The Gay X-Factor

Freaks. Aberrations. Deviants.

Vile epithets narrrowminded homophobes have used against us time and again. Surprisingly also terms synonymous with the genetic mutants in the X-Men. Is it any surprise that frequent comparisons have been drawn between the mutants' tense, guarded situation, including concealment of their extraordinary abilities and the age they manifest these powers, and closeted homosexuality?


Only friends?
Even as a curious schoolkid, the similarities were clear enough that I started devouring comics voraciously, particularly the books showcasing mutants. Hounded by the community at large. Hiding from their family and friends. Horrified by their astounding abilities. So yeah, I did empathize - though my powers extended more to fabulous window dressing than telekinesis or mutant strength.

Back then the dashing Jean Paul Beaubier - or more widely known as Northstar - had just only come out of the closet. Even then the controversial hero only appeared sporadically, more often getting butchered, sidelined or thrown off screen quite spectacularly. Seriously lame. Hardly a gay idol to look up - to so we had to make up our own. The curiously ambiguous Iceman? A wildly erotic Cyclops / Wolverine hook-up?

Of course we also had the surprisingly emotional, highly charged friendship between Rictor and Shatterstar, both junior leaguers in the X-Force.

Rictor - or Julio Esteban Richter - is a moody Mexican-born mutant who literally makes the earth move while Shatterstar is a genetically modified bad-ass gladiator warrior manufactured to perform for the audience of an extraworldly dimension. Both ostensibly best friends but with an undeniable chemistry so subtly homoerotic that the homo fanboys picked up on it and rejoiced with lots of speculation and dozens of steamy slash stories.


Rictor and Shatterstar
A hinted-about relationship that was only realized more than a decade later with a kiss - so earth-moving, so star-shattering - that it put all the previous gay rumours to rest. With the two boys brought back from publishing limbo to be cast in the admittedly fabulous X-Factor, a hard-boiled noir-styled mix of detective and superhero pulps.

I'll admit I squealed when I saw the long-awaited kiss.

Things have changed for the duo of course. Filled with endless angst after the loss of his mutant powers, Rictor has developed a cynical brand of humour while Shatterstar, with prolonged exposure to humanity and its many foibles, has morphed into a more fun-loving character far more eager to experience and enjoy the world at large.

Which also includes promiscuous sexual trysts for the limber fellow. Now how do you explain having a strictly monogamous relationship to a sex-crazed alien from another dimension?

Of course revealing what happens next with the boys would be a disservice to the spectacular work of Peter David, the writer of X Factor. Now, isn't it time you picked up an issue?