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When a truckful of super heroes turned the corner onto Tremont Street during this year's Boston Pride Parade, Bostonist was a little bewildered. Who were those masked men and women?
It turns out that we failed to read the giant freaking banner on the side of the truck. The super heroes came from Kenmore Square's landmark Comicopia comic book store, which has been slinging narrative artwork since the eighties. We talked to the store's manager, Shannon Outaw, to find out more.
Was this your first Pride float, and how did you decide to put it together?
Shannon Outlaw: Yes this was our first Pride float. I go to the parade every year and after last year I thought, "Why aren't we doing this? It would be great publicity for the store!" There aren't any other comic book stores in the parade. We are a small local business; [we've] been in Kenmore Square for 20 yrs and have a great group of loyal costumers. But why not reach out? Let people know we are here, show our support, and get people reading? How could we not?
I started using all of my own personal connections. Get people to donate things to hand out, and get my friends to dress up.
Comic books seem like a fertile ground for queer themes, whether or not they're intentional. How did you intertwine superheroes and gayness when you designed your float?
DC Comics supported us by donating Wonder Woman light up tiaras, posters, buttons and comics. TIARAS! I couldn't have planned it better! There is a niche of Japanese Manga (comics) called Yaoi. It's basically boy on boy comics written for women. Aurora is a big publisher of yaoi and they donated posters and pins from their DEUX line. Pins saying things like, "I deux boys." Intertwining gays and comics wasn't that hard at all.
The costumes were pretty great. Were they homemade or did they come off a rack?
The costumes were a combination of bought and made. I have superb friends who were apparently willing to create/buy spandex costumes and march the streets with us. We all love the store, comics and support equal rights, so this was a lot of fun.
We missed our chance to snag free comic books at the parade. Which ones were you giving out?
This year, one of the Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) books was Green Lantern Blackest Night. DC has now introduced a rainbow of lanterns. (ROYGBIV) It was perfect. Exactly what we needed. We also handed out the FCBD Wolverine origins comic and a few others.
Was that really Rainbow Brite?
And yes. I was actually Rainbow Brite.
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As Vice President of the Boston Pride Committee, I just wanted to say how great it was to have Comicopia join us that day! The spirit and energy emanating from their float was amazing. Their award was much deserved and we hope to see them again for our 40th Anniversary Celebration in June 2010!