Sometimes, you need to tell your own story about people who are like you, and that’s what writer Tommy Roddy did. He created a comic book called Pride High, which features Poseidon Preparatory Academy for Heroic Youth, a boarding school for super-powered teenagers, and stars a diverse group of young LGBT youth and their allies, enemies, mentors, and teachers.
In the comic’s first arc, the students divide themselves into teams and the teams compete against each other in battle simulations in the Inter-Squad Championship. The comics about one five-member team, based on a gay-straight alliance and formed by a group of close friends, that call themselves Pride High. Meet the members: Craig Newman (Mindsweeper), Jorge Ponce (Kid Mischief), Claire Aedhamair (Scotch Bonnet), Suravi Small, and Chippendale Chesterfield (Chip Cheetah).
Pride High: Scotch Bonnet, Chip, Mindsweeper, Suravi, & Kid Mischief
Craig’s a young gay black teenager who’s telepathic. In addition to regular telepathy, he can also read memories and control the minds of others. Craig’s in a relationship with Jorge, and the two are out at school. (They even have moments of high school pda in the hallways.) Craig and the other members of Pride High have a rivalry with the Argonauts team, lead by Dion Tan (Kid Olympus). Craig and Dion often exchange verbal spars that’ve been escalating, especially with the upcoming championship tournament.
Jorge’s a young gay Puerto Rican teenager who’s powers include empathic abilities and telekinesis. More and more, he’s gaining telepathic strength. He can induce dramatic mood swings in those he fights against. Jorge’s also very computer savvy and has a shades of gray hacker side. He’s incredibly loyal to his friends and to Craig and tends to get a little jealous.
Claire’s a young bicurious Scottish teenager. She can turn herself into a living flame and make semi-living beings out of fire and use them to attack opponents. However, like many fire-powered superheros, Claire can harm others with her firepower if she’s touching them. She’s originally from rural Scotland and is something of a rebel.
Suravi is a young Indian lesbian teenager who’s powers is the direction of solar energy. She’s also blind and relays on Craig’s (and Jorge’s) telepathic powers to help her “see” for better advantage against opponents. Suravi’s determined and is a straight A student, who ends up tutoring her teammates.
Chip is a young British straight teenager, who’s the team’s outspoken ally. His powers are similar to that of a cheetah — mostly speed — and he looks like a cheetah. Chip claims to have gotten his powers by blessings from the Egyptian Cat Goddess Bast. He’s a little preppy.
The team greets each other on the first day back to school.
Roddy’s writing is a fresh take on the training of young superheroes. A little more realistic and every day than the hidden world of say the X-Men. I really love that they’re all extremely good friends. The storyline even touches on what happens when one of your teammates dies. Wow, consequences of being super-powered. It also grows to feature teachers, bullies turning more toward friendship, and family.
Pride High‘s a very excellent and worth either ordering it online, ordering it through your local shop, or picking it up at conventions. Read the first four issues online.