Slap Spandex And Fly

Martin Eden is the writer artist of The O-Men, a British comic described a superhero soap opera. Eden will soon be launching a comic called Spandex about a gay superhero team and Forbidden Planet has an interview with the illustrious creator.

Matt: Can you tell us a bit about Spandex?

Martin: It's basically a gay superteam. I figured that was the last remaining untouched idea in comics - but of course it probably isn't. I just wanted to do something that was a bit more self-contained and less sprawling than The O Men. It'll be similar to The O Men, and it's set in the same universe, but they're pretty much separate entities. Spandex will be a bit more fun and a bit more tongue in cheek (the first story is called 'Attack of the 50-Foot Lesbian'), but there will be plenty of drama. It's set in Brighton and follows the lives of seven gay superhumans. I'm still ironing it all out, to be honest.

Two of the characters have appeared in The O Men before - Liberty, a transvestite superhero who's a lot of fun, and Diva, who is a lesbian cross between Wonder Woman and Britney Spears. Other characters include Butch, who's a female Luke Cage, Mr Muscles, Glitter (like a male Dazzler). There's a guy - at the moment he's called Unity - he can tap into the skills and abilities of gay people. It'll be a lot of fun. It's all changing. There was a Miss Fantastic character on the team, but I think she's now going to be a villain (and yes, I came up with the name before I read the new Fantastic Four stuff!).

It'll be a big balance between action and personal stuff. I'll be exploring the sexuality of these people, but I won't do anything gratuitous - I have too much respect for my characters to do that! It's certainly not going to be one of these gay comics that is covered with ginormous cocks!

I'll release the first issue as normal - as a proper comic - but then I'll take a year or so to do the rest of it - 5 more stories, and release it as a cute little digest book thing. I might release stuff online along the way. So by the end of it all, there will be a 120-odd page Spandex collection, full of normal stories and lots of fun little short stories too. And then that should be all I want to say about those characters.

Head over to Forbidden Planet for the full interview, featuring discussions on Spandex, The O-Men, Eden's dream project, his influences and more.

Goblin
Posted to Superheroes on 31 July 2008 · Comments (0)
Other stuff like this: Forbidden Planet, Martin Eden, Spandex, The O-Men