Young Justice cartoon's got a LGBT Aquaman
Most recently, Outsiders has followed the Justice League on its wild campaign of public disinformation that’s factored into the heroes’ ability to track down a group of metahumans who have been captured and sold into slavery, because of how valuable their powers make them to different state actors. In episode 18, Kaldur’Ahm (who’s now become Aquaman) leads the squad on a mission to Cuba to liberate a group of trafficked metahumans from being sold, and while the team’s mission is successful, they’re unsure of what to do with one of the metateens who isn’t able to breathe on dry land because of her recently-developed gills.Well, I guess this does, if anything, confirm DC's animation division is going the now common route of making cartoons unsafe for children. No doubt, Marvel's got at least a few of their own propaganda tactics lurking in the background of at least a few animated products they may have to boot, or will soon. If this is how they intend to run their business, they should at least put a notice at the beginning of their program that it contains material that could require parental guidance, or even a rating system like the MPAA's had for over 50 years already. And then, back in the comics, if this is correct, even there they're shoving this propaganda under water into Atlantis. Once again, we have a case of SJWs turning everything soggy.
In this week’s episode “Quiet Conversations,” Kaldur makes good on his promise to find a safe haven for the newly-manifested metahuman by bringing her to Atlantis, where she’s both shocked and ecstatic to realize that she’ll be able to become part of an active society again despite her need to be constantly submerged in water.
While the metahuman girl’s introduction to Atlantis isn’t exactly notable, what is notable is the kiss Kaldur quickly steals from a handsome member of King Orin’s court, seemingly confirming that this iteration of the character is queer in line with his DC Comics counterpart being gay.
Again, Kaldur’s sexuality doesn’t at all factor into the story Young Justice: Outsiders is telling, but the series acknowledging and embracing the character’s queerness is significant in and of itself, in large part because it’s a reflection of Outsiders’ overall approach to representation. Where a lot of shows tend to fall back on the traditional logic that a series need only feature one character of color and/or a queer character, Outsiders illustrates how that idea’s kind of bullshit and that characters—wait for it—can be multiple things at once.
Kaldur is not only the show’s Aquaman, an explicitly black character, and queer; ironically, the coolest thing about him here is that he isn’t Young Justice: Outsiders’ first queer hero of color. That honor belongs to Halo, whose story is...complicated and thankfully distinct from Kaldur’s.
Update: Bounding Into Comics has an interesting reminder of who conceived the new character nearly a decade ago:
Kaldur first appeared in Young Justice, but made the transition to comics in Brightest Day #4 (2010). His print counterpart was named Jackson Hyde and created by Blackest Night author Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Back in the cartoon, he has led quite an eventful life — inheriting the trident and title of Aquaman as well as becoming the Justice League’s new leader.And Johns has long proven one of DC's most irritating writers, who was hired over 2 decades ago by none other than the now disgraced Eddie Berganza. He also has blame to shoulder in forcing contrived diversity into the DCU, as he did in Green Lantern, one more reason why realists shouldn't overlook the harm Johns caused to DC.
Young Justice’s big twist this season is surprising, but follows current comic book canon, so we’re not seeing anything new. Rebirth made Kaldur an out-of-the-closet teen with a boyfriend. Moreover, the show’s new season has made it a point to add more representation to its cast and the DC Animated Universe. Halo is declared gender fluid and shared a same-sex kiss before Aqualad did, with Harper Row in Episode 18.
Labels: animation, Aquaman, bad editors, dc comics, dreadful writers, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics
One of Johns' first contacts at DC was Berganza, but Berganza did not hire him. THe people who first gave him writing work were editor Chuck Kim, and later James Robinson and Mike Carlin.
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