BY BEN WINTERS
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In the upcoming September issue of the "Green Lantern," a comic book published by DC Comics, a supporting character named Terry Berg will be beaten to a pulp. People get beaten to a pulp in comic books all the time, so why did this beating merit coverage in the Associated Press (AP) and New York Times? Because the attack doesn’t come at the hands of Sinestro, Dr. Polaris, or any of the Emerald Crusader’s other traditional enemies: Berg, an assistant to the Lantern’s alter ego Kyle Ranier, is gay-bashed.
In her widely distributed Aug. 13 wire story, Verena Dobnik gives us some back story on the Berg character: "Terry actually emerged as a gay character in 2001 in issue No. 137, which was cited by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation as the year’s best comic book." She quotes current "Lantern" writer Judd Winick: "Terry came out because he had a crush on Kyle. Who wouldn’t? He’s tall, with all those muscles."
Winick first came to public attention back in 1994 when he was a cast member of MTV’s "Real World," the San Francisco edition. At the time he was an aspiring cartoonist, who along with his closest house-mate, the gay and HIV-positive activist Pedro Zamora, was constantly butting heads with irascible, scabby bike messenger Puck.
Times writer George Gene Gustines interviewed both Winick, a freelancer, and Bob Schreck, his editor at DC. Gustines does not note, as does the AP story, that Winick "is married and lives in San Francisco," but does feel the need to mention that Schreck "says he is bisexual." One wonders what evidence of bisexuality is satisfactory at the Times?
More relevantly, though inaccurately, Gustines add that, "While the comic book industry over the years has introduced gay and lesbian characters, this is the first major story line involving a gay central character of a mainstream comic book."
Not so, George! There’s been major story lines about Pied Piper, a gay friend and former enemy of the Flash, whose adventures are also published by DC. Over at Marvel comics you’ve got Northstar (of Alpha Flight fame), not to mention Destiny and Mystique (apparently a supervillian lesbian couple, though the shape changing Mystique is of no firm gender). In the Legion of Super-Heroes is another gay couple: Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass. "ArtsLine" got those examples from a 1994 article by Jim Drew in a magazine called OutNOW, as well as this spectacular quote: "Longtime supervillian Lightning Lord–Lightning Lass’ elder brother–may also be gay, although nothing has been said beyond a couple of hints."
Hint number one? His name is Lightning Lord.
Gustines’ Times feature mentions that Berg is not slated to die from his wounds suffered in the gay-bashing. "Who dies in movies?" Winick wonders. "Gay people, people of color. Killing him seemed like too much."
COURTING DISASTER
Chicago’s Court Theatre got a shout out in the Aug. 5 issue of U.S. News and World Report, though the circumstances were unfortunate.
Under the headline "The trickledown Dow," a group of U.S. News writers reported on the ways a scandal-shaken economy is affecting the world beyond Wall Street, and one area of inquiry was philanthropy.
"As the ugly demise of major companies such as Adelphia, Arthur Andersen, and WorldCom burns the educational and cultural institutions, nonprofits and communities that became partially reliant on their largess," wrote Samantha Levine. "Besides squeezing state and federal budgets, the economic slump forced charitable giving in the United States down 2.3 percent last year to $212 billion. Corporate philanthropy, however, plunged 14.5 percent to a four-year low of about $9 billion…"
Levine names Chicago’s Court Theatre as one likely victim of the trend; the theatre has an ongoing history with Andersen, including an annual gift of $15,000. However, Levine suggests that what’s often hardest for organizations like Court, which have other institutional sponsors and healthy subscription rolls, is losing the friendship of a big local entity and its many resources.
"Chicago’s Court Theatre appreciated the $15,000 or so it received each year from Andersen, the now fallen accounting firm," Levine writes. "But its relationship with 'this major corporate player, its employees, and vendors’ was exceptionally vital, says executive director Diane Claussen. The theatre offered discounted tickets to workers in Andersen’s Chicago headquarters, filling its 251 seats while expanding its audience base."
Levine also mixes in comments from Valerie Lies, CEO of Chicago’s Donors Forum, who points out that charitable giving is always the first thing to go when a company is in trouble. "It becomes harder to justify."
The Lyric Opera of Chicago and local PBS affiliate WTTW-TV also received funds from Arthur Andersen.
HOW TO ALIENATE YOUR PEERS
The Washington Post, on Sunday, August 11, ran an article titled "Critical Flaws," by arts journalist Philip Kennicott, detailing various hackneyed ways cultural critics go about coming up with stories. "If you removed the five or 10 most abused forms of criticism, there would be a deafening silence," went Kennicott’s premise. "Or perhaps room for other kinds of commentary to grow." From that harsh assessment, he moves to his "basic archetypes of the form, or Cultural Commentary in 10 Easy Lessons."
Number four: "The sinister extrapolation. Telltale signs of the form include evidence of spongy social science…and the nagging sense that the author hasn’t, in fact, actually seen the movie, read the book or gone to the women’s greased mud-wrestling exhibition that prompts the dire prediction of cultural collapse." Number 10: "The Revival," in which "The author, who generally leads a sheltered life, hewing to the same cultural habits for years, accidentally discovers that 'swing dancing is back.’"
To this list, one might add number 11: "Cobbled together top ten lists." Though Kennicott does make some good points, he should take care, though–cultural columns critical of those who write cultural columns are a great way to fill page space, but a terrible way to make friends at the critics convention.