Because we shouldn't have to... {Mystique Feature}

Mystique Black Widow by truefd

Hey everyone!  I hope you're all ready to see some great artwork from members of Comic Underground and other artists who were generous enough to submit their work to the gallery.

To those who don't know about this contest:
Comic Underground hosts a special contest called The Comic Character of the Month contest. Every month, the Founder SavvyRed chooses a comic book character. Members are encouraged to submit art to the gallery based on that character in any medium they want, from everything from traditional art drawings to fanart movie posters to sculptures to even cute little stuffed animals. Whatever way you want to represent the character is fine by us! All artwork in the Comic Underground Gallery based on that character is automatically included in contest, but we would prefer that submissions be put in the Comic Character of the Month gallery. SavvyRed chooses the winning work of the contest, and the winner gains 10 deviantART points, a permanent place for the winning work in the Featured section, and inclusion in the month's blog feature (which is put on this account and as well as Comic Underground's blog). Everyone who submitted work will have their work in the group feature (which is this!)!

The end of the seasons is approaching fast.  For us in the Northern hemisphere, Spring promises to come quickly, even if it seems to be taking a long time in banishing the snow from our driveways. In the Southern hemisphere, Summer is dying into Fall, though it seems to be lingering in some places.  And with the change of seasons, it's no surprise to be thinking about shapeshifters, supernatural beings who change their appearance at will.  Perhaps the most famous shapeshifter in comic book lore is Mystique from the X-men comics and films.  Even though she is an incredibly famous and popular character in the X-men universe, she is definitely not an X-man (or X-woman).  Her Brotherhood roots are strong, and she traditionally depicted as blue-skinned siren who deceives, seduces, and manipulates others to get whatever she wants.

However, she's not some kind of evil banshee set on the destruction of the world for no reason.  She's also known for being the biological mother of Nightcrawler and the adoptive mother of Rogue (her maternal links are often different depending on the many interpretations of X-men).  This is important, not just because it's nice to know who Kurt's mommy is.  Mystique is one of the first famous lesbian or multisexual comic book characters, and she has had that reputation since her character creation in the late 1970's.  Most people know about Mystique's connection with Magneto, which is valid at the very least on professional terms, but many people who are not as familiar with X-men don't know that Mystique's long time lover was another female mutant named Destiny. According to Marvel, she was originally supposed to be the father of Nightcrawler while Destiny was supposed to be his mother; Nightcrawler was supposed to be conceived while Mystique had shapeshifted into a man.  Sadly, the authorities on comic books refused to let that go into publishing, and the relationship between Mystique and Destiny wasn't fully acknowledged by their creators until many years later.

So why does this matter?  Why am I not talking about how "hot" she looks with that signature blue skin and red hair or whether she should be played by Rebecca Romijn or someone younger and more busty?  Well, it's because there is a certain hypocrisy within the X-men film interpretations of her.  The fact that it was OK to write about her as an lesbian or otherwise multisexual character in the 1980's yet all the X-men movies that are supposedly so great and progressive for the LGBT community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.) portray her as firmly heterosexual is very disturbing.  The choice for Magneto to be played by gay icon Sir Ian McKellan, the choice for Rogue to be played by (now openly) bisexual Anna Paquin, and the whole movie directed by an openly gay man named Brian Singer seems to be alright with people as long as none of the characters in any of the movies are not gay.  Why is it okay for Magneto to be played by a gay man just as long as the character is not a gay man?  Why is it OK for Brian Singer to be a gay director but not include any LGBT characters, even if they were LGBT in the comics?  And why, oh why, does Mystique have to be portrayed as some kind of sex-crazed temptress sociopath who uses her abilities to lure men?

". . . why not stay in disguise all the time?"
"Because we shouldn't have to."

Something to think about.  For now . . . here is the feature!

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