Almost since their creation, Marvel’s  X-Men has been one of the most inclusive superhero teams in comics history. They had one of the first prominent African female heroes in Storm, the Jewish teenager Kitty Pryde, and Asian characters such as Jubilee. Founding member Iceman has come out as gay in recent years. Now, via the The Advocate, we’ve learned the ever popular superhero team is adding what will no doubt be their most fabulous member: the drag queen mutant named, appropriately enough, Shade.
The character was created by Iceman writer Sina Grace and artist Nathan Stockman; she first appeared in the recent Iceman #4, where we see her introducing the mutant singer Dazzler on stage. It seems her power is to fade in and out of dark places, because she hit the stage dramatically stepping out of a fan.
In his interview with The Advocate, Grace said “I really wanted this series to push readers to new and better stories about the whole queer experience and how it applies to being both a mutant and a superhero. There’s a million different queer perspectives and we’re only scratching the surface.â€
Since she showed up, fans have been sending Grace fan art of Shade, and even some custom action figures.
Uhmmm can we talk about this custom Shade figure !!!??? pic.twitter.com/0kkyDgbayX
— Sina Grace (@SinaGrace) December 31, 2018
Dax Exclamationpoint {@Daxclamation} as Shade!
(The mutant drag queen created by @SinaGrace) 😊📸 https://t.co/yuyL5Y11sp pic.twitter.com/VaRx9bYKDU
— Gab Contreras (@GabContrerasR) December 29, 2018
Recently on social media, Grace confirmed Shade was inspired by several famous real life drag queens, most of whom are well known to fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Former contestants Shea Couleé, Dax Exclamation Point, Monét X Change, and the Vixen all influenced Shade’s look. With the response the character has already had, fans are already demanding more more of her. She’ll be in Iceman #5, but could she actually join a main team one day? We are so here for it!
Images: Marvel Comics
