LGBT Character Of The Week: Rick Stone
Here's an interesting one. Rick Stone is friend to teenage hero Virgil Hawkins. also known as Static. (in the comic series, not the animated series) Rick is teased by his friends for several issues of the original comic, until issue #16, wherein Static, on patrol, saves him from skinheads who had just gay-bashed another boy with Rick.
Rick reveals that they had been at a gay teen support group and the skinheads had attacked them when they left. Virgil initially does not handle this revelation well, but eventually comes to terms with it. By the end of the series they are good friends again.
When the animated series launched, Static's best friend, Richard "Richie" Foley, was a sort of composite character based on Rick (and looked just like him) but taking the role of best friend and confidant that Frieda Goren had peformed in the comic series. Eventually Richie gained powers as well and called himself Gear.
Due to the shows focus on a younger audience, Richie's sexuality was never a topic for discussion, but at the very least having maintained Rick's appearance was a nod to the original character.
Sgt. Sausagepants
Posted to Comics on 9 July 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: LGBT Character of the Week, Rick Stone
Milestone had a really good record for having GLBT coverage. One of the more unusual/creative characters was "Masquerade", a female transgender shapeshifter that felt more comfortable in the form of a male.