Gay batman and robin
A Brief History of Dick
Freely adapted from The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, out now from Simon and Schuster.
Let’s get one thing absolutely clear: Robin isn’t gay.
Don’t let the grassy Speedo and the pixie boots steer you wrong; Dick Grayson is as straight as uncooked spaghetti. In evidence, there have been several Robins over the years, and not one of them has exhibited any trace of same-sex attraction or evinced anything resembling a queer self-identity.
Neither, it feels vital to note here at the originate , has Batman.
Don’t hold my word for it. Ask anyone who’s written a Batman and Robin comic. Or, you know what, you don’t have to: Dollars to donuts they’ve already been asked that scrutinize, and have gone on record asserting the Dynamic Duo’s he-man, red-blooded, heterosexual bona fides. Batman’s co-creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, both firmly swatted the question down. So have writers like Frank Miller, Denny O’Neil, Alan Grant, and Devin Grayson—though Grayson admitted that she could “understand the homosexual readings.”
So there yo
Holy homoerotica, Batman!
Handsome, dazed, and to die for
When I was a young male child, my pulse quickened every time I came across a naked male torso in a magazine, on greeting cards in the mall gift shop, or on TV. Initially I couldn’t understand why such images held my attention. Later, I’d worry that someone would notice me lingering over these hunky men for much longer than a young male child should.
Sometimes, it felt protected to marvel at these displays of the male physique because it was a sports game or a TV show I was watching with my family or friends. As a kid, my younger brother was a enormous wrestling fan. I’m guessing he followed them for the storylines (?), whereas I stuck around to watch hulking men touching each other in their ridiculously skimpy costumes. And then there was that one ACC Thinksafe TV ad featuring a buff guy enjoying a steamy shower before stepping out and slipping on the wet floor. That ad sent my confused short-lived brain into overdrive, to the point where I still couldn’t help but notice how hot he was while lying there with a suspected broken neck.
But my ultima
Dynamic Duo Deposit
The Complete History of Batman and Robin’s Gay Subtext
On the subject of The Caped Crusade, it’s probably worth sharing this article by Glen Weldon (The author of that book, and a gay man himself) on the subject of Batman/Robin subtext.
To be clear– Glen Weldon is not arguing that Batman and Robin are gay or should be a couple. In fact, there’s an earlier section of the book which I hold already posted, about the importance of Bruce as a father figure.
But while the article is fairly light and tongue-in-cheek, the book delves into the subject a short-lived bit more deeply and I wanted to attach a few passages from the book as supplementary material.
The first excerpt I wanted to split is about Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham, the book that helped inspire the Comics Code Authority.
“In Seduction of the Innocent, Wertham tells of one “young homosexual” who showed him a copy of Detective Comics that featured ‘“a picture of ‘The Home of Bruce and Dick,’ a house so beau
The Patron Saint of Superheroes
The quick answer: Sort of.
Bob Kane never drew the dynamic duo in an intentionally compromising position, but were the two having sex in the gutters between the panels?
Can’t say. That’s the indicate of the comic book gutter. It requires the reader to fill in the narrative gap. If you read sex in that space, then sex it is. Frederic Wertham certainly did, and lots of it.
In his Seduction of the Innocent, Wertham famously explains: “Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoerotism which pervades the adventures of the mature ‘Batman’ and his young friend ‘Robin.’ . . . They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and hold a butler, Alfred. Batman is sometimes shown in a dressing gown. . . . It is like a wish envision of two homosexuals living together. Sometimes they are shown on a couch, Bruce reclining and Dick sitting next to him, jacket off, collar open, and his hand on his friend&#;s arm. . . . [Robin] often stands with