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Monday, August 25, 2014 

Kurt Busiek injects LGBT issues into Astro City

He retweeted this item from one of his readers, featuring a picture that may come from the 3rd volume of Astro City now being published:

Now to be fair, it's Busiek's property and his prerogative to bring up whatever issues he decides. But it's still a shame he's joined the list of left-wingers who think homosexuality is so utterly important, and has to put it into such a well regarded series. What makes that so important, but not ethnic/nationality backgrounds like Portuguese, Armenian, Mongolian, Cameroonian, French, Peruvian, Macedonian, Danish and Chilean? Why not superhuman beings residing in the metropolis whose backgrounds draw from the examples I've given? Just think, there could be French and Italian with magical talents, Cameroonian and Danish with the power to fly and shoot plasma bolts, Burmese and Columbians with teleportation powers. There could even be gourmets with meals from all these different countries featured, ditto some famous proverbs. Yet Busiek chose to go a very predictable route, and based on the tweeter's comment, it's unlikely we'll be seeing homosexuality presented as a poor role model, yet if it's that important a subject, it's also unlikely we'll be seeing Busiek condemning Muslim violence against gays and lesbians, not even speaking against regimes like Brunei, which have taken their situation from bad to worse.

In fact, if Busiek and others of his standings think exploring homosexuality is that important, how come they don't think the same about overweight people? It worked for William Conrad as Cannon in the 1970s, why couldn't it work for stories like his? If I heard people of Busiek's standing defend any disinterest in overweight protagonists simply because obesity isn't healthy, I'd have to shake my head in disbelief, because homosexuality has its own health hazards too. (And if they defended disinterest in emphasis on ethnic backgrounds from abroad because it's supposedly not interesting enough, I think I'd be disgusted.)

On the plus side, IIRC, Busiek did not join the leftist bunch in comics who were demonizing Orson Scott Card and refusing to read his work. But it's still a shame he's squandering creativity over something so predictable.

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You're an idiot.

*facepalm*

"Why is X so important? Why is he not talking about Y? That's far more important!" Try and make an argument without using the starving child in Africa fallacy.

Also, that Reuters article is both six years old and presumably unaware straight people engage in anal sex as well.

Why should homossexuality be presented as a poor role model?

You've... never even read Astro City, have you?

Wow, thanks to all the Busiek cultists who've just given me traffic! It's an honor, of course. Now, you can take these ideas and put them to good use if and when you ever join the comics medium, for as long as it's still around. You can also pay visits to placed like Yerevan and the Andes mountains. And most importantly of all, you can be creative! Heh heh. Thanks for visiting.

You logic here seems to be that if someone is going to include a group of people you don't like, then they should instead include a group you like better instead. Focusing on folks of different national/ethnic backgrounds is, to you anyway, the superior choice than homosexuals. I guess that makes sense if you A) See homosexuals as inherently less dimensional (and therefore worth writing about) than others & B) Expect everyone else on Earth to carry your attitudes and agenda against gays.

After that it breaks down. If someone portrays homosexuality positive, they also have to address every anti-homosexual organization you don't like? It really feels like I'm reading a well-worn gripe about the alleged dissonance between liberals who support LGBT causes and also believe that not all Muslims are terrorists? Are you measuring the authenticity of LGBT support by whether or not they abide by your logic of who to publicly condemn?

I understand that you think homosexuality is a toxic, unhealthy lifestyle and think that someone endorsing it (or not condemning it loudly enough) means they absolutely must endorse other lifestyles you deem toxic and unhealthy. You expect, what, anyone who disagrees with you one issue to disagree with you every issue?

Tangential question: what's your take on Marvel's prohibition on Wolverine smoking? I don't--I could never possibly--care what you think of the character; I want to know what you think of the ban.

Velding: I could probably talk about how, like various leftists of your standing, you don't make distinctions between beliefs/mentalities and nationalities, but, I think I'll comment on this:

"It really feels like I'm reading a well-worn gripe about the alleged dissonance between liberals who support LGBT causes and also believe that not all Muslims are terrorists?"

From what I'm reading here, it sounds like you're the kind of guy who's made up his mind that Islam's opposition to homosexuality is trivial compared to whatever disagreements Christianity and Judaism have, suggesting you think Muslims are the only group for whom it's OK to be homophobic. Talk about complacency! It only suggests your positions were never sincere to start with.

Now I've seen Busiek argue he has put Brazilians in the books, and I'll admit Astro City isn't a title I've been able to find and read/buy at ease, making one of various indie books that I don't enough about, so if I overlooked anything, I'll apologize for being too cursory. But that doesn't mean I'm going to approve of "normalizing" lifestyles and ideologies running contrary to my beliefs, not even communism. And it certainly doesn't excuse Busiek's galling attitude towards right-wingers and other people he disagrees with. He's not the first to plunge that low; even John Byrne went downhill in the past decade.

And while I'm sure Busiek did spotlight a few ethnicities like Brazilians, why wouldn't I be surprised if Armenians have never been highlighted, and Medz Yeghern (the Armenian Holocaust during WW1) was never referenced clearly? Armenians are surely the ethnic group I've been advocating for the most, ditto Arab Christians and apostates from Islam like Brigitte Gabriel. And from what I've seen so far, few writers have shown they're willing to let it be known those kind of groups aren't being shut out of the mainstream. That's why I don't have much choice but to speak out.

"Ooh, ooh, look! I put two guys kissing in my comic! Aren't I daring? Aren't I cool? Don't you want to praise me?"

*yawn* Message fiction. Boring.

Yeah, um, you certainly called out my shallow commitment to supporting homosexuals.

But seriously, you answered most of my questions in spirit if not in...the form of actually answering them. But then answering my questions isn't your job or why you're here.

For the record, The Armenian Genocide is something that should be discussed and a much larger part of the public consciousness. Best of luck to you getting it into comics.

Thank you. That's something we can certainly agree on.

Except there have been over weight characters in Astro City so there's that

But, Israel doesn't acknowledge the existence of the Armenian Genocide, right?

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