So one of the new characters to join the Teen Titans is Bunker, a flamboyantly gay Mexican teenager with forcefield powers. All diehard Teen Titan fans I’ve talked to have come to the same conclusion when they heard the announcement about him:

Why is Tim Drake trying to give him a crotch-hug?

He’s doomed.

It’s not a judgment on him – we have yet to see him in action – rather, it’s a judgment on both his writer and the company publishing him.

Scott Lobdell has not shown mature handling of sexuality lately (see: Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws and the ensuing controversy) which is a far cry from his great work in the 90s handling Generation X and Alpha Flight. Now, I know that writing straight female sexuality and gay male sexuality are very different things, and some people can fail miserably at one while acing the other (Hi, Judd Winick!) but the Starfire issue, combined with his comments in interviews where he’s bragging about how diverse his cast of Teen Titans is and how Bunker is going to be flamboyantly gay, because that’s how gay people are, does not give me much hope.

(Also, is it just me, or did his interview feel like he’s taking potshots at Marvel’s teen gay superheroes – Wiccan, Hulkling, Karolina Dean, Anole, etc. – who while being gay, aren’t stereotypes?) (continue reading…)