News : DC To Launch Comic Book To Benefit Orlando Victims

Comic book artists have banded together to give the victims of the June 12 Orlando shooting victims a gift during the Christmas holidays – a 144-page comic book going on sale on December. The proceeds will go to Equality Florida’s fund for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

The comic book, entitled “Love Is Love”, will sell for $9.99 and features work from creators like Phil Jimenez of Superwoman, Oliver Coipel of Thor and X-Men. Comedian Patton Oswalt and screenwriter Damon Lindelof will also contribute to the collection.

The whole effort was organized by openly gay artist Marc Andreyko, who told The New York Times that events like Orlando shouldn’t be compartmentalized. They should hurt and we should want to change for the better.

Andreyko also revealed that he had required only one page submissions so as to ensure that the creators he contacted would be able to commit to the project. He was also the one pairing up the writers and artists.

“I was e-Harmony-ing people,” he said. “Mixing and matching and seeing who felt right.”

While DC Comics may be best known for immortalizing the superhero trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in pop culture consciousness, but the publisher is also the home of Midnighter, a gay superhero created in 1998 and named by Comics Alliance as one of the “50 Sexiest Male Characters In Comics”.

Aside from Midnighter, other gay characters in the DC universe include Midnighter’s husband, Apollo; Green Lantern Alan Scott, and Watchmen’s Nelson Gardner. Other prominent LGBT characters include Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy.