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alt title(s): Comic Book; Comics; Graphic Novel

Subjective
HoYay: Comic Books

Notice the hand? So have all the shippers.

Muscular men in skintight spandex grappling other muscular men in skintight spandex? Foes fanatically obsessed with each other is one trope, but it's never all antagonistic. Perhaps Wertham was right! Compare examples of Ho Yay in other media.
Examples:

  • As the foremost Plucky Comic Relief/Heterosexual Life Partners/big ol' Woobies of The DCU, Booster Gold and the (late) Blue Beetle see a lot of m/m shipping. One word: Boostle.
    • From Formerly Known as the Justice League Issue 6:
      Beetle: Get a grip, Booster. You're acting like some jilted lover.
      Booster: Well, that's what it *feels* like!◊
    • This Page.◊ I mean even without slash-tinted glasses...
    • This exchange from JLI Spectacular #1 always makes this troper blink:
      Beetle: That's what I like about you, Gold—you're a man after my own heart!
      Booster: And that's just about all I'm after.
    • Ted (Blue Beetle II) gets a bit with Dan Garrett (Blue Beetle I), too, although it's all in flashbacks or posthumous. When Ted explains how he came to take over the Blue Beetle mantle, he flashes back to Dan's final moments, during which we see Dan caress Ted's face while making him promise to fight in his place. Later, when the stress of the job gets to Ted, he talks to and caresses his photo of Dan. The first time it's just sort of sweet, but by the time the total hits five you have to wonder if Ted hasn't based his entire superhero career on a crush on his teacher.
    • Some Ho Yay can be spotted when Ted goes out drinking with Firestorm. Of course maybe that's just because Booster is at home sulking that Ted is out with another guy.
    • As of Generation Lost, Max Lord seems to have gotten in on this. His fight with Booster reads so much like an abusive, jealous ex that fandom's started making cracks about how his killing Ted was really just so he could have Booster all to himself.
  • Captain America and Bucky. I can't be the only one who reads that into this one, at least from Bucky anyway.
  • From the Flare page "On the Trail of the Tigress":
    Donnah: You say you love me, but I'm beginning to wonder if you really do. Certainly your feelings for me are far removed from the feelings I have for you.
    Terri: You're a lesbian, Donnah. I'm not.
  • Piper and Trickster in the DCU, especially during the trainwreck that was Countdown to Final Crisis. Piper is canon-gay, but Trickster isn't. Having them chained together, and Trickster constantly asserting his non-homosexuality (but never asserting his heterosexuality) makes the entire storyline seem like Trickster dealing with his sexuality. Until he dies in the most Ho Yay scene of all. Piper then spends the rest of Countdown going mad with grief.
  • There's a lot of snark and wild theories about Wonder Woman and the romantic life of a woman from an all-female society. Peter David hinted at it once in a Justice League Task Force story, and Gail Simone has tossed out a few hints of her own in her run.
    • Hints, nothing. In issue 38, one of the Amazons states directly that "[some] have sworn themselves to Artemis, the virgin hunter, and Athena, the chaste warrior. Others choose the way of Narcissus. But most of us find satisfaction in each other. Three thousand years can be a long time, Reverend."
      • To clarify: It's canonical that the majority of the Amazons are either Lesbian or Bisexual, with several Amazons canonically having relationships with one another. Wonder Woman has not been confirmed as Lesbian/Bi in the comics...but current writer has directly stated that as far as she's concerned Wonder Woman is Bi, so Word Of God has confirmed it, even if DC hven't got the guts to actually allow it to be addressed in the comics.
      • Greg Rucka, Phil Jiminez and George Perez...aka the only good writers to ever work on Wonder Woman's title, post crisis...all agree with Gail on this one.
  • Explicit in Nexus, where Sundra had a fling with Jil. Kind of makes you wonder just how close Sundra and Ursula were once upon a time.
    • When Sundra saves Ursula's life in Alien Justice Ursula asks Sundra how she got into the castle, to which Sundra replies that she used the secret rear door that Ursula showed her back when they were friends. Some might read certain subtext into that.
    • They both fall for and end up fighting over Horatio. Yeah, they're not sublimating anything.
      • In Nexus #102, the most recent issue as of this writing, Ursula demands that Sundra leave Horatio so that the two of them, Ursula and Sundra, that is, can raise Sundra and Horatio's newborn son Harry together. Ursula also says to Sundra "But I loved you...I always...loved...you." I guess they weren't sublimating all that much.
  • In Supreme Power, Mark Milton (Hyperion) and half the male cast members, most notably Blur and Doc Spectrum. His first battle with Spectrum is a BDSM-laden spectacle, complete with Mark begging him to hit him.
  • Marvel's Incredible Hercules features the titular muscular shirtless demigod Public Domain Character traveling around with teenager Amadeus Cho. The innate Ho Yay was lampshaded by the Amazons in issue #121, who kidnapped Cho upon mistaking him for Herc's eromenos. A shocked Cho replies "I've read those internet postings too, and take it from the source, it's total bull!" followed soon by a defensive "The technical term is 'adventuring companions.'" Pages here◊ and here.◊
    • In the Prince of Power mini, one villain taunts Cho by saying "Heard someone killed your boyfriend." Cho doesn't bother responding.
  • Lampshaded in Greg Rucka's Whiteout. The writer has explicitly stated he wanted to play with this trope as seen in buddy cop films. Marshall Carrie Stetko and secret agent Lily Sharpe's banter verges on flirting, which does not escape the others (one person comments to Lily, "I think she likes you.) There are several scenes where a hetero couple would kiss under the same rising tension, and they share two tender moments - when Lily buttons Carrie's shirt and when Carrie tends to Lily after the latter is severely beaten.
  • Nightwing has this in spades, being a Launcher Of A Thousand Ships of sorts. Red Arrow is a frequent target lately: Red Arrow's daughter knows him as "Unca Dick" and when they bicker, teammates often remark, "Mom and Dad are fighting again."
  • Green Arrow and Green Lantern, in spades. They went on a cross-country trip to see the "real" America: DC's sliding timescale would put that at no more than ten years ago, so what they were looking for in 1998 is a mystery, aside from, perhaps, condoms.
  • After Oracle formed the Girl Power team Birds Of Prey, she and Black Canary built up something that can only be called a long-distance lesbian relationship. At one point when Oracle was dating Nightwing, he was showering at her place, and Black Canary assumed it was her showering. So, of course, she saw no problem at all with barging in on her.
    • It helps that the definitive writer of the series, Gail Simone, encourages fans to write femme-Slash Fic about them.
      • And some femme-Slash Fic about Huntress and Black Canary and Slash Fic about Huntress and Oracle.
    • I love Gail Simone so much.
      • You and me both. And we can apparently expect plenty more fem-slash styled scenes in the new BOP series to judge by comments made...
    • It wasn't just Gail Simone who did it. Chuck Dixon, the series original writer, could pack quite a bit of this trope into the two characters even before they met face to face. The letter columns were filled with fan theories that this was Canary rebounding after her relationship with Green Arrow. Printing images like this◊ (when they actually met for the first time) helped.
      • ...Interesting hand placement, Dinah.
      • Babs is doing it too.
  • An issue of Fantastic Four showed Johnny Storm, sleeping in his bedroom, which is adorned with Spider-Man merchandise. In particular, he's cuddling a Spider-Man doll.
    • In Dark Wolverine, Daken snidely implies that Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, has feelings for his old pal, Johnny Storm. Ben's enraged response suggests that Daken hit a raw nerve.
      • Of course, it's entirely likely that Ben thinks of Johnny as his annoying little brother. When someone accuses you of being interested in your own brother, you might get a bit miffed too.
    • In the Ultimate Universe, Ultimate Johnny ends up dating Ultimate Spider-Woman, who in this world is essentially a duplicate of Peter Parker, including memories and personality, but in a female body. The original Peter is pretty horrified by this.
  • The Juggernaut and Black Tom were cellmates in prison for a while, and were partners ("in crime") for a really long time after getting out. Any time Black Tom got hurt, the Juggernaut would literally cry. The Juggernaut, bitch. And there's been naked cuddles. And of course, after he slept with an alternate universe's She-Hulk, he commented, "Sometimes it's just better with women."
  • Wonder Man, of the Avengers and Beast, of the Avengers and X-Men. When Wonder Man comes back from the dead yet again in the pages of the Busiek/Perez Avengers, Beast shows up (with a bouquet of roses!) and gives him a big tackle, then a sloppy kiss on the lips.
    • In the last issue of the most recent incarnation of Marvel's Alternate Universe comic Exiles, the team's Alterna-Beast chose not to return to his own universe because, with his lover Wonder Man dead, there was nothing there for him.
  • Jennifer Morgan and Power Girl in later issues of the original series of The Warlord where they spent a large amount of time in each other's company and were often seen reclining together in Stripperiffic outfits in an attitude that was positively post-coital. In Power Girl's last appearance in the series, they reflect on how close they've become:
    Power Girl: "It's almost a miracle, how close we've grown, isn't it, Jen?"
    Jennifer Morgan: "Yes, like sisters."
    • I'm sure there were many fans thinking "or closer than sisters".
    • Also the Terra in Power Girl's current ongoing.
      • Word Of God by her creators has confirmed that Terra is a lesbian. Now all we need is Power Girl to admit how she feels about her and...
  • Okay, so there was some homoeroticism in the interaction between Phat and Vivisector in X-Force and X-Statix. It's just that after a while it was revealed to not be subtextual at all; the fat man and the werewolf bang.
  • Aside from the apparent dates between Captain America and Iron Man, the Marvel Adventures: Avengers series pulled off some Les Yay between Storm and Giant-Girl when Hatemonger's emotion-influencing device went haywire. The two went from yelling their heads off and attacking each other to an embrace and talking about how jealous they were of each other. Spider Man even mutters "Maybe... they're gonna..." to himself as the other Avengers watch.
  • Heavy hints were dropped about Cassie Hack's sexuality a couple of times in early Hack/Slash stories, before it was confirmed that she was a bisexual in the ongoing comic series.
  • Rictor and Shatterstar of X-Force were heavily implied to have feelings for each other that went beyond being best friends, complete with late-night conversations about why Shatterstar was so uninterested in the beautiful women hitting on him in clubs. Both characters more or less disappeared for a while, then Rictor shows up in X-Factor. There, he confirms he swings both ways, but denies that he's interested in Quicksilver - then, Jamie makes a sly comment about Shatterstar and Rictor chokes on his drink.
    • Word Of God is that Rictor and Shatterstar were to canonically start a relationship, but when the X-Force title changed hands, the storyline got dropped. The writer who had proposed this possible character development was none other than Jeph Loeb, which is unsurprising from the man responsible for making Superman and Batman the slashiest they've ever been since the purple-prose days of World's Finest.
      • there was also the urban legend that Shatterstar was a female... or something like that.
    • Subtext no longer! Yay◊
  • Empowered delivers Les Yay in abundance. Empowered is a Deconstruction of the Fetish Fuel Station Attendant, but that hasn't stopped her from being either suggested with the other two main females, or even getting molested by one female kidnapper. As for Ho Yay... it's shown, in-universe, that Emp is a Yaoi Fangirl who reads a lot of doujinshi and fanfic. She even slashes her teammates.
  • Why has Secret Six not yet been mentioned? Catman and Deadshot spend so much time threatening to kill each other, wrestling with each other, gazing into each others' eyes, getting naked together... This one is another Gail Simone series, of course.
    • And don't forget Deadshot attempting to convince Catman to come along as a chaperone on a date because he's afraid of what kinds of kinky shit the girl might spring on him.
    • Plus having an actual lesbian on the team in the form of Scandal Savage. Her relationships with Knockout and Liana are canon; her relationship with Jeanette is more subtext.
      • Simone has confirmed that Jeanette is bisexual and it's got to be said that she and Scandal are VERY close...they're aso both immortal and have a long history with one another. This troper would not be surprised if they had been a couple in the past. And apparently one of the male members of the Six is Bi too...this troper bets money that it's Deadshot.
  • In Transmetropolitan, Spider Jerusalem finds that his newspaper columns are being adapted into an anime series, Magical Truthsaying Bastard Spidey. His two female assistants are portrayed as Schoolgirl Lesbians. . . .
  • No Tintin/Captain Haddock vibes? Although Haddock never quite gives up the bottle, it's the reporter who changes him from a pathetic, drunken wreck. They go everywhere together, often when the Captain has no intention of going, embrace, hold hands, lie on top of each other- hell, they kiss at least once in my memory. Tintin moves in with him halfway through the series and, oddly enough, we NEVER see his bedroom at Marlinspike. There are few moments in any comic series as heartbreakingly beautiful as when the Captain is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in Tintin in Tibet. Tintin refuses- "Either we both live or we die together!" And absolutely everyone everywhere links their names, and treats them as though they're a couple.
    • When you realize that Thomson and Thompson aren't actually brothers, you gotta wonder why they stick together like that...
      • Especially when they argue like an old married couple and have a love for matching outfits.
      • Heck, it's good to know they aren't brothers, since the Ho Yay between them would be present even if they were.
    • And let's not forget Tintin and Chang. Tintin didn't even know the kid for more than a few weeks, and yet the whole premise of Tintin in Tibet was him risking his life in an icy Nepal wasteland where a plane Chang had been in had crashed because he had a dream that Chang had survived. And it's heavily indicated that, without the persuasion of his other friends, Tintin would have kept up the hunt until he dropped down dead.
  • This far, and no-one's mentioned Asterix and Obelix yet? The pair are almost inseparable, and even though Asterix constantly berates Obelix for being an idiot and obsessed with eating - and Obelix even punches him on one occasion (given Obelix's Super Strength, this is quite something) - they're still the best of friends. This Troper can recall at least one moment where the two gave each other a big manly hug after a fight. Not to mention that Asterix's lack of a girlfriend is commented on by the villagers at least once, and Obelix can be quite Tsundere for Asterix at times...
    • At one point (can't remember which comic it is, sadly), Obelix bawls: "You don't love me, Asterix!" His response? To pat his arm and say, "Of course I love you." Even in context it's kind of suspect. And has anyone noticed how often he sleeps over at Asterix's, despite having a house of his own? The one time a woman comes on to Asterix, he panics and punches her ... It's practically text!
      • That former example was Asterix in Britain: [1]◊. And in all fairness, Obelix was drunk at the time and Asterix was in a bit of a fluster trying to keep him quiet...but yeah, the Ho Yay vibes are certainly there, and another sterling example would be Obelix refusing to leave Asterix even when the former is banished from their village in Asterix and the Cauldron, willingly following him into exile: [2]◊. And the amount of times they hug in that book is really hard to pass over.
    • As a confused gay teen living in a rural area, this troper read all of the Asterix comic books and (reading the Ho Yay as almost-text) was relieved to discover that male-male relationships were positively represented in fiction, whether it was actual Ho Yay or just some Heterosexual Life Partners who hugged a lot. Otherwise having no friends to aspire to, Asterix and Obelix's Ho Yay was encouraging at a time when even my doctor told me I was a biological mistake.
  • Let's not forget Elf Quest — Cutter and Skywise...◊ Then again, it's official Word of God that all elves are bisexual.
  • This trope might be the real reason Spider-man prefers to work alone.
    • Yeah, but that didn't stop Norman Osborn from piling on the insinuation about him and Harry in "American Son."
    Norman: "Just accept it and come clean... about Harry and your obsession with him."
    Norman: "Would it loosen your tongue to know that Harry sold you out for a woman?"
    • And finally, outright
    Norman: "Do you love my son?"
    • Spider-man does get quite a bit of Ho Yay - just most of it is Foe Yay flavored.
    • Norman Osborn's default interaction with anybody seems to be creepy sexual tension. A notable recent example is him watching Namor shower. Also, if his early relationship with Peter Parker was supposed to be paternal, it was the sort of paternal that gets you arrested.
      • This Troper would argue that Norman Osborn involved in anything even remotely sexual is less Ho Yay or Foe Yay more full on Nightmare Fuel and/or Squick.
    • And then there's Daredevil, Wolverine, Iron Man (it didn't end well) ...
      • Heck, he even had this with Trapster, a minor Spidey/Fantastic Four villain. Of course the twist there was that Spidey was disguised as new supervillain Dusk, whom Trapster took under his wing in the hopes that they could kill Spidey together.
  • The idea of Les Yay between She-Hulk and Wasp has been played for Fanservice and laughs at least once. Back during her fourth wall-breaking days, Jen ends up reviewing potential new creative teams for her comic, all of which actually did pages for the issue, intentionally poking fun at their usual work. Of note for this trope was Adam Hughes (AKA: "He of Cheesecake Art"), whose submission had Janet going into combat naked because the clothes she'd been wearing that day hadn't been particle-treated, and Jen appears to enjoy the view before rushing off to join in the upcoming fight as well.
    • Her recent friendship with the skrull Jazinda had some pretty strong undertones as well, to the point where Jazinda, captured and about to be dissected by the government, is almost certainly about to say "I always loved you" when her connection gets cut. This is Peter David again, so, not that surprising.
      • Not to mention that PAD had fun with She-Hulk and Thundra... Jazinda jokes that She-Hulk and she met through an inter-galactic lesbian dating service and Thundra expressed disappointment when She-Hulk denis this and of course, Thundra being the leader of a society in an alternate future where men and women are engaged in a genocidal war and so options for partnership are somewhat limited. Given her background, it's somewhat surprising her Les Yay hasn't been played up more but then, she started out as more of a straw feminist than anything.
      • Hell, Jazinda canonically has the hots for Jen...one half of this pairing is already in place.
  • Where the hell are Sam And Max? Being Heterosexual Life Partners doesn't help them enough, there's plenty of subtext in every media. They usually play along when it's played for laughs, but, seriously, they don't really like the idea.
  • In one Superman comic, when Mon-El was subbing for him, he talks with a restauraunt owner who seems really excited about going of for a bite with him. Turns out it's Matter-Eater lad in disguise, and he was just excited about eating. The fangirls were crushed.
  • Justice Society Of America pulls this off a bit with Cyclone & Stargirl. There's no showings of romantic attraction, but many fans have taken Maxine's hero-worship, intense friendship and obsession with Courtney a certain way. It's closed more than one thread at the DCU Message Boards.
    • Good to know the DCU message boards are as close minded as ever. *Le Sigh*
  • Though there's been no sign of it in her games, and in the comic books she is canonically straight, Lara Croft has some moments, especially when Sara Perezzi shows up for the Witchblade crossover. Chief among them Lara going after an evil blob thing because it made 'her' Sara cry, Sara declaring about three times that she 'loves/loved' Lara, and we're about good to go.
  • No other tropers are Ex Machina fans? Hundred/Bradbury is all but canon.
  • Jill Trent: Science Sleuth: The titular heroine and her gal pal Daisy are clearly Heterosexual Life Partners in this obscure Golden Age feature. But there are lots of Les Yay cues, particularly by 1940s standards. No sign that they're relatives, nor that either girl is married. And unusually for comic book features of the day, there aren't even hints of a token boyfriend for Jill.
  • Nico and Karolina of Runaways. Oh boy. Karolina nurses a crush on Nico for the first 25-or-so issues before trying to kiss her. Nico is shocked but doesn't exactly deny that she might be interested - it has more to with the fact that her last boyfriend turned out to be manipulating the entire team. Of course, before either of them have five minutes to talk about it, it turns out that Karolina has an Arranged Marriage to a Super Skrull that not even she knew about, and it may be the only way to stop an interplanetary war. It's the Marvel Universe, go figure. They've still had Ship Tease moments ever since K and Xavin came back, and now that Xavin's been Put On A Bus...oh, wait, the series is on hiatus. Great.
  • Main characters Andréa and Elwood (both anthropomorphic ferrets) in the French series Les Lumières de l'Amalou. Sure, Elwood crushes hard on Orane (a human-like "Transparent"), but the amount of Ho Yay between Andréa and his sidekick can be quite staggering. Their third scene overall has them waking up naked in the same bed, and the rest of the story often involves them bickering like an old couple.
    Andréa: (lecturing a guard while wearing only a towel).
    Elwood: Andréa! Sir! You... dropped your towel...

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