So what is Manhunter all about anyway? Manhunter is the story of Kate Spencer, a former district attorney who grew tired of seeing one supervillain after another get away with murder because the legal system wasn't equipped to mete out the justice they deserved. When the opportunity arose, Kate took several items of equipment that had been stagnating in evidence lockers to create her own superhero identity, that of the Manhunter. Over the course of her adventures, Manhunter has struggled with her own moral code and the consequences she faces when she takes the law into her own hands. She has also had to struggle with things like being a single parent when the line of work she has taken on could put her child in danger. She has also learned that she is a "legacy hero" because her father was the son of two golden age heroes. Recently, she has also become an operative of Birds of Prey, which sometimes gets her into more trouble than she would have been before, but she also gains allies who will bail her out, if she could just learn to trust others and ask for help every once in a while.

However, as intersting as Kate's life is, and trust me, the story is way more intriguing than anything I can tell you, the reason that I believe in Manhunter so much is for two reasons that I feel should be of utmost importance to gay comic fans and their supporters. First of all, the writer, Marc Andreyko is a very talented writer who just happens to also be gay. I wouldn't even be mentioning his sexuality in this article except that I feel his being gay is what makes him the most qualified to be writing the types of stories that are in Manhunter. My second reason for supporting this book is because Marc has managed to take a relatively b-list character, one with long-standing ties to the DC Universe, and bring new dimension to this character and his history by revealing that the character is gay and dating a member of Manhunter's legal support staff. In a relatively low-key moment in comic history, Marc brought Todd Rice, the Justice Society and former Infinity Inc. member Obsidian, into Manhunter's supporting cast and revealed that the reason Obsidian had struggles with his dating life in the past was because he was gay and was having trouble coming to terms with it.

With as little hype as possible, Obsidian's coming out story rang true with many gay comic fans who felt a little piece of validation that a long-standing DC character was now a member of their own community. Sure, there was resistance to the idea that an established character like Obsidian could be gay. Even fans who said that they were all for gay characters in comics were opposed to Obsidians sexuality because they believed it was only possible for a new character that had never been established as heterosexual should be created so that their coming out story would be believable. I find this funny because I know many people in my own life who lived a straight life for most of their early days, even up to marrying a woman, and eventually coming to terms with their sexuality and coming out as gay. To me, this was exactly what happened here, Obsidian spent most of his life trying to live a straight lifestyle even dating women only to eventually come to grips with his sexuality and came out.

Manhunter is still essentially about the life of Kate Spencer, the woman behind the manhunter guise who struggles with injustice whenever she finds it, but with the addition of Obsidian and his boyfriend, Damon Matthews, Marc has an opportunity to share with the world what it's like to be in a homosexual relationship. I love that Todd and Damon aren't out there going "Look at us, we're a gay couple!" In fact, the story being developed between Todd and Damon is just as normal as any straight relationship, such as Reed Richards and Susan Storm Richards. And, yet, just like in the past, Manhunter is in danger of being canceled due to low sales. I find that so disheartening and sad. Just when there's an openly gay creator with the courage to depict a normal gay relationship, the book might once again be canceled with no guarantees that it'll get picked up again. I feel that if DC decide that the sales are too low this time, Manhunter's lights will go out and the stage will stay forever dark.

So, I'm here asking you, no begging you, if you haven't given Manhunter a shot, there's several trades out there that will get you caught up. If you decide that you like Manhunter, then please write a letter to Paul Levitz to let him know that there's a need for Manhunter to continue and not to cancel it again. And, I implore you to spread the word to all your fellow comic fans to give Manhunter a chance. Trust me, we as a gay community really need a comic like Manhunter.