Alias: Angel
Fandom: Marvel
For my first official post, I figured I'd spend a bit more time talking about my first queer superhero.
Like I said in my official introduction, Marvel 1602 was my first comic ever, and I'm really lucky that I got to have a queer character in my first foray into the world of comics. I won't go into the larger plot of 1602, but the basic premise is that, due to a time traveler, the 17th century Marvel world has started to create people with super powers- Elizabethan era counterparts to classic Marvel characters, and they have to band together to save the world. Neil Gaiman, when writing the book, used the characters he read as a kid- the Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, Spider-man, the Hulk, and the X-men. Obviously, there will be spoilers from here on out.
Our introduction to Angel, who's been dubbed Werner in this incarnation, is as he's chained up in a tower by the Spanish Inquisition, waiting on his impending death by being burned at the stake, ruminating in captions about the deaths preceding his. He's the reader's introduction to the term "Witchbreed", Marvel 1602's terminology for mutants. From the very first page he's on, he's established as feared and hated for who he is, for wanting to fly, even if that doesn't even effect, much less hurt, anyone else. Subtle! But the "mutants = LGBT" theme is a pretty obvious leap to make, and anyway, Werner isn't established as a dude who loves dudes until the end of the book. Most of his identity revolves around being a mutant- sorry, witchbreed- with awesome bird wings, and wanting to not have to hide that, damnit!
Anyway, near the end of the first issue, Werner is being escorted to his scheduled fiery death- after refusing the chance to repent his wicked, witchbreed ways- and is actually chained to the stake, with the torch about to light the wood- when BAM. X-MEN RESCUE. Scotius Summersisle and Robert Trefusis, Cyclops and Iceman respectively, bust in and allow Werner to make an aerial escape, and in Scotius's case to establish his relationship with Werner. A relationship where he ends up being an asshole- seriously, Scotius, what was the point of letting the flame nearly light up the pile of wood before the rescue? The panel doesn't really show a reason for Scotius waiting for the last possible second, so I'm going to assume he doesn't think a rescue is any fun unless the rescuee has peed themselves out of fear.
At the coast, in the getaway boat, Werner stands there with his wings out, displaying his own character trait of loving to walk around with his gleaming, lovingly drawn naked chest thrust out. Now I can think about it and realize that Werner's shirtless-at-all-possible-times policy makes sense, since he doesn't want to have to confine his wings. The first time I read it though, I didn't realize that so much as I noticed the distinct lack of shirt, and as a preteen I was not very discriminating or analytical when it came to ogling.
Oh, also in the boat we're introduced to "John" Grey. Spoilers: John Grey is actually Jean Grey, which even I was able to recognize, considering that the X Men movie came out maybe two years before the comic came out. Jean actually doesn't get a single line in the issue- it's explained away by Scotius saying that "John" doesn't speak very much, before he explains a bit of Jean's powers. And then Scotius and Werner have a moment, where they both get to bond for a moment over their separate but shared pain of being different in a world where that gets you murdered. It's not the most typical beginning of a love triangle, but the Werner-Jean-Scotius triangle is the most defining plot for Werner and Scotius.
The next time we get to see Werner, it's briefly, at Master Carolus Javier's Select College for the Sons of Gentlefolk, before and after training with his fellow witchbreed. We don't actually get to see him fight, but considering that Nick Fury is pissed Javier even showed him the army he's training, presumably he's got enough camaraderie with his teammates to at least fight well with them. He's found a place. He can even fly freely on school grounds- okay, not freely, as Jean points out, he can't fly too high. But at the very least he can go flying in a kilt- seriously, a kilt, and he seems pretty unconcerned that "John" can see straight up it when he's on the ground and Werner's in a tree. They discuss the witchbreed, the ones unlucky enough to be stuck in a world without a place to be themselves, and Werner tells Jean how lucky they are not to have to hide.
Jean, who has just been referred to as "friend John", is obviously feeling as awkward as mutantly possible, and manages to hesitantly offer an "I wish to God-" before Scotius interrupts with all the subtlety of a jealous, cycloptic elephant, telling Werner to put some pants on, because it is time for church. I am not even making this up.
That pretty much cements the rivalry between Scotius and Werner. There's some plot relevant action- King James of Scotland ascends the English throne after Elizabeth's death, and send his spymaster, Nicholas Fury, to arrest Javier and his witchbreed and to take them to the Tower. While the X-men are cooling their heels, Jean makes the mistake of talking to another guy in front of Scotius, and asks Werner why he's not playing cards with everyone else. After five speech bubbles worth of conversation, Scotius storms over, ignoring Jean, to ask Werner why he's talking to the person who started a conversation with him. Werner is having none of it, and Scotius asks him if he wants to fight, despite his girlfriend standing there going "oh god please don't do this again".
Luckily, their fight is cockblocked by the arrival of Dr. Strange, who is there to discuss plot relevant stuff (beyond love triangles) with Javier and Fury. It's decided that the group is going to desert England and head to Latveria to rescue the Fantastick Four, and then to save the world. Fury arranges for himself, 1602 Dum Dum Dugan, and his witchbreed group of misfits to be taken out on a ship, which is supposedly going to be scuttled so the witchbreed will all drown. What actually happens is that Scotius uses his optic blasts like a rocket, sending it flying into the sky. And then it's up to Jean to keep it aloft and moving until they reach Latveria.
Jean worries that she's not up to it, but Javier reassures her that "to whom much is given, much is demanded" and that he'll be beside her the whole time, giving her strength. So she flies the ship, unceasingly, until they reach Latveria.
In his next scene, Werner is once again half naked, this time in tasteful striped boxers, and flying around and providing helpful exposition. When he lands back on the flying ship, he looks towards Jean and Javier, and Scotius will not allow that. So he walks over to scold Werner for flying around and attracting attention, to which Werner points out that they are kind of on a flying ship. So Scotius yells at him to put some damn clothes on, and then goes to give Javier directions.
Werner asks Fury why Scotius hates him so much. Fury replies that he's jealous, because he thinks "she" likes Werner.
Werner then asks who this mysterious "she" is. Fury makes this face in reply:
-and then quickly excuses himself. But not before telling Werner to put his shirt on.
They reach Doom's castle in Latervia and head straight into a fight scene, which I'm going to skip, except for the brief interaction between Werner and Scotius. Javier tells Werner to fly Scotius down to the ground, and Werner lets Scotius know that he's not going to drop him. Meanwhile, Javier's powers are needed in the fight, so Jean has to take over flying the ship by herself, and it's taking an obvious toll on her.
Doom's castle, forces, and face get wrecked thanks to a combination of the Fantastick Four, an ice storm courtesy of Bobby, and the God of Thunder, but not before Jean passes out from the strain of using her powers so much.
The second to last issue finds the witchbreed, the Fantastick Four, Nick Fury and Thor on board a ship, heading to the New World. Jean is below deck, in grave condition. Werner asks Scotius about "Master" Grey's condition, and Scotius yells at him to just stop it, that in fact Mistress Grey is bleeding inside and doomed to die soon.
Werner reacts with understandable shock, and Scotius realizes for the first time the Werner genuinely had no idea about what was in Jean's tights.
Below deck, Jean knows she's dying. She gives Javier a few instructions, the most important two being to let her die as a woman, and not to give her body to the sea.
After Jean's death, Scotius takes a moment to ask Werner to talk. He calls himself out on what a jealous, raging butthole he's been over the whole Jean thing, and apologizes, since god, he'd thought Werner was in love with Jean, but Werner thought Jean was a guy! Man what a wacky misunderstanding.
But Werner says Scotius has nothing to apologize for. He was in love with John Grey.
Despite the love triangle ending with Scotius making the dumbest face ever known to human- or mutantkind, there's a happy ending to the book itself, and more than one character talks about establishing America as it's own country, where difference is welcomed, and strange isn't a barrier to being part of society. So whatever happens to Werner afterwards, at the very least he'll have the freedom to fly.
Werner's a really interesting character to me, and I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more inside his head. Was his interaction with Jean Grey the first time he realized he could fall in love with a man, or did he know that about himself before he ever found himself in a cell in the Palace of the Inquisition? Was he only able to admit to loving Jean once it was "safe" to, knowing she was really a woman, or had he been actively trying to court a young man he thought was interested? Werner seems pretty confident and at peace with himself while he's talking to Scotius, so I tend to lean towards thinking that the queer part of his identity is something he'd come to terms with before Jean's death.
I don't remember how much of this I thought about on my first read through- I've probably reread the book over a dozen times by now. So I can't say exactly how deeply I thought about this as a twelve year old who was years away from identifying as queer, and who was more interested in Werner's shirtlessness than what he represented. But now I can sit here and analyze individual panels and choice of word for hours, thinking about what makes them problematic or profound. In retrospect, Marvel 1602 shaped my ideas about what a superhero comic was supposed to be. It made me assume there would be moral ambiguity without it sliding into grimdarkness, and permanent character death (not that that assumption has been lived up to). It made me love continuity, how it made me seek out old characters and stories, and how it made me grin when I spotted a reference I knew. And it made me- not demand, but expect, there to be queer characters in comics. Not only did I assume I'd be able to find queer characters, I took for granted that they'd have backstory, joys and traumas beyond their identity or their sexuality, and that they'd get to have romances. Comics haven't always lived up to that expectation, either. But I don't think that expectation is wrong, either- Marvel 1602 not only didn't punish me for being a queer girl who'd sought out comics, it made me look for characters who were like me.
Angel (Werner) recommendation list:
Marvel 1602
author's note: I'm determined that all of my posts are going to have captions of all of the comic panels and pages I use, to make my posts accessible for visually impaired readers. Unfortunately, I suck at html, and am going to have to consult with one of my more html savvy co-writers to figure out a way to make the captions unobtrusive. Sophie wanted to have a real, big girl post up, but I'll be editing this post later on to make sure all the pictures get captions, so please bear with me until a little later this week.
edit: Alt text has finally been added to all pages and panels. This is why no one whose preferred method of writing is a type writer should be allowed to blog.
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