Loki seems to have lost his solo title in the Secret Wars upheaval. Angela may be bisexual, but I don’t think it’s been established. Some readers insist that Deadpool is bisexual, but he’s only ever made jokes about it. There’s a rumor that a long overdue Northstar series may be announced soon; that might have felt like a gain if we hadn’t lost Loki and Hercules. Right now, Marvel’s best days as a publisher of queer-friendly comics are definitely in the past.

None of which is to imply that Marvel hates LGBTQ people, or that Alonso is any kind of bigot. It would be easy to characterize my comments that way in order to dismiss them, so let me be clear: I know there are LGBTQ people at Marvel, including at an editorial level. Neither the company nor the editor-in-chief dislikes gay people.

But I don’t believe the company is sensitive or receptive to the issues or the audience. Marvel is too quick to dismiss critics with derision and contempt, even when those critics are queer comic fans with a legitimate complaint, and that makes the company look hostile. Combine that hostility with a lackluster publishing slate and a track record of marginalizing LGBTQ characters, and Marvel’s failures come into sharp relief. The straightwashing of Hercules just draws attention to it all.

Meanwhile, DC is courting queer fans with books like Midnighter, Catwoman, Constantine, Harley Quinn, Bombshells, and Secret Six. So if you want to know which major superhero publisher is listening to you, and if you want to know which publisher treats its LGBTQ readers with respect, the answer to that is straighter than Hercules ever was.“