“They were all scared of how the industry would treat them,” Mr. The article included a handful of anonymous quotes from gay and lesbian creators. That same year, he wrote “Out of the Closet and Into the Comics,” an article for Amazing Heroes, a magazine that covered the comic book industry. Someone who understands the past reluctance to come out is Andy Mangels, 43, who since 1988 has moderated the “Gays in Comics” panel at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. Avery is a member of a group of gay men who meet regularly to discuss the latest comics. I’m not sure which I was more afraid of people discovering.” These days, Mr. “I do remember feeling like I had two secrets I had to keep: being gay and being a comic-book fan.
“Growing up in the ’80s, I guess I didn’t even think gay super-heroes or supporting characters were a possibility,” Dan Avery, 37, an editor of Next, a guide to gay night life in New York City, wrote in an e-mail message.
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TWO SUPERHEROS WALK INTO A BAR The Skin Tight party at the Stonewall Inn. “As I got older,” he said, “I realized, ‘Oh, this is why I admire the Grecian ideal of manhood and musculature.’ ” Levine is a big fan of the X-Men (who have a handful of gay characters) and the Transformers (all of whom seem straight) and has been reading comics since he was 8. The two become friends as, respectively, the graphic designer and Webmaster for Hard Comixxx, a predecessor of Skin Tight, once held at the Eagle bar in Chelsea. “I was always attracted to the superhero physique,” said Matthew Levine, 31, who helped found the party in 2005 with Andrew Owen, 44, and who was one of the few participants willing to be named. The common thread is that the muscle-cuddling garb often leaves little to the imagination. The crowd can range from 25 people on an average night to 250 on a spectacular one. Some wear heroic outfits some, wrestling gear. This is Skin Tight U.S.A., the occasional costume-fetish party held at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village, which draws a regular group of men (and their admirers) who enjoy a special kind of dress-up. In fact, there seems to be an inordinate number of men here tonight who look as if they have all but jumped from the pages of a comic book. And there, across the room, someone in the form-fitting outfit of Black Adam, Captain Marvel’s foe, determinedly working the floor. At first glance, it could be any Saturday night in any gay bar in New York.īut then you notice, off to one corner, Superman flirting with Green Lantern.