knowledge of all things X-Men
I mentioned Pixie because of the memory of some member at "the other place" suggesting the two of them together.
If the New X-Men ever get a book again I'd like to see him date :
Dust - the both have outside looking in thing going when it come to being X-students & they seem to have mutual respect for each other & ..
I don't follow the mutants anymore, but I do have a vague awareness of the characters. I see an illustration of Dust without her veil. Never saw that before. Knowing Marvel's and the x-writer's penchant for getting their white male characters into the pants of all female characters - white/non-white/extraterrestrial/extra-dimensional, etc...- I expect the rest of Dust's clothes will join her discarded veil and she'll find her completely naked body in the arms of some male X-Man not named Nezhno or Prodigy very soon, if not sooner.
Or Mercury - because she basically(non-toxic) living metal he will be able to feel her because his vibranium tattoos/powers make hard for him to feel things, but he felt Mercury when she touch him..
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With their tattoos and all, Nezhno and T'Challa are beginning to look like twin brothers.
Also I remember you mention Prodigy while I'm not really a fan of his, but I thought I'd let u know he was last shown helping Scott organize/run his forces/teams in the 2nd coming.
Cool. I hope Prodigy doesn't manage to get himself killed off by an x-writer anytime soon.
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I think the only two Howlers that have ever stuck in my memory are Sgt Fury and Dum Dum Dugan.
Also he going to be leading/running the Thunderbolts & been hinted to leading a Avengers team..
Which is badly written statments like this make no sense when T'Challa has aircrafts that can get ppl half and world in about 20 mins (& some under 20mins) Plus T'Challa has way better tech than on Utopia.
That's it?!