DC Comics Launches “Midnighter And Apollo,” First Comic Book Starring Gay Superhero Couple

"[It's] the book we need right now," says writer Steve Orlando.
From: NewNowNext

 DC and Marvel have been ratcheting up LGBT representations in comics for a few years now, but next month marks the first time a same-sex superhero couple will headline a mainstream comic book.

Hitting stores on October 5, Midnighter and Apollo sees the return of DC’s leather-clad ass kicker, Lucas Trent, this time with his solar-powered boyfriend.

 The Midnighter solo written by Steve Orlando—who pens the new comic, as well—ended in May. It certainly didn’t shy away from the anti-hero’s sexuality, with Midnighter even cracking jokes about how cute Nightwing’s butt is.

 Orlando calls the dynamic duo the “World’s Finest Couple,” which is kind of ironic if you know they were created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch in the late 90s to be stand-ins for Superman and Batman.

 Their relationship has had all kinds of ups and down—at one point they were married and raising a cosmically powerful adopted daughter, more recently they were estranged. It looks like they’ve rekindled their romance, at least for the time being.

“Midnighter and Apollo is the book we need right now,” says Orlando. “Comics’ most iconic queer couple face down a new enemy and show us that we can never give in to fear, hatred, and evil—and they do it with their own brand of action-movie wit and punching.”

The new comic, a six-issue miniseries, will feature art by Fernando Blanco, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and lettering by Josh Reed. DC hasn’t shared much about the plot, but Orlando teases it will feature the manipulative demon Neron and the gun-toting hellspawn Mawzir from DC’s cult-favorite series Hitman.

Teases Orlando, “It’s a knockdown, drag out, DC Universe western revenge thriller that starts kicking from page one!”

Midnighter and Apollo No. 1 arrives October 5.