Daily Scans - Gail Simone: Wonder Woman's Achilles is gay

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November 8th, 2009
10:53 pm
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Gail Simone: Wonder Woman's Achilles is gay


Over at the DC Boards, Gail revealed that Achilles is gay.

Yeah, no point in being coy. Historically, Achilles was bi, but in this era, he's absolutely gay.

It's just part of who he is. DC has a ton of lesbians, but not that many gay heroes or even anti-heroes. He's not meant to be a token, I think he's a pretty cool character on his own and if he gets a chance to shine, I think we'll see that--up til now it's mostly been potential.

But RotO was about good intentions and how even people with good intentions can destroy worlds if they're not careful, so he's been put in a terrible position--his faith in the gods is pretty much absolute, but it puts him in direct conflict with what he believes is right, like his respect for Diana and Hippolyta. I have a lot of sympathy for a person in that position, I think we've all been there where what we believe in conflicts with who we have faith in.

Gail also said that Alkyone was gay in a thread over at CBR.

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From:[info]manofbats
Date:November 9th, 2009 03:56 am (UTC)
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It would be more interesting if it were an original creation and not someone taken from Greek myth.
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From:[info]ghosty732
Date:November 9th, 2009 03:57 am (UTC)
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Gotta love being historically accurate, though.

If only Marvel would play a round a bit more with Hercules.
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From:[info]gailsimone
Date:November 10th, 2009 04:31 pm (UTC)
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He's not the exact same man he was previously.

He has Kane's heart.
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From:[info]ghosty732
Date:November 9th, 2009 03:59 am (UTC)
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Also, I'm surprised this took so long to be mentioned here, looking at when it was actually posted.
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From:[info]bluefall
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:01 am (UTC)
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Haha, only in comics could the number of lesbians DC has be considered "a ton."
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From:[info]scottyquick
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:41 am (UTC)
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Yeah, that made me ironismile. Maybe 5% of DC's floppies this month have LGBT characters in them, but in comics ...
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From:[info]colonel_green
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:10 am (UTC)
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I'm still confused about exactly what this guy's relation to Achilles-classic is supposed to be; he doesn't act much like the mythical Achilles that I remember.
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From:[info]volksjager
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:12 am (UTC)
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Yes, it was awful when they changed Patrocalis into Achilles "cousin" and NOT his lover for Troy. Brad Pitt wouldn't do the gay. Historically Greek men were terroride of women...
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From:[info]escherichiacola
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:14 am (UTC)
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Well he certainly is flaming (sorry)
From:(Anonymous)
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:16 am (UTC)
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Hah! Quick save from putting his foot in his mouth!
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From:[info]parsimonia
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:16 am (UTC)
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Okay, that makes sense. I wasn't quite sure what was going on in that scene when I read it.
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From:[info]scottyquick
Date:November 9th, 2009 04:36 am (UTC)

-breathes sigh of relief-

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I like that. I mean, I can think of very few cool queer superheroes, but not a single cool queer villain/antagonist.

Although, I mean, did anyone not get that from this scene?
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From:[info]salamangkiero
Date:November 9th, 2009 05:06 am (UTC)
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This is interesting, albeit it should have been done a long time ago.
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From:[info]foxhack
Date:November 9th, 2009 05:08 am (UTC)
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Mark my words.

Unless these two end up getting divorced, or separated, or one of them gets killed? Some dumb writer will have them spend the night together and magically straighten them out.
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From:[info]mullon
Date:November 9th, 2009 05:35 am (UTC)
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I'm not too impressed, there are plenty of gay suppporting characters. Call me when someone actually writes a gay superhero in DC.
(no subject) - (Anonymous)
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From:[info]book_of_daniel
Date:November 9th, 2009 05:49 am (UTC)
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Of course he's gay. Look at him. He's definitely wearing a Say Something hat.
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From:[info]perletwo
Date:November 9th, 2009 06:37 am (UTC)
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Well, that might explain why he's so tone-deaf to the Amazon sociopolitical scene. I mean, in choosing a queen to serve as a bridge between him and his new subjects, he picks the single least respected Amazon on the island? How's that make any sense?
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From:[info]flidgetjerome
Date:November 9th, 2009 07:22 am (UTC)
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But ... why not have kept him bisexual? It's not as if bisexual males are all that common in comics either.
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From:[info]mooppoom
Date:November 9th, 2009 07:48 am (UTC)
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Damn. I wanted to see him make out with some ladies.

The chances that he'll make out with some dudes on-panel are much lower. Oh well. I live in hope.
From:[info]ladymirth
Date:November 9th, 2009 09:22 am (UTC)
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As far as I know, Gail is the only writer at DC who actively inserts gay characters (as in gay males not lesbians) into her stories without any tokenism. E.g: Cresote and Savant from BOP. I wonder where they are now.

I wish that we had more characters who were attracted to both men and women. I'm not going to say "bisexual" because I personally detest labels and find them confining.

Hands up who's convinced Nightwing is a repressed bisexual? Not in a wishful-thinking kind of way, but really and truly?
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From:[info]zordboy
Date:November 9th, 2009 11:50 am (UTC)
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Yeah, like that didn't just put a giant target on the guy's head. I don't know, I just find this a waste of time. It would be lovely if the token gays weren't the most likely people to be fridged, but that would need company-wide attitudes to shift on the part of the authors, and they won't.
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From:[info]retro_nouveau
Date:November 9th, 2009 02:18 pm (UTC)
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That's weird. I was pretty sure he wasn't an anti-hero, but a temporary villain who's going to be destroyed so that Kane can be brought back to life with the heart that Zeus took. He's way hot, and I love his personality (especially because it's atypical for male warrior), but I formed no attachment to him with the expectation that he's definitely going to die. Since Pele's still around, we can't forget about Kane.

It's definitely in congruence with that last panel, which now makes a lot more sense. I was thinking his honor was preventing him from mixing any pleasure with business, but now it's completely obvious that he doesn't go there at all. Alky seems full-on, but with a tiny bit of bi-curiosity, like she's indulging herself a little perversity. It's like Harvey Dent and Renee Montoya, not there at all, but not nothing at all either, compelling to watch -- like a car wreck in slow motion.

I'll just say, and I'm being serious for a minute, that it's Diana who should come out of the closet.
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From:[info]cygna_hime
Date:November 9th, 2009 06:29 pm (UTC)
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Achilles is gay. Gosh, it's good to have people to tell me this kind of thing. I don't know what I'd do otherwise. I mean, I was just naturally assuming that a classical hero named Achilles was overwhelmingly heterosexual, and all his most important emotional attachments were to women!

The speed at which I am tapping my foot waiting for someone to rassum-frassum introduce Patroclus already has just increased. C'mon, Gail! You know he's the awesome one! Or at least you should!
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From:[info]janegray
Date:November 9th, 2009 11:04 pm (UTC)
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Yay ^_^
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From:[info]proteus_lives
Date:November 10th, 2009 03:36 am (UTC)

Duh.

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Anyone who saw the above panel knew they were heading in this direction.

I don't really see the point. Achilles was bi in the tales and histories. But what he was isn't comparable to gay and bi folk today. Being bi was cultural for the ancient Greeks.

Maybe a misunderstanding comedy thing? "They're women who want nothing to do with men! They're men who want nothing to do with women! Hi-jinks ensue!"
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