Marvel Comics has now outed their first gay couple, Rictor and Shatterstar, super-heroes from the X-Force title.

This is more or less an “it’s about time” issue. Marvels distinguished competition, DC Comics, has long beaten them to the punch with depictions of not only gay characters, but gay characters in relationships. Marvel has depicted gay characters before (Northstar and Freedom Ring come to mind) but has been loathe to depict them in relationships. This is in some respects odd, as Marvel’s treasured X-Men franchise has long been tied to metaphors of racism and sexuality. Better late than never.

One person who wasn’t happy about the development was Shatterstar’s co-creator, Rob Liefeld.

“As the guy that created, designed and wrote his first dozen appearances, Shatterstar is not gay. Sorry. Can’t wait to someday undo this. Seems totally contrived.”

The easy thing would be to write Liefeld off as a homophobe and given that Liefeld has written and/or drawn some of the worst comics ever, the temptation is to kick him when he’s down. But Liefeld unwittingly brings up another point. Marvel, as a corporate entity that relies on work-for-hire contracts to maintain its vast library of licensable properties, can do what they wish with what is essentially their intellectual property. Just as Stan Lee and Steve Ditko no longer have a say in Spider-Man’s destiny (which led Ditko to take leave from drawing the comic, and Lee, years later, to give a surprisingly bitter interview to 60 Minutes when the Spider-Man movie proved to be a blockbuster), Rob Liefeld has no say in Shatterstar’s destiny, despite being the single most identifiable artist for the character.

Liefeld, of all people, knows what he gave up, having done freelancing for Marvel and running later characters under the auspices of his own company. Karmically, perhaps having his characters doing something distasteful to him is an example of Liefeld getting his just desserts, and if it’s all in the name of social justice, so much the better. But let’s not forget that other creators in comics have not been as fortunate as Rob Liefeld to have lightning strike more than once in their careers and that many deserve, if not a further guiding of their characters’ destinies, then at least some due compensation.