Tabletop Tuesday — Hero Pride!

Okay, so when I blog on Tuesdays, I try to stick to some gaming nerdery, and when I decided I’d attempt to post a couple of recommendations for Pride Month every day, the intersection of the two gave me a chuckle. I mean, last year, I made up a whole superhero team based on the original Pride flag, and I do want to get back to that, bringing them into the current day.

My debut novel was Light, which as as much a love-letter to the X-Men as it was to Pride. My favourite comic book heroes as a kid were the X-Men because of the obvious allegory: they were individuals who were born different to parents not at all like them, and hated and feared because they were different. I mean… hey.

So. Day four of Pride Month, let’s talk super-heroics (and also TTRPGs, if I can swing both).

Sure I can.

First, let’s talk a queer superhero novel I freaking adored, Sacred Band. Joseph D. Carriker Jr. came up with a world where a series of eruptions activated superpowers in various individuals across the globe decades ago, and drops us into the present day fallout thereof. Carriker walks a fine line in this one between showing us a world that’s gotten jaded and the power of hope—and the power of action, especially the action of a group of queer folk banding together to do something right, even when it’s considered illegal.

I mean, it’s Pride Month. You didn’t think I’d make it through without reminding you to throw bricks, no?

A facet of this book I really loved was how the superheroes involved do face off against some world-stage issues, while zipping around and dealing with local troubles as well. Carriker’s world lives and breathes, and the characters are awesome, flawed people with awesome powers. (Oh, and for my Mutants and Masterminds nerds, you can get all the characters statted out for your game, too, at that link. So, win-win.)

The golden age of heroes is decades past. Society at large found it could not condone vigilantism. Now metahumans are just citizens — albeit citizens with incredible talents — who are assisted in living “normal” lives by the government.

Magnetically-empowered college student Rusty Adamson may have been a child during that glorious age of superheroics, but he vividly remembers the deeds of his idol, Sentinel. Sentinel used his incredible powers to save lives and right wrongs — until losing the man he loved and being publicly outed caused him to disappear from public life. When Rusty’s gay friend Kosma goes missing in Ukraine, Rusty realizes there is still a place for superheroes, and sets out to bring Sentinel out of the shadows to help find his friend.

But the disappearance of Kosma is one small move in a staggering global plot against queer youth. In the modern world, a team of supers may seem old-fashioned, but the battle against the sinister forces targeting the LGBTQ+ world may require some incredible reinforcements. 

Now, I said I was an X-Men fan, but I’m going to go out of character here and dive on over to the DC side for this next suggestion, which is You Brought Me the Ocean, by Alex Sanchez (and illustrated by Julia Maroh). I confess to knowing very little about Aquaman and Aqualad beyond what I saw of them in Young Justice (which I adored) but this book sort of grabbed my wee heart and wouldn’t let go.

At the core, this is a lovely story about a nascent super-hero and gay kid and a kind of double-whammy coming-out he’s dealing with. Also, parents doing their best and not always getting it right, friendships evolving, and—of course—a first kiss. It’s a lot to juggle, but somehow this one balances all the moving parts with an end result of being completely damned charming.

Jake Hyde doesn’t swim—not since his father drowned. Luckily, he lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, which is in the middle of the desert, yet he yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown for a college on the coast. But his best friend, Maria, wants nothing more than to make a home in the desert, and Jake’s mother encourages him to always play it safe.

There’s nothing “safe” about Jake’s future—not when he’s attracted to Kenny Liu, swim team captain and rebel against conformity. And certainly not when he secretly applies to Miami University. Jake’s life begins to outpace his small town’s namesake, which doesn’t make it any easier to come out to his mom, or Maria, or the world. 

But Jake is full of secrets, including the strange blue markings on his skin that glow when in contact with water. What power will he find when he searches for his identity, and will he turn his back to the current or dive headfirst into the waves? 

What are your favourite queer superheroes? Let me know. Also let me know if you’d be interested in more Pride March, as I only got the superheroes to 1997, when a new group was going to pick up the mantle of their superhero group. Maybe I can do another team…