So, the Rawhide Kid is gay.

Now granted this is a bit of old news, a few weeks old at least, but being the slow minded simpleton that I am, I'm going to weigh in now on the issue.

Firstly, who, you ask, is the Rawhide Kid? Well, let me tell you, he's one of the legions of characters that Stan Lee created for Marvel comics. He's a rootin-tootin-gun-shootin cowboy in the classic tradition, and in a six issue mini-series that'll start here in a month or so, it's revealled through double entendre's and whatnot that he is, in fact, gay.

John Severin will be provoding the art, he's in his 80s and he was apparantly also the first artist on the character. Ron Zimmerman will provide the words, he's a writer for Howard Stern, but also one of the creators and writers for the Christian family drama 7th Heaven, he also happens to be a pretty good comic book writer, mostly, to date, of off-beat one shot specials or short mini-series.

Oh, did I mention that Rawhide Kid is gay?

Does it really matter? I think that the controversy that surrounded this story for about twenty minutes was drummed up by Marvel to try and boost sales, and that's o.k. that's what entertainment companies do to try and boost sales.

The thing that "controversy" points out most to me (rabid comic fan that I am) is that the media has no clue about the current state of the comic industry, nor does the general public at large if they listen to the media (they do). In a roundtable discussion on CNN which involved Stan Lee and a media watchdog woman whose name I don't remember, the woman kept trying to say that children will read this book and they will be horribly scarred for life and whatnot.

For those who care, here are some reasons that kids will not read this book, and only people who want to find something wrong with it and why its sales will be big on the first couple of issues, but fall off dramatically after that:

Kid's don't go into comic shops to buy comics. In my many years of collecting, I have seen less and less kids in the stores, and the ones who are there are there for Pokemon or Yu Gi Oh cards. Some of them buy comics, but most seem to stick with the ones based on those card games, and whatever else fad happens to be big at the time: Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, etc. But, fan-boy (you ask), won't the little impressionable kiddies buy this book at Wal-Mart or some other purveyor of smutty books? Not likely since the book is part of the Max mature line at Marvel which is only sold at specialty comic stores. The only other place you'll see this book will be at bookstores when it's collected in trade paperback form (and there are many more scandalous things for kids to find in bookstores).

This book is going to cost $2.95 an issue, for 22-pages of art and story. Why would a kid pay $2.95 for something to READ when they can watch television for free, or play video-games, or go see a movie, or buy a CD? This is the reason that the comic-industry has been sliding into oblivion since the 90's era of big sales and chromium covers.

Nobody reads western comics anymore. Another old western character, the Apache Kid, was just in his own Max series, and it sold nothing. He wasn't revealled to be gay, but it still sold only to me and Keith Haney (I suspect). That's two copies of each book sold. This is the third time in the last couple of years that they have tried to revive the Marvel western line, and I think that I am the only one who buys the damn books.

The media has already forgotten this story, maybe it would have generated big buzz and sales if the story had been leaked next month when the book debuts.

There are actually comic books out there aimed at adults that are not crazy Japanese import tentacle sex books. It's been that way for about twenty years. I know that it is hard for some to accept that there is literature and media out there for people who want to actually think, but I think it is time that they stop worrying about what everyone else is reading and doing and start looking at themselves. Personally I like my two dimensional drawed stories to have some resemblance to actual human relationships and the outside world, instead of genetic freaks in gaudy long underwear beating each other up.

Eh, I'm tired of this topic. Everybody is stupid. I'm also stupid, but at least I think people should be able to be stupid in any way that they want to as long as it doesn't interfere with others.

And just remember to always stay real, because you know for me it's like breathing. Dont' be fooled by these rocks that I got, I'm still the Hippy from the block.