Pop culture guru David Ferguson is back with a discussion about a lesser-known genre through the pages of Marvel’s Love Unlimited, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
People mainly know Jack Kirby as co-creator, with Stan Lee, of a large number of Marvel’s superheroes. However, he also worked in a genre that is largely forgotten in the modern era, romance comics.
Kirby co-created the hugely popular Young Romance in 1947, which appealed to an audience that was outgrowing superheroes. However, by the mid-70s, Marvel’s romance boom had ended and the company only sporadically dipped its toes into the genre.
Cut to today and Marvel has their Marvel Unlimited app, where readers pay a subscription to access over 80 years of comics in their vast library and their digital-only unlimited comics.
Marvel seems to be broadening their horizons with these unlimited comics. You can certainly see this with their Love Unlimited series which focuses on romance and some queer characters in a number of the stories.
The queer daughter of The Vision, Viv Vision, is the focus of issues 7 to 12, which is written by non-binary author Marieke Nijkamp with art by Federico Sabbatini. Marvel’s queer power couple Hulkling and Wiccan (of The Young Avengers) are the focus of issues 25 to 30, which is written by queer writer Josh Trujillo.
Side note: Joe Locke of Heartstopper fame has been cast in the WandaVision spin-off, Agatha: Coven of Chaos. His character is described as a “gay teen with a dark sense of humour” adding to speculation that has him playing Wanda’s son Billy aka Wiccan.
Love troubles on the brain? ? Read 'Karma in Love', a special six-part story arc of 'Love Unlimited' now on #MarvelUnlimited: https://t.co/jdbaAhWq57 pic.twitter.com/qrRp4LXrn9
— Marvel Unlimited (@MarvelUnlimited) February 9, 2023
However, what drew me to the series was the latest, just completed, story by Vietnamese-American and queer artist Trung Lê Nguyễn, creator of the award-winning, and highly recommended by me, OGN The Magic Fish.
His story, which features colours by Irish artist Triona Farrell, covering issues 31 to 36, focuses on the queer Vietnamese mutant Karma. It feels like an extra level of authenticity to have her character written by him and he corrects an issue with the character’s Vietnamese name at the very beginning.
The story largely focuses on her relationship with her brother but also covers her relationship problems. There are some cool cameos from some well-known X-men and there are some funny pokes at continuity.
Worth checking out for your romance reading needs and the app also has all of Marvel’s Pride comics on there too!
For more comic and pop culture new, be sure to follow David on Twitter.
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