Give Him Some Rope, He'll Hang Himself

Now, I did not react that much to Joe Quesada's comments last week about Rawhide Kid being a MAX book, as it was a fairly off-the-cuff remark, and was not elaborated upon.

Likewise, I did not react that much when Rich Johnston went into further detail in his column, as, well, no offense to Rich, but his version was just that, his version of what Quesada told him, no direct quotes.

Yesterday, though, we got Quesada's own remarks on the issue, and man...it was pretty bad.

Here is the quote, direct from this week's Joe Fridays:

Okay, let’s first discuss why we labeled it MAX three years ago because those reasons still exist today if not more so because of the furor the original series caused in the media. Let me just say that there are many factors and considerations that are taken into account when making a decision like this and it’s not a decision that is made in a vacuum or without much internal consultation and consideration. It is also a decision that is not made lightly. Because of the strength of the Marvel brand we have to be sensitive to as many of our readers as possible and those readers come in many shapes and sizes. Because of that, and because we anticipated that Rawhide would be controversial we had to look at publishing the title in a responsible manner.

Yes, controversial.

This wasn’t going to be another costumed hero who was gay, this wasn’t going to be a supporting character or a one-time walk on or a passing story line. This was taking what has been for decades a symbol of American hetero masculinity (think John Wayne, Clint Eastwood) and showing a whole different point of view on the heroic ideal and doing it with an established character from the 50s who for decades graced the pages of what is considered in the mainstream (we in comics know better) as a child’s medium.

Yes, a cowboy who became a Wild West legend because he was the best fist fighter, the best gunslinger, and the guy who always saved the day by upholding all that is good and heroic, and yes he is all that and gay. Oh yeah, and he’s also a character whose comic you most likely picked up back when you were a little tyke.

Now, sex and sexuality have always been hot-button topics here in the states. We have to take into account that many of our readers are children whose parents may object to such content, especially discussions about alternative lifestyles. Many parents today want to be the source of information regarding sex and sexuality and all the different colors that comes in and we have to respect that choice. We have to operate under a business model that takes all points under consideration and weigh what is and isn't objectionable content in some people's minds.

Rawhide was labeled MAX because the major hook and focus of the project was the sexuality of the main character, a 50-plus year old established character. The reason the books featuring the characters you named in your question don't carry a MAX label is because that's not the focus of their books. The sexuality aspect of their lives is just one part of the whole that makes up their books, as opposed to Rawhide, where the fact that he was gay and his history was the major point of the book.

In comparing Rawhide to Brokeback Mountain, I was merely saying that it dealt with a Western icon motif that was gay. I do feel that that's a perfectly accurate comparison to make. Keep in mind that Brokeback was rated R, which means no one under 18 could see it unless accompanied by an adult, which is exactly what we are saying with MAX. Now, while I know that there is nudity in Brokeback, I don’t think it would have received a lower rating even if it that aspect was to be removed.

We understood, before publishing the title, the sensibilities of taking an established kids property and retconing him, we new it would be controversial and we knew that we had to be responsible as the publisher. Sure, could we have done this with a brand new character, probably. but it wouldn’t have done and had the same effect that Rawhide had. Like or loath the series, it broke ground and it established precedent and it said that it could be done.

So, while some may want to get up in arms three years later that it was labeled MAX, I don’t understand why we aren’t at least celebrating the fact that it happened, that it was published and we took on the naysayers and the hardcore fanmen and the letter writers and the bloodthirsty media. That was the true triumph of Rawhide. The book and the character now exist!

Look, the world changes, personal tastes and beliefs change. There are words, images, and ideas that weren’t an issue as little as five years ago. Today, they are considered a big no-no or controversial. Someday the pendulum will swing back, it is the way of civilization.

That said, who knows, perhaps someday when we decided to do another Rawhide series, perhaps a movie like Brokeback Mountain will have cleared a wide enough path where people will be much less reactionary, perhaps a gay cowboy will no longer be an issue. It’s just sad to me that once again Hollywood will have trumped us at our own game and managed to break ground where we couldn’t even though we dug out the first few shovel-fuls.

Rarely will you see so much spin to achieve basically nothing.

Do these statements mitigate the initial "We made Rawhide Kid a MAX book because he was gay" comments, like, at ALL?

That is some weak stuff right there.

I think it would have been a lot better to just say, "Yeah, sorry, we were dumb three years ago. It won't happen again" (and then proceed to not do another Rawhide Kid book).

Instead, we get, like, a gazillion paragraphs that amount to "It makes sense!" Which was not, I think, the way to play this at all.

Quesada had a real chance here to make his inital comments not sound so bad, and he blew it.

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