Shablam! Patrons of queer bars and viewers of Drag Race might know it as a death drop. But to many outside our community, the first thing that comes to mind might be a sound eff ect from a comic book complete with a spiky text bubble and eye-popping colours. Those two worlds intersected briefly in December 2018 when Shade was introduced to Marvel Comics readers.
A last-minute introduction in creator Sina Grace’s recent run of Iceman (one of Marvel’s most visible gay superheroes), Shade is a queer drag queen mutant member of the X-Men. Readers were quick to celebrate her introduction online, but with only one subsequent appearance since (with a new superhero alias: Darkveil) it’s unclear where her future lies within Marvel’s comics.
Grace gave more insight into the situation at Marvel last June, publishing a post on his Tumblr describing the working environment and attitude during his time on Iceman. “From the get-go, my first editor asserted that Iceman would be DOA if it were ‘too gay’,” he wrote. When Grace introduced Darkveil, knowing that she might be popular, “I asked [my editor] how we should promote her. He said: ‘leave it up to the reader’s interpretation.’”