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Marvel's LGBTQ+ characters take the spotlight with Pride Month anthology one-shot
This June, Marvel Comics will celebrate Pride Month with another installment in the popular Marvel's Voices series of anthologies that's spotlighted Indigenous and Black heroes in acclaimed one-shots over the past few months. In Marvel's Voices: Pride #1, the House of Ideas' LGBTQ+ heroes will take center stage in a series of stories helmed by LGBTQ+ creators in what the publisher unveiled Friday as its "first-ever queer-centered special spotlighting Marvel’s growing tapestry of LGBTQ+ characters."
The Voices anthology will feature stories starring characters like Mystique and Destiny, Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean, Iceman, Daken, and Karma, and will also include the return of Young Avengers' Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung for a long-awaited new story starring one of Marvel's most popular couples, Wiccan and Hulkling. In addition to Heinberg and Cheung, the roster of creators includes writers Kieron Gillen, Vita Ayala, Anthony Oliveira, Steve Orlando, Tini Howard, Leah Williams, Mariko Tamaki, Terry Blas, Crystal Frasier, J.J. Kirby, and Luciano Vecchio, and artists Javier Garron, Kris Anka, Jen Hickman, Paulina Ganucheau, Jethro Morales, Brittany Williams, Jan Bazaldua, and more.
“When I was a very closeted, very lonely kid, these characters saved my life,” GLAAD-nominated writer Oliveira said in Marvel's press release. “It's an honor to tell stories about them and to see the kind of stories queer people can tell about queer people deepen and grow.”
“It blew my mind when I learned this special was being put together. Something that not too long ago seemed a wild dream is finally happening! I think this is one of those history-making touchstones for LGBTQ+ representation in Marvel, one of those moments that sets the bar higher and starts a lasting paradigm shift, and I’m just grateful to be lucky enough to be asked to contribute to it,” Vecchio added. “And on a more personal note, after my short story in the first Marvel’s Voices special last year, this feels like an organic progression in the right direction, and I can’t stop smiling about it.”
In addition to new stories, the special will also take time to look back at some of Marvel's past ventures into LGBTQ+ representation to "explore the history of LGBTQ+ inclusion and storytelling" from the publisher.
Marvel's Voices: Pride #1 arrives June 23, and Marvel has already teased there are more Pride Month announcements to come.
