Rictor & Shatterstar: Gay Supercouple

So, after years of unresolved sexual tension, Rictor and Shatterstar are now a couple (or f**k buddies)! Cue, fangirl, "squee"!  Kudos to Marvel for having the balls to move forward with this relationship. And kudos to Arion for sharing these scans with us. Edit: And thanks to Cesar  for correcting some of the info.

In X-Factor #207 the boys have an argument over their ambiguous relationship, Julio is mad because he thinks Star has been spending time with everyone else, specifically Layla. Star wants an open relationship, since he's really confused about his new found emotions and sexuality. But he wants Rictor to be his "anchor".

Star & Ric kissing!


Later in the issue, after (I assume) they made love, as the boys are about to get it on, an unexpected visitor walks in on them.
 
Uh-oh!

It's Wolfsbane and she's pregnant with Rictor's child! Needless to say, she is not trilled when she sees her baby daddy with another man. (SPOILER: But its actually not his baby). The following scans are from X-Factor #208.










Comments

Icecypher said…
They didn't make love, they were going to, and Rahne arrived.

You can see how she asks what Shatterstar has done to her Rictor (to make him gay). He replies he has not done anything, but if she had arrived some minutes later...

Of course, we can assume they have made love before that day.
Hushicho said…
Eugh.

Marvel yet again makes something that would have otherwise been progressive or interesting into something awkward and stunted.

Also, when did Rictor become so ugly and inconsistent with his previous appearances? Probably a Liefeld thing, I'm guessing!

Poor Shatterstar. Poor Rictor...
@César, thanks for the correction, I've modified the post accordingly.

@Hushicho, which aspect of their relationship don't you like? Is it Wolfsbane being preggers or the ambiguity of their relationship? I actually have high hopes for this couple. I trust in Peter David.

Marvel seems to be more progressive when it comes to same sex couples. We've had Phat & Vivisector from X-Statix as well as Hulkling & Wiccan in Young Avengers, not to mention the gay single characters they have like Rawhide Kid. They may not get a lot of attention but I've got to give marvel props for having the cojones to featuring same sex couples.
Icecypher said…
No prob. But there's something else.

She is not really pregnant with his child. She had sex with Wolf Prince Hrimhari and the baby is a fast growing one.

She did not exactly lie since she did not bed anyone other than Rictor months ago. That thing with Hrimhari was a couple of weeks before this.

Oh, and I believe Rictor looks totally cute and hot here (although I am not a fan of his newly grown chest hair).

I, too, trust Peter David.
Arion said…
I agree with pandesal.

And yes, Peter David has done a wonderful job so far, so I trust him too.
@César, thanks yet again for the correction! I really should start reading X-Factor, shouldn't I? :) I also think Rictor is pretty cute here, though I'm not a fan of Star's current hairstyle. I'm glad the ponytail is gone, but it wouln't kill him to spike it up with gel or something.

@Arion, thanks again for sharing these scans with us!
Hushicho said…
In my opinion -- and it's not very humble -- Peter David is a barely serviceable writer and not very nice to his fans, besides. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him, and it's a pretty bad idea to put your trust in him for something like this.

You can already see how skillfully he's ruined plenty of other characters with awkward, unwanted pregnancies and other relationship nonsense. I'm not trying to poo-poo Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship (although there would probably never be any 'open' relationship happening if they weren't gay), but trust in Peter David? I don't think I'll make that mistake again.
Well, the reason I like Peter David is because I loved his run on Young Justice. I thought he did a pretty awesome job in that book. To each his own, I suppose.
Anonymous said…
I love how gays are always depicted as being omnisexuals who can find anyone attractive at the drop of a hat while heterosexuals have set sexual preferences. Just look at Hollywood's portrayal of gays on shows like Glee and films like The Kids Are All Right where someone who is confirmed as same sex oriented spontaneously starts digging the "normal sex". Peter David wouldn't write Jamie as wondering if he finds Siryn attractive or if he wants to bone Guido, straight is straight but gays "well, they'll f*ck anything!"
Good point, anonymous! But I think it's a matter of labels. If you're gonna make a movie about two women in love and have one of them cheat with a man, then don't call her a lesbian! She's bisexual.

But in Rictor & Star's case, TPTB haven't said that they're gay so I have no problem with them being bi, especially Rictor since we know he's slept with women before. As for Shatterstar, he's still not sure since this is all new to him, and I think that's one of the reason I like this storyline.
Arion said…
Young Justice was probably my favorite title at the time.

X-Factor has been a bit irregular, especially art-wise, but Peter David has written very good stories.
Yeah, I liked YJ so much that I didn't even mind the lack of fanservice.