Recently, it’s been announced that Teen Titans, as part of its New 52 reboot/relaunch, will be seeing a new gay member, in the form of the awkwardly named Bunker:

Bunker, real name Miguel Jose Barragan, is also Mexican, Catholic and camper than a row of tents (at least visually, as we have yet to see him in the pages on the comic actually speaking). He creates some kind of weird purple energy/telekinetic barriers, and his homosexuality is apparently a fundamental part of his character, so it will be focused on and dealt with, whilst still showing that he is heroic and a badass new member to the team.

But wait, what was that one word I used to describe him?

Camp, flamboyant, a flamer, queeny, gayer than the day is long, out and proud and throwing his hands around in such a fashion that there’s a genuine danger they could fling off him and cause a major traffic accident.

Hell, we can see it in one of the first images shared by artist Brett Booth, where Miguel appears to dress when out of his costume in a style of fashion not a million miles away from current famous gay teen, Kurt Hummel of Glee.

Bright, colourful, and a definite statement, it’s still an improvement on his rather garish superhero costume.

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So, last week’s column saw me looking at Stormwatch #1, finding myself left wanting with the obvious lack of mention of Apollo and Midnighter’s sexuality, or in fact any way of differentiating them from Superman and Batman in their now shared universe; and also, looking briefly at DC’s claims of improving diversity.

Then, last Wednesday, DC finally released Batwoman #1. So, today’s column is very much a sequel to last week’s, as we again delve into DC’s diversification claims, and look at somewhere DC are actually doing it right.

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BEWARE: SPOILERS FOR STORMWATCH #1!

Last week saw the release of Stormwatch #1 from DC, written by Paul Cornell and with art by Miguel Sepulveda. More importantly, it features the return, or perhaps more accurately the introduction, of Apollo and Midnighter; two of comics most renowned homosexual characters.

As you may recall from earlier editions of Tales, I wondered how we might find these characters represented, what this would mean for LGBTQ representation in comics as a whole, and also how this marries up with DC’s claims of a broader, more diverse and inclusive universe.

With the issue finally out, I felt I should say something about it. However, I admit this is proving the hardest entry to write…because there’s not an awful lot to say. Maybe that in itself is worth exploring.

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So, last week I looked at the characters leading the charge of gay rights and representation in comics, and I heavily involved Apollo and the Midnighter in that. I praised the gay marriage and relationship the pair had, and I queried what may be to come as the pair find themselves part of the new DC Universe. Well, it would seem that some of our questions are answered now. Or at the very least, we have a little more info. Sadly, that info is a bit of a mixed bag.

Dan Didio was recently interviewed by Advocate, an LGBTQ news magazine and website, looking at diversity within the DCnU, with obviously a queer bent. The topic of Apollo and the Midnighter and their gay marriage came up, which is when Didio said this:

“The only thing that we discussed long and hard was the idea of where those characters would be in relation to their [own] relationship. Because they had an established relationship in the stories that were being told within the Wildstorm universe—and this is the first time they’re being seen in the DC Universe—we wanted to build them from scratch and watch an emerging relationship between these two characters. So in this particular case, Apollo is much more out and much more comfortable with himself [while] Midnighter is naturally a little more repressed.”

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Much like living gay culture itself, gays in comics have power couples, who lead the charge in visibility, finding acceptance and showing the world it’s okay to be gay (characters). But in comics, it’s pretty arguable that there are two major Power Couples (at least in terms of gay men, anyway). The Authority’s Apollo and the Midnighter, who pushed the envelope forward at DC around the turn of the millennium.

Followed, but quite possibly equalled, by Marvel’s own Young Avengers members, Wiccan and Hulkling.

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