ReadOut

by Lawrence Ferber

HOMO ON THE RANGE

Guns blazing, the newly out Rawhide Kid hits the comics this month

He can steer a horse into submission, draw his gun faster than your heart pumps out a beat, shoot the lead from a pencil, deliver a jaw-bruising

roundhouse kick, and, boy, he sure dresses sharp! Ladies and gentlemen, a new breed of cowboy has mozied into town: The Rawhide Kid.

"The notion here was to do a straight Western with a non-straight lead," says Axel Alonso, an editor at Marvel Comics. He's discussing The Rawhide Kid, a new five-issue limited series whose title character is a mite-well, a lot-pink in the saddle. "The men drink whiskey, the women stay at home, the bad guy wears black, and the good guy rides into town on a white horse," Alonso continues. "It just so happens he's a little bit different.

He's not from the same mold as Clint Eastwood."

The first monthly issue hits stands on February 5.

The Rawhide Kid actually isn't entirely new in town-only his acknowledged queer status is. Originated in 1955, the Kid has since fronted several volumes of his own comic, the last of which was an unspectacular four-issue miniseries in 1985. Yet Alonso and the Kid's artist from way back then and now, 82-year-old John Severin, admit that Rawhide's gayness only makes sense both in retrospect and otherwise.

"I was in conversation with Severin-he's easily the most respected combat and Western artist-and we'd been talking about doing a combat book or Western book," recalls Alonso of the upcoming series' genesis. "I was looking through the catalogue of available Marvel characters, and I said to John, 'Look at Rawhide. He's better looking than a Western character has the right to be. He's gay.' And John said, 'You're right.'"

Alonso and Severin came to their bent cowboy epiphany in early 2002. To write the untraditional, un-PC series, which sees the Kid mincing, gossiping, and checking his nails for splits between whuppin' ignorant cowpoke butt, an equally untraditional writer, Ron Zimmerman, was enlisted.

Zimmerman hails from the TV world: He has scribed and produced for Howard Stern, 7th Heaven, and the scathingly un-PC queer-inclusive comedy series, Action. A professed fan of Western movies, TV shows, and comics since childhood, Zimmerman reports that he has been interested in presenting the sort of butt-kicking gay character Rawhide epitomizes for years.

"What's weird is the two things that I've been trying to sell for a long time, and are very difficult, is a gay guy that can really kick ass and a Jewish guy during WWII that can really kick ass," he muses. "I think it's kind of horrifying that those two types of characters should be hard to sell and people don't even want to believe that that they could ever be."

The Rawhide Kid's five-issue arc (possibly the first of many, depending on sales) begins as a gang of rogue cowboys invades a small town. The town's sheriff confronts them, and his deputy is killed. As a result, the sheriff loses face with the town's citizens, including and especially his own son. At the same time, the famed Rawhide Kid strolls into town. Decked out in the sharpest cowboy duds you've ever seen, legendary for his gun and fighting skills, the Kid offers his assistance to the sheriff, whose son and pals are instantly enamored Š even if the Kid is a little, well, interestin'.

Although certifiably gay, the Rawhide Kid's sexuality is never allowed to run as wild as horses. Instead, it's conveyed through implicit manner, innuendo, and double entendres ("only slightly less subtle than the Ambiguously Gay Duo," Alonso notes) rather than kisses, explicit sexual activity, or even the outright proclamation "I'm gay." Regardless, when word got out about the Kid's queer status, the media and comic mavens went hot with unfavorable opinion.

Endeavoring to confront the controversy, Rawhide Kid's original co-creator and Marvel Comics' chairman emeritus, Stan Lee, appeared in December on CNN's Crossfire. On the program, Lee emphasized that "among us today, there are gay people. We have one gay hero. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure there are gay heroes who exist."

Alonso and Zimmerman are quick to point out a very important factor that detractors have failed to acknowledge: "The Rawhide Kid" is published under Marvel's mature readers MAX banner, so kids aren't even meant or technically able to acquire the book. More frustrating about the negative feedback is the simple fact that few if any detractors have even perused a single issue-and those who have, gay and straight, are generally tickled, the creators insist.

"I've never heard of so many people commenting on something they haven't seen," Zimmerman admits. "I'm very disturbed. No one is focusing on content whatsoever-only that this character is gay. Is it entertaining or not? Is it cool or not cool? It's only that he's gay. I wish everyone would embrace the subtext of it more than the face value."

Oh yeah, speaking of the gay community, gays themselves may find Rawhide Kid appalling for his stereotypically queeny behaviors-a fact the creators acknowledge. "There's going to be a segment of the gay readership who will come to Rawhide Kid and aren't going to like this book," Alonso admits. "They'll decide he's too queeny or over the top, to which I say Take a look at the context. This is a comedy. Every single character in this book is an archetype painted in the broadest strokes. Judge the project on its own terms."

The book's titular character isn't the only gay in town, by the way. Nor is he the least PC of them. Later in the series he will be joined by a lesbian baddie, Catastrophe Jen. "She can't stop killing guys," Zimmerman laughs. "Whether members of her own gang or guys she's supposed to kill, she hates guys so much she can't even wait until the robbery starts or whatever to begin killing guys."

That said, Zimmerman and company hope gay readers don't pass judgment too quickly, and assure that Rawhide is ultimately an empowering character in the big picture. "Rawhide will make fun of himself, seem a fop and play a fool, but if you act like an asshole in front of him, you're going to get the shit kicked out of you, and, to me, that's the whole difference in the world," Zimmerman notes. "That's how life should be, because you shouldn't call people names. And that's the subtext of the book. If you do [call people names], maybe you'll run into somebody tough and get the shit kicked out of you. Don't call this guy a fag. It's rude. And he shoots them for it."

Lawrence Ferber's writing has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The

Advocate, and Time Out New York.