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SPANDEX lives!

Martin Eden's superhero comic is still one of the best gay comics around

By Daniel TessierPublished 4 years ago 5 min read
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There's a long history of LGBT comics hiding out in the small presses. For a long time, the big American publishers banned any mention of homosexuality under the Comics Code, and even after the code was ended, Marvel had a blanket ban on such things into the early nineties. British comics had a bit more leeway in theory, but since comics here were still viewed mainly as a kids' medium throughout the twentieth century they were affected heavily by the government's Section 28, which banned any positive depictions of homosexuality in schools but which had knock-on effects in any kid-focused media.

Indie comics and underground publishers were the only real way to push LGBT-themed graphic media, since they were small enough and independent enough to get away with it. Small press indie comics still exist and fill spinners in local comic shops, but these days they've mostly made their way online. Of course, things are much friendlier to LGBT stories now and comics for mature readers are a well know and accepted medium, but it's still tough to get an outright gay, adult comic published by any of the big presses.

Martin Eden first published Spandex back in 2010 but is now being re-run on Webtoons, with the newest issue being made available sporadically. It's very much an indie comic, with simple but effective hand-drawn art and bold, powerful colours. Spandex is the most proudly gay comic I've ever read and is essentially the Pride rainbow in comic form. It's a superhero title, playing with the same tropes you'd see in any Marvel or DC title but with a nudge and a wink and through a distinctly queer lens. Spandex is perhaps the perfect title for an LGBT superhero title – there can't be another word that's so associated with both superhero and gay culture at once.

It's also the name of the superteam that stars in the comic, a human rainbow with each of the seven characters representing one of the colours of the traditional spectrum. Diva, “lesbian Wonder Woman” according to Eden, is a gorgeous, mysterious being who may have been around for a very long time. Glitter is a young gay man who's fully into the queer community, and has light-based powers. Butch and Mr. Muscles are brother and sister; they're basically a lesbian version of Luke Cage and a super-strong gay man. Prowler is, possibly, the most powerful of the team. He has inhuman agility and a cat-like tail, but also a sort of homo-telepathy – he can tune into gay people's minds and replicate other characters powers. Indigo is a French lesbian with teleportation powers. And Liberty leads the team, a genderfluid superhuman who has her own version of Spider-Man's Spidey Sense which is called, brilliantly, gaydar. S/he is a strong leader but is dangerously manipulative.

It's all tried-and-tested superhero stuff, but it's the proudly gay twist and the soap-like drama that goes with it that sets team Spandex apart. Soapy drama between team members has been a staple of comics like X-Men and The Avengers for years, but when you add the gay element the drama naturally goes through the roof. There's some serious stuff here as well; Mr. Muscles is an early casualty leading to a rift between his sister Butch and ex-boyfriend Glitter. The fluidity of sexuality is explored, with the heat of battle leading to unexpected couplings between the characters. It's also very adult in places, unafraid to feature nudity and sexual scenes but never straying into hentai-like titillation territory.

The team is based in Brighton, the gay capital of the UK and my town, which adds an extra level of fun for me. Other than the 50-ft lesbian attacking the newly-restored West Pier (a project which will never happen in real life), there's not much to set this apart from a series set in any other LGBT-friendly city. The second story takes the team to Japan where they fight Pink Ninjas and recruit a new team member, Neon, to replace Mr. Muscles. It's the third story, “If You Were the Last Person on Earth...” that's the best, though, in what's clearly a deeply personal story for Eden. A truly unsettling alien villain called Nadir has absorbed the minds of humanity by making them each face their worst memories, trapping them in a grey life of conformity.

It's a clear metaphor for depression, with everyone going about their day-to-day lives under a cloud of misery, simply going through the motions without ever really feeling anything, something that any depressed person will recognise all to well. The bleakness and feeling of powerlessness affects the remaining team members badly as well, with each of them facing their own resultant depression in their own ways, so that even as they remain free it's as though Nadir has won. On another level, the need for them to mask themselves in drab clothing so that they can pass unnoticed amongst the brainwashed populace is a powerful metaphor for the way so many LGBT people hide their true selves for fear of ridicule or abuse. It's such a colourful comic that the switch to grey and black is powerful in itself.

The more recent fourth story deals with long-simmering issues from the series and brings in the previously glimpsed Les Girls, Spandex's villainous counterpart. As I write this the story is hanging on a cliff in its new home, but hopefully more instalments will be up on Webtoons in the near future.

Spandex is gleefully silly but at the same time serious and moving, and the issues it deals with, particularly in the third story, were very affecting to me. Having these events take place in my town makes it even more so. But what of that most Brightonian of superbeings, Seagull Man? We shall see.

You can read Spandex now on Webtoons and read Eden's notes on the story on his blog. Titan have also published Spandex: Fast and Hard, a glossy hardback collecting the first three stories. It's absolutely gorgeous and can be bought through the usual places.

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About the Creator

Daniel Tessier

I'm a terrible geek living in sunny Brighton on the Sussex coast in England. I enjoy writing about TV, comics, movies, LGBTQ issues and science.

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