Comic Book Thursdays: Close Minded Adults, Open Minded Teens

 

Astonishing X-Men 51, variant cover

When I was a teenager, I bought tons of comics. Teen Titans and Young Justice immediately come to mind and even X-Men occasionally graced my shelves as well though I never got into it. Most of these stories were watered down versions of the regular, more adult titles and some were downright silly but occasionally they touched on serious issues. It was the 90’s after all and even though some subjects weren’t taboo, it still shocked people when things like drugs were in teen oriented stories.

  Considering how politically correct the world is nowadays, it’s strange that teen oriented storylines touch on issues adults avoid. Even more intriguing, is how open minded teenagers are to these sorts of issues.

  Let’s take an overused (and by overused, I mean everyone has posted some opinion on it) hot topic right now. Homosexuality in comics isn’t new, yet every time a character comes out; it’s cause for a moral panic. In 2006, Batwoman was announced to be a lesbian and people went ballistic. As a subtle joke, both her identities shared a name with a female Batman character designed to dispel gay rumors in the 50’s. Before the book was even out; people criticized it on every level. The same thing happened with Northstar and Kyle's wedding issue of the X-Men. People actually objected over the marriage and sexual preferences of fictional characters, citing them as immoral.