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Muscular men in skintight spandex grappling other muscular men in skintight spandex? Scantily-clad women who can't keep their hands off each other? 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:

Other Comic Books

  • 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.
  • 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.
    • In Nexus #102, 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."
  • Empowered delivers Les Yay in abundance. Empowered is a Deconstruction of fetishes, 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.
    • Emp is a self-described "three drink bisexual," and the two other main females include Ninjette, who is confirmed as having had at least one sexual experience with another woman, and Sistah Spooky, who is canonically bisexual. The Caged Demonwolf enjoys this set up immensely.
      • The Les Yay between Emp and 'Jette is particularly worth mentioning for both frequency and blatancy. Ninjette describes Empowered as "hotness incarnate" at one point, that's fairly low-key compared to some of the things that happen later, such as them taking a bath together.
  • ElfQuest features the ever ambiguous Cutter and Skywise. Then again, it's official Word of God that all elves are bisexual. It's also Word of God that Cutter and Skywise are the respective Author Avatars of the creators. Who are a married couple. Yeah.
    • The degree to which each elf is willing to exercise that bisexuality does vary greatly, from the practically exclusive heterosexuality of Strongbow to the almost exclusive homosexuality of his son, Dart. There are also variations, such as Skywise seemingly being mostly heterosexual but being happy to have sex with Cutter.
  • Sam & Max: Freelance Police. 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 they usually show aversion to the idea when it's suggested.
  • Tomb Raider: 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. This dovetails neatly with the subtext in the rebooted game series.
  • It's short, but there is a small moment in Frozen: Breaking Boundaries where Anna saves her Canon Foreigner friend Mari from being swept away by an ice floe, and they share this look. Oh Anna, you just get Les Yay with every girl you meet, don't you?
  • 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. The Les Yay is made explicit in the gender-bent Remix Comic version, Jill Trent: She-Sir Science Sleuth.
  • 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...
  • In both Witchblade and The Darkness, being the host of the Angelus force comes with a cool suit, the power of flight, a nifty spear, and a small army of similarly-dressed angel minions who are often creepily obsessed with you. On top of that, the current host, Danielle Baptiste, spent several issues of both Witchblade and her own short-lived solo book trying to figure out if she was actually romantically interested in her friend Finch. As of current issues, Dani has gone ahead and started a romantic relationship with Finch, although the series has hinted that the Angelus itself may actually be bisexual, which may have influenced Dani's decision.
  • Throughout League of Extraordinary Gentlemen's run, it's been hinted at that Mina Murray is at least bisexual. This started as far back as issue 2 of volume 1, when Cootes comments to the effect that Mina would have been an ideal pupil for her over-sexed school. By the time Century 1969 came out, it was pretty much a given, with Mina seducing Julia Gallion. And the final volume, Century 2009, makes it pretty explicit that Mina and Orlando are more than just casual sex partners.
  • Tintin's relationship with Captain Haddock gives many readers this impression. Neither character shows any interest in women throughout the series (Haddock actively prefers to avoid the company of women, and states this repeatedly), and as soon as Haddock is restored to Marlinspike Manor, Tintin immediately moves in with him, and lives there thereafter.
  • Franco-Belgian Comics La Patrouille des Castors (The Beaver Patrol) is full of this. The series is about 5 teenage boy scouts having various adventures from solving crimes to foiling political schemes. The 5 spend all their time together, from eating, sleeping in a tent to saving each others. Women and girls are practically absent, especially early in the series (although they did ran into a group of girl scouts once). This is taken up to eleven in Passport pour le néant (Passport to oblivion) where they spend the majority of the story in speedos and Walking Shirtless Scene.
  • Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide, especially on some of the "EFF: Evil Friends Forever" variant covers. One such cover shows both mad scientists riding a tandem bicycle and sharing drinks. At one point in the comic proper, Eggman even acts like a jealous girlfriend when he learns of Wily's history with Dr. Light: his attempting to dispose of the good doctor could be the act of a bitter Yandere trying to Murder the Hypotenuse.
  • Sonic the Comic: Executive Meddling led to Amy's teasing crush on Sonic being phased out and Amy instead becoming a more tomboyish character. She was paired up with The Smart Guy Tekno and eventually the two were given a series of spinoff strips where they went on adventures together. This led to a lot of Les Yay, including Tekno's line "Amy, you're a treasure". In the Fan Sequel Sonic the Comic – Online!, they were upgraded to Official Couple status by Word of Dante. The Distant Finale, Exit: Sonic, was written by the original head writer Nigel Kitching and reveals that Amy will one day settle down with Tekno.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW):
    • While no official word has been given on her sexuality, Tangle is commonly interpreted by fans as lesbian — or at least, attracted to women — due to her fascinations with and how she seems to mainly interact with them. With their very friendly interactions in Issue #4, the pairing of Tangle and Blaze (or Blazangle) became popular. Tangle and Whisper's close friendship, and the fact that the duo have their own miniseries, has also made the pairing of them (Whispangle) popular. Issue #61 even snuck in a blurred lesbian flag behind the duo in one panel.
    • Dr. Starline is one of the biggest examples in the whole comic. His obsession with Dr. Robotnik is often seen as at least partially romantic as he's absolutely enamoured with the man. His reaction to Eggman giving him the boot is often compared to that of a jilted lover, Zavok even telling Starline "You don't need him." The Imposter Syndrome miniseries has him take Dr. Eggman's rejection poorly with his resentment of Metal Sonic making it clear that he sees him as a third wheel between him and Dr. Eggman. When he sees that Dr. Eggman still kept the action figure of him, he has a relapse and decides he wants Dr. Eggman by his side when he takes over the world. Issue #50 takes this to it's logical conclusion with Dr. Starline's dialogue showing that he's still enamored with Dr. Eggman. He even tells the mad doctor that he's doing this for him and that he wants Eggman to listen to him for once. Dr. Eggman is merely annoyed and treats Dr. Starline as a clingy Stalker with a Crush, even admitting that he had been taking precautions against him.
    • In Issue #3, there is a moment where Sonic places his arm on Knuckle' shoulder and laughs out, "Oh Knuckles, you're the salt of the earth," to which he is shown blushing in response before moving into battle. It has also been discovered that in the French translation of the issue, Sonic says to Knuckles that he's "the sun of [his] life" instead. Knuckles' reaction is strikingly similar to how he responds to Rouge brushing his shoulder with a remark in Issue #30, leaving some fans interpreting the parallels as him being Ambiguously Bi. This is further believed due to another parallel taking place immediately after Rouge leaves in the aforementioned Issue #30, where Knuckles is left staring at the moon waiting for Sonic to come back, not knowing the hedgehog is in Blaze's dimension. In the JP version of a Sonic X episode, Knuckles is also staring at the moon with Sonic on his mind, though he refuses to admit it to Rouge, blushing through his denial. With Rouge at the scene and Sonic in another dimension yet again, fans have been quick to notice a potential reference.
    • In the Chaos Races and Badnik Bases arc, Shadow catches Sonic, Bridal Carry-style after Starline tosses him from a great height off a roller coaster. Despite only lasting for a single panel, this did not go unnoticed at all.
      Sonic: (with a big, dorky grin) Oh! Hi, Shadow. Nice to see you, too!
    • Tails spends most of his fight with Kit complimenting his abilities, with Kit's reaction being rather...nervous.
  • There are generous helpings of Les Yay among Rulah, Jungle Goddess and her suspiciously-pale native maidens. Said maidens being the subjects of peril, hairdressing, abduction, experiments, and much hugging when rescued.

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